East to El Salvador
Las Lisas
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As you head east from Chiquimulilla close to the Salvadoran border, a turnoff from the Pacific Coast Highway (CA-2) at Km. 144 heads south to the small village of Las Lisas, which has some nice beaches on the other side of the Canal de Chiquimulilla. The town itself is unremarkable and tourism infrastructure virtually nonexistent, though there are at least two hotels in the area that merit mention.
Isleta de Gaia
Near Las Lisas is one of Guatemala’s most exotic hideaways. Isleta de Gaia (tel. 7885-0044, www.isleta-de-gaia.com, $67–144), on a sandy spit between the Chiquimulilla Canal and the Pacific Ocean known as Barra del Jiote, is a great place to get away from it all. There are 12 attractive bamboo bungalows of varying sizes facing the clean, sandy beach or the lagoon; all are built around a nice swimming pool.
The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and serves excellent international fare in the $5–12 range. The service is second to none. Your gracious host, Francois, will stop at nothing to make your stay enjoyable and keep things running smoothly, including emptying the rapidly filling swimming pool in the middle of a torrential tropical downpour to save its filter system.
The only drawback is accessibility. To get there you must hire a boat from the main dock in Las Lisas at a cost of $13 each way, as the lodge does not provide a pickup service from Las Lisas. You can sometimes hitch a ride back if someone is running in to town for supplies. It’s about a 20-minute ride to the lodge from Las Lisas.
Caleta Azul
Divers will want to check out Caleta Azul (Barra del Jiote, tel. 5715-2849 or 5715-4101, www.caletaazul.net, $145 d all-inclusive), fronting a nice stretch of wide, sandy beach. In the waters just off the coast are the remains of two sunken vessels, one dating to the 1950s, which scuba divers can explore with the help of the lodge’s diving outfit. The lodge itself features 10 rooms in comfortable thatched-roof cabanas with private bathroom, fan, a patio, and hammocks. There’s also a two-bedroom furnished apartment with air-conditioning.
Meals are included in the room rate and feature tasty Caribbean dishes, including seafood stews, served in an airy palapa structure with lovely sea views. There are also a bar and swimming pool. Other recreational options include visits to the surrounding mangrove swamps and deep-sea fishing. If you call ahead, the lodge can help you out with transportation from the boat dock at Las Lisas.
© Al Argueta from Moon Guatemala, 2nd Edition. Photos © Al Argueta www.alargueta.com
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