The mangrove canals behind Monterrico are the town's best break from the beach. Small boats move through still water, roots, birds, and low wetland forest, usually in the cooler hours of morning or late afternoon.
The trip is short and low-key, but it gives Monterrico a second landscape. Without the mangroves, this would be just a black-sand beach town; with them, it becomes a better spare day from Antigua or Guatemala City.