La Mizata and the Costa de la Libertad

After leaving Antigua, we drove to the El Poy boarder crossing between Guatemala and El Salvador. It was about two hours from Antigua, on the best roads we saw in Guatemala. The drive was nice, a total change from the mountains I had gotten used to. We left the milpas and other steep fields and dropped down to the coastal plain. We drove past fields of sugarcane, and pastures grazed by sinewy cattle. The only peril on CA-2 was the sugarcane trucks. Semitrucks towing double trailers stacked precariously high with cane.

The crossing was uneventful and took about two hours. On the Guatemalan side I sat in the car. I noticed a calf wandering around right by the little office building. Gives you a sense of how laid-back it is, no one really minded or even noticed.

On the El Salvador side it was even quieter because the trucks parked separately. It was a lot of waiting, a little looking at paperwork, and not even a glimpse at our passports. There is a visa sharing agreement between E.S. Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras. I guess the Salvadorians just let the Guatemaltecos take care of things when given the option. As soon as we started waiting on paperwork people wanted to chat with us and were very helpful. In Guatemala, people are happy to help if you ask, in El Salvador, people volunteer help when you have a puzzled look on your face. They might not always give you the correct answer, but they sure do try.

El Salvador had grazing goats instead of a wondering calf.


The first town after the boarder is Cara Sucia. Dirty Face. I'm still laughing. I hope you join me in a chuckle. The only map we had was the Lonely Planet. But there is only one major coastal road, CA-2, so we figured we would drive til we found a good beach. We tried to get to Los Cobanos, but LP has a HORRIBLE lack of driving directions in general, and the Waverider surf guide had one marker for the turn-off and we missed it. Because I am obsessed with reading all available guides, I knew that La Mizata was without lodging and supposedly a great surf break. About 40 miles after crossing the border, I saw a little Pilsner Beer sponsored sign that said "Restaurante Playa Mizata" with an arrow pointing down towards the water. Dave braked forcefully and we turned down a very steep driveway. At the bottom was a boarded up restaurant and a few palm trees and the beach. To our right was a perfectly groomed coconut grove with a house at the back and a palapa on the side furthest from us. A cactus fence separated it from us. Just as we were wondering how to get to it, a woman walked across the grove. She said it was 5 dollars a night to camp and she could feed us for extra. After a tight three-point-turn we went back up the hill, turned around, and headed back down taking the right-hand fork by the hand-lettered sign "Se Vende Cocos"

We pulled into the spot closest to the beach. Esmeralda was very excited.

It was perfection. We had the place to ourselves, not even anyone else on the whole beach. We set up the hammock, said we would like dinner after sunset, and started relaxing. About two hours later we were joined by Paul and Zach, two surfers from San Diego who have been traveling in their truck with a camper for the past two months. They were great company and we spent the next three days hanging out with them. The guys surfed in the mornings. I slept in, read books, journaled, and just perfected lounging in the hammock. We also talked to the family that owned the grove. The guys had a fan club of locals, males ages 5 to 21, who were hanging around from 6am til we turned in for the night. Starting the second day, the locals would be there when the guys woke up. Paul and Zach loaned a couple of them boards, and a few had their own. Then in the evenings they would show back up and hang out. Throughout the day if they didn't have anything else going on, and on the weekend, there was always one Salvadorian in a folding chair.

One day they were doing coconut tree maintenance. Climbing the trees, cutting off dying fronds, bringing down coconuts.


Paul, Zach, and Dave enjoy fresh coconuts while talking with the Abuelo of the family.

Friday Justin, one of the Canucks, drove us into Sonsonate to restock on food and water. It was fun riding in the open-top jeep down the coast. Sonsonate was hot and busy, but had a good market and a good grocery. The highlights were 5 dollar a bottle wine and a cord for Dave's camera.

We enjoyed the weekend. No more gringos but some Salvadorians who came in and hung out for the day, and about 20 more Salvadorians on the beach, but not in our little coconut grove.

Monday morning we were brought back to reality when Dave and his surfboard had a collision.
Eric, one of the local kids who hung out with us daily, was around and told us their was a clinic in the puebla.
Dave put on his shades

Then we walked ten minutes down the road to the clinic. The nurses shaved off the hair around the cut, cleaned it, and closed it with butterfly bandages after the doctor said it wasn't deep enough for stitches. I bet if we were somewhere else he would have gotten staples, but I doubt this clinic had any.


The clinic was nonprofit, largely funded by USAid. There were lots of mothers, pregnant women, and children. Dave always receives stares because he is tall and blond, but with blood dripping down his face he got even more startled looks.

The board was also in bad shape. He hit the back-end so hard he left hair.

But Dave is resilient, and once he was bandaged up, went about getting the water out of his board.


After packing up camp, we drove the hour east down the coast to La Libertad so we could check essentials online and Dave could get his board to the Hospital de Tablas (surfboard hospital). Then because Dave had a broken head, we checked into a little hotel right on the beach in El Tunco. A real shower was greatly appreciated, as was a queen-sized bed and a ceiling fan.

Sunset on Playa Tunco


After a leisurely morning we headed inland to La Ruta de Las Flores and on a quest to refill our propane tank. The way propane works here is that central plants fill the bottles, which are then trucked to little stores and traded out with used ones. The only place to refill a bottle you don't want to trade is at the plant. We were told in La Libertad that there was a plant on the way to San Salvador before the turn off to Santa Anna, and we looked and looked but never saw it. Then we saw a sign for a different gas company, they couldn't do it either but we were told after the turn off there was one, but couldn't understand the description of where it was. We just gave up, and figured we would look around online and hopefully find some in Honduras. Then as we were nearing Sonsonate, the way to the Ruta de Las Flores, there it was right on the side of the highway. It only cost 1.50 and an hour of our time. Now we can again supply ourselves with light and a stove!