by LaurelC-19 , 25 August 2010

I was a volunteer in Guatemala for three weeks, based in the beautiful town of Antigua. My first weekend there I decided to take a trip to Monterrico on the Pacific coast with a few recently made friends. The bus ride was a three-hour sweaty and nauseating affair, redeemed only by the visual treat of a gradual transition from the inland mountainous areas to the warm tropical coastal ones. Once we arrived, we shopped around for a hostel and settled for a room with a beautiful view of the ocean. We quickly dropped off our things and headed to the famous beaches. The sand is black, as it is from volcanic rock—quite the different sight from what I am used to. The sea itself was also something to behold. Huge waves crashed onto the sand with military regularity, creating a crescendo of a deafening roar we had to shout over. I only dared to go under the waves a few times; a friend saw a body wash up onto the shore only weeks ago. The currents were terrifyingly strong and the waves could easily swallow you up into a tumbling vortex where there was no up or down. I was content with sitting on the sand and enjoying the show most of the time.

That night we took a tour with one of the local turtle conservancy agencies. It was the season for the females to lay eggs, and with a bit of luck we would see one in action. We leisurely sauntered down the beach, waving our flashlights’ beams in no particular pattern, while I struck up a conversation in my broken Spanish with the guide. Soon enough, we saw a large dark mass on the sand. It appeared to be an East Pacific Green turtle; it was maybe 70 centimeters long, 45 across. It was incredible to watch it work at digging a hole by pushing its flippers back over and over in a rather inefficient manner. When it deemed its lair sufficient, it began to lay eggs. I was shocked by how many it laid—there must have been a hundred. The turtle, one of my absolute favorite animals,

On average, females lay between 50 and 100 eggs. We picked up a few to feel its unexpectedly soft shells. Sea turtles are in danger of extinction, partly because its eggs and meat are a local delicacy. However the locals are coming to realize the importance of these turtles to the ocean’s ecology and now there is a growing turtle conservation effort in the area. Many volunteers work to protect the turtles by collecting eggs and then releasing the hatchlings safely into the ocean. I felt extremely fortunate to have witnessed the turtle lay eggs on the beach, and hopefully because of such efforts future generations will be able to as well.

Please click here to read :
Part 1 - Laurel on NAMIBIA
Part 2 - Laurel on Uganda
Part 3 - Laurel on Rwanda
LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: Kachumbe
LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: Mozambique
LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: The Makgadikgadi Pan
LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: An Encounter in Tanzania
LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: A Zanzibari Misunderstanding