Horizonte Cabins El Zonte

We decide to sign up for a three day surfing tour with www.globalsurfguatamala.com based in Antigua. We leave in a mini bus early Monday morning in a small mini van and arrive in El Zonte, El Salvador by 2pm just in time for low tide and our first surf lesson. We're staying in Hostel El Zonte which has very basic accommodation (breezeblock walls, two beds) but the shared bathrooms are clean, there is a pool ...

... crossing turned out to be a breeze, it seemed too good to be true. I was about to place the keys in the ignition when I was greeted by an older fellow with a big smile on his face asking me for help. I guess it was my turn to pay back the help I had been given weeks and months before in Lagos Atitlan and Palenque. I realized it wasn’t the older fellow who needed help but a younger El Salvadorian whose car needed a jump ...

... volgens de rabo 75 euri centen) voor tien kilo bonen...plukken met de hand. De jungle was dicht begroeid en de paden waren heel smal. Doordat er geen zon bij de aarde kwam was het vaak steil en spekglad....in het eerste uur waren we al een paar keer op ons bek gegaan. Mario liep echter op een stel goedkope plastic slippertjes (herrinner me een uitspraak van Steven...)...we konden hem niet bijhouden. Tevens was ik de langste van het gezelschap waardoor ik alle spinnewebben kreeg ...

We expected to have to move to a hotel tonight, because Fabrizio is leaving for Italy this morning, but he insisted that we stay. So who were we to say no. Juan, yet another friend of the same friend, picked us up early this morning and took us to his coffee mill just outside of Juayua. The drive up was nice, along the Ruta de las Flores. The Route of the Flowers is a road snaking up into the coffee growing region, which during a different time of the year is ...

I'm safe and alive! Mom, you can finally sleep again, not having to worry about my being gunned down and all! Left later than expected on Saturday morning. Once I got into Guate City I got a taxi to Zona 4 from a really nice guy, and from there took the bus going to San Salvador. The border crossing was typically sketchy and the money changers were particularly aggressive. Met a really nice Belizean guy on the bus too (Belizean ...

... machettes). Along with a bunch of exotic flowers that Nelsons wife had picked (because its THEIR property) and we were afraid to get near them for fear of crushing them. She did make a gift of flowers to Tracy which we now have in our room. We finally made it back to town after night fall with frazzled nerves and white knuckles. But, you'll be glad to hear, safe and sound back in our room, showering up, and trying to make sense of it all, over beers. Cheers.

Standing in a cloud of dust as the bus dissapeared into the distance we could have been standing on the set of a movie.... zoom out to see the two of us standing in silence in the middle of nowhere with only a lonesome dirt road for us to follow. Cosidering our many options we trundled down to the beachfront and stumbled on a wicked spot called Horizonte. Next stop...the sea. El Zonte is a fine black volcanic sand beach. Its also a good surfing spot ...

Chris and I stayed at El Zonte for a few days surfing various spots. My board was to small for the conditions and I didnt really enjoy this secor of the trip. Got to check out some spots like S21, and some La Liberdad. La Liberdad was very dirty and polluted.

Went to El Zonte with Ricardo, a surfer friend of Karla's. I bought a nice little 5'9" fish and tried it out at El Sunzal. My poor ribs felt the five months I'd spent out of the water, but it was fun anyway. The locals tried to be scary with me: "Welcome to hell," they snarled when I met them. But they were cool after a couple of ...