Return to Central America - Winter 2011

Photos From Montericco: The People and the Place

click photos to enlargeMontericco Black Sand Beach

The past few days Daniel and I stayed in the small beachside town of Montericco here in Guatemala. Montericco has a volcanic sand beach and the town consists of one paved road, a few dirt roads, a boardwalk, and, you guessed it, the beach. This place is so small, it’s not even on Google Maps! It may not sound like much, but we found it to be our own little paradise. As I’m sure you can imagine, there isn’t a lot to do in this sleepy beachside town so the 4 o’clock happy hour at our hostel was usually a welcome treat while the earlier parts of the day were spent swimming, playing frisbee and water polo (the aussies at the hostel arranged this one), soaking up the sun, or exploring the town and snapping a few shots like these. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the past few days.

Clouds at Dawn
The clouds are lit up at dawn as the sun begins to peak over the horizon.

Birds at Dawn

Men Fishing in Lagoon
We came upon these two just after sun rise and it looked as though they had already been fishing for a few hours. They barely even took notice of us as they began to pull in their nets.

Lagoon Near Montericco

The Lagoon at Dawn
In the distance you can see the mountains and hills, and at some points we could even catch a glimpse of the nearby volcanoes.

Car Barge

Birds at Dawn

Egret

Man Fishing Near Montericco

Luna on the Beach
The town and beach was full of stray dogs running around but this one lived at our hostel and was named Luna. She didn’t quite understand the concept of fetch but who can hold something against a face like that?

Docks of Montericco

27 comments
  1. robin

    Wonderful scenes – a hidden gem.

  2. Jim

    Gee, I had to go back and read again to find out where this place is. Lovely.
    Pics are good. A little cropping on the top boat scene perhaps.

    1. Matt

      I did at first but it didn’t really add to the picture (imo) so I decided just to show the vastness of the place.

  3. inka

    What a joy to see that there are still places on this planet which are just barely on a map. Your pictures exude serenity, I adore #1, the reflected clouds.

    1. Matt

      I was really happy to get that picture. Boats kept coming by and stirring up the water so it took quite a few takes.

  4. eat-laugh-love-anon

    Fantastic photos.
    And so typical there’s some Aussies at the hostel. We’re kinda like a global infestation, aren’t we?

    1. Matt

      I feel like infestation implies something negative. I love meeting aussies!

    1. Matt

      yea I hardly even touched that shot. It just looked that good!

  5. Michael Figueiredo

    Wow! These are gorgeous pictures! I always like coming across places that I’ve never even heard of before. Nice job.

  6. Adam

    Love the pictures, and that town just looks perfect. Especially as I sit here in the below freezing temperatures with snow on the ground. Beautiful! I love the one of the dog.

  7. Andrea

    Great photos! I love quiet little places like this =)

  8. Steffy

    Great pictures! They are somehow very realxing… I wish I was at some place worm now:)

  9. Claire

    These photos are amazing! I hope you guys are having a great time 🙂

  10. John in France

    Actually the boat photo is my favourite!! No cropping required!! Safe travels.

  11. Jeremy B

    Great photos Matt! Honestly, I saw the title of the post and my first thought was “I’ve never heard of this place.” Now I know why! Seeing the photos of the fisherman brought back memories when I was a a young teenager. Me and my cousin went with my uncle and dad in the EARLY hours of the morning dragging a net through inlets like this to catch shrimp. Fun times! Ok not really but hey, we got shrimp!

  12. David

    Great photos…I felt like I was taking a walk right there with you!

  13. Spencer

    Looks like a fabulous place. I would love to spend a few days there just chilling out!

  14. Becky

    Hey Matt! Hello from Hotel El Delfin!!!
    I saw the photo of Luna, its great! And yeah shes not so good at fetch, she prefers to just run away w/the stick and chew on it. I hope your travels keep going well, enjoy it man!!

    1. Matt

      Haha, yea that is exactly what she does! Everything is going great. In El Salvador right now and moving on to Nicaragua soon!

  15. Hans

    Hey mate,

    Fabulous photos! We loved Guatemala so much and will likely return some time soon.

    Have you been to Semuc Champey / Lanquin ? If not, i want to recommend a fantastic place to stay. It’s called El Retiro, and is a hostel in Lanquin.. amazing river setting, a brilliant vibe, communal buffèt dinners and just a great place. Also, Livingston is a fabulous spot with it’s Garifuna culture.

    Have a good trip this winter!

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