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 ...

... The driver picked me up at 8:30, and we made the 90 minute drive to the National Park, which contains 3 volcanoes - Izalco, Santa Ana, & Cerro Verde. The guides (police) started the climb at 11:00. We were already on Cerro Verde, so had to first walk all the way down that before we started climbing up Izalco (1300 steps!!). The hike was very exciting, and strenuous!! It was pretty steep near the top, and rocks that looked ...

... young man quickly ran to the house next door and introduced us to a fellow who spoke perfect English. This guy in turn told us he would ask a few of the neighbors. Within 20 minutes we were safe and sound in the back yard of a beautiful home housing a family of every generation, from young kids to an 80-year-old grandmother.

We fell asleep to the orchestra of the heavy, tropical rainstorm accompanied by thunder and lightening.

Vannacht hebben we wakker gelegen van hevig onweer. Het bleek niet mogelijk om tussen de flits en de inslag tot 1 te tellen...de bui bleef precies in het dal boven de stad hangen. Afgaande op de hevige knallen en de sirenes moeten er een aantal inslagen hebben plaatsgevonden. Het ging er heftig aan toe. We kwamen dan ook pas laat op gang. Rond tien uur hadden we de rugzakken weer gepakt en hebben we afgerekend voor de twee overnachtingen. Op ...

... restaurant). In the afternoon we walked down one of the terraced hillsides, checking on the various herbs and vegetables being grown. At the bottom, cut partly into the mountain, is an enormous white grow house made of a plastic sort of material where tomatoes are being grown hydroponically. You have to enter through a virtual air lock, a strong fan blowing air away from the building, walking through shallow troughs of iodine-laced water, and spraying your arms ...

... one in Esquipulas. In this neck of the woods, there was once a strong and prominent indigenous population and the Christ figure often symbolized a redeemer of the oppressed, their Christ. Beautiful chuch, though. After I met up with the Spaniard and the German and had some delicious rabbit. Tame night again and watched Voces Inocentes. So, besides all of the factual stuff, there's a lot else to be said. Saturday morning before ...

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 ...