Monterrico

Before the Spanish conquest the Pacific lowlands of what is now Santa Rosa were Xinca country. Pedro de Alvarado's forces, which included Spanish soldiers and Indigenous allies from Mexico and the highlands, conquered the Xinca of Taxisco after fierce resistance in May 1524. After independence the area belonged to the department of Guatemala and Escuintla until the department of Santa Rosa was created in 1852 and Taxisco became part of it. Monterrico itself is a village within the municipality of Taxisco.

The village lies on the volcanic sand of the Pacific shore, with the Chiquimulilla canal and its mangroves behind it. In 1956 the Monterrico nature reserve and the neighbouring Hawaii park were created, covering about 1,000 hectares together; the reserve stretches from the María Linda river to the Los Esclavos river across almost all of Santa Rosa's southern coast, and contains Monterrico itself and 16 smaller villages.

Visitors long arrived by boat, across the canal from La Avellana or from Iztapa to Puerto Viejo; roads now reach the village over land. It grew as the closest beach to Guatemala City and Antigua, with hotels, beach houses and a grass airstrip, and its turtle conservation work is drawing a growing number of foreign visitors.

Monterrico belongs to the Ladino world of eastern and southern Guatemala, Spanish-speaking and mixed in heritage, far from the Maya highlands in custom and dress. Its culture is that of a beach village that fills up at weekends: Guatemalan families on Sundays, beach bars with music at night, horse rides on the sand and the sunset watched from the hotel terraces.

The sea turtles are at the centre of local identity, and of a long-running tension. The beach is a breeding ground for several species, and turtle eggs have long been collected and eaten. Some egg collectors give a share of what they find to the tortugarios, the hatcheries, which incubate the eggs and release the young turtles into the sea together, but most eggs laid on the beach are still harvested. The conservation work, and the releases of hatchlings that visitors can watch, have done much to make the village known abroad.

The mangroves behind the village are the other half of its life. Pelicans and other migratory birds nest among them, and the reserve runs breeding programmes for the green iguana and the crocodile. Boat tours of about two hours through the canals start from the dock at the end of the main street.

Monterrico is small, with one main street running from the beach to the canal dock. Daily life swings between quiet weekdays and busy weekends, when visitors from Guatemala City arrive by car, minibus and, for the wealthiest, light aircraft and helicopters to the beach houses along the shore. Hotels set different prices for weekdays and weekends, and rooms can be hard to find at weekends.

Tourism is the main source of work: hotels, restaurants, boat tours, horses for hire, shuttles and a Spanish school. Coconuts grow in such numbers that they lie in piles beneath the trees, and the area also grows and dries large loofahs, which hang drying from almost any surface in early November. In the surrounding municipality of Taxisco, dairy farming and cheese-making are important.

The heat shapes the day. People are out early, before the black sand becomes too hot to walk on, and the evening, after the sunset over the Pacific, brings the village back to life. Litter along the main street has been a problem, and local businesses have run cleanliness campaigns with new public bins.

Seafood dominates the menus of Monterrico, and vegetarians find little choice. The beachfront hotels have restaurants serving fish and shellfish with the sunset as a backdrop, while the cheaper places to eat are along Calle Principal, where simple comedores and street vendors sell fried chicken with chips and chicken sandwiches. Like the rest of the Santa Rosa coast, the village is known for seafood soups and fried fish served in beach comedores.

Coconuts are everywhere. Sellers gather them from the piles under the trees and keep them in coolers, opening them so that the coconut water can be drunk straight from the shell before the flesh is eaten; some visitors add other drinks to the coconut.

Inland, the town of Taxisco is known for its cheese and other dairy products, part of the cattle-country food of eastern Guatemala built on fresh cheese, cream and thick tortillas. Cold beer is the usual drink in the heat, and the beach bars serve tropical cocktails at sunset.