monte rico

 

right near da beach! sunday took a day trip with some folks from the school to the black sands of monte rico. 2 hours there, 3 hours back (uphill) and 5 and a half hours of sun, waves, food and brahva. the waves were a bit small for real-deal surfing, but perfect for body surfing and not fully risking death. because the surf is so strong the beach drops down about 20 feet and the waves climb up about 10 or 15. i was showing these local kids how to get in front of the wave and let it propel you rather than just wait for it to crash into them like lameOs. i hope no one died as a result of my instruction. anyway, it was a blazing hot day, i ordered a caldo marisco at a local beach cantina that was jammin some hot latin hits. locals there were getting blitzed and subsequently dehydrated in the heat, and loving it. we later retired to a hotel swimming pool to hang out and the others got food, drinks and some hammock time. i ate again too and had a fairly forgettable pasta plate where the word aldente was somehow lost in translation. nevertheless, it was a nice retreat that was once again easy on the coin purse. in total, i spent about $30 including 2 meals, 2 beers, and roundtrip transpo. i also saw lot of poorly erected huts for homes that while unfortunate for those living there, were actually much more aesthetically pleasing than 20 story condos littering the beachfront. students here are pretty much traveling every weekend to relatively close destinations like these. there are travel agencies on every street in antigua. i think i'm going to take it easy with these whirlwind adventures, but certainly squeeze a few more in before i head back.