Monterrico

DAY FOUR:

Monterrico Beach

Even though it was really hot and I complained a bit, we also could have called this day "Megan's best day ever!" because it was just that good. 

The trip down to southern Guatemala to Monterrico Beach wasn't a for sure thing originally when we planned our big trip, but James really wanted to take me there to see some baby sea turtles. 

Monterrico is a small coastal town with a sea turtle hatchery. You can visit the turtle hatchery for free. During the night, they collect eggs that were laid on the beach and then re-bury them in a confined sanctuary so that they don't get eaten or stepped on. There were a couple hundred pipes sticking out of the ground in the hatchery. Each of these pipe has approximately 40 eggs buried around it.

After the turtles hatch, they keep them in a small pool until dusk when they are released into the ocean. Here they are swimming around in their pool. How adorable! 

We were able to see and hold babies that were only a couple hours old. During the turtle breading season they release hundreds a day.

The best part of the hatchery is that they let you release turtles for a small fee. We arrived in the morning and needed to wait a while before we were allowed to librate the turtles, so we took a tour of the mangroves and played on the beach while we waited.

Right before we left we met the hatchery attendants on the beach and James and I each liberated three baby sea turtles. They were so cute. I LOVED it!

My three little turtles right before they were let go.

They were strong little guys and kept trying to jump out of my hands. 

Here is one of the babies running to the ocean.

BEST DAY EVER.