Guatemala’s Hidden Paradise

After spending almost 2 months in Guatemala, there are countless amazing places and stories I want to share..but this will be the first, because literally no-one I have spoken to has ever heard of it, and it was beautiful. A perfect, hidden, beachside paradise just waiting to be discovered – Playa Quilombo.

It was only a week or two after having surgery in Guatemala city, so I was searching for a peaceful, beach side location where I could recover. Yep, you heard that right..I had to have surgery in Guatemala. That’s a story for another time, but take note – travel insurance is definitely not something to skip! So from Antigua, we headed to Monterrico on the Pacific coast. This little town was pretty interesting actually – a ghost town during the week, but heaving with local tourists on weekends. It was cool, because it really was almost 100% local tourists, but they trashed the place on weekends and I didn’t love the vibe. The beach was also insanely rough, you could easily get dumped by a wave standing in just ankle deep water due to the extreme slope of the sand, so this turned out not the be the best place for me to recover.

So what to do next? I was at a loss, but hadn’t there been that one other place? That one that seemed perfect but was just a bit hard to get to? Yep – that’s the one..let’s go there! About 30 kilometers further south along the Guatemalan coast, lies Las Lisas. But despite the short distance, the journey took over 4 hours…

The journey to Las Lisas

First, a 20 minute walk to the “lanchas” at the river’s edge.
Next a short boat trip up river to the place we hope to catch the bus from.
Cue 45 minutes of waiting..wishing I’d gone for just one last swim.
Finally the bus arrives and it’s about an hour journey to the nearby inland town Taxisco.
Once here, a little garbled Spanish and some charades indicate that the next bus will leave from another terminal around the corner.
Surprisingly easily, we find it, and then find the right bus and we’re ready for the almost final leg.

Two sweaty hours on the second bus – along with the school kids, mums, dads, grandmas and a few chickens – and finally we are arrive at Las Lisas.
From here we take a public boat across the river to the other part of the town.
Then, we bargain with a local to take us the final stretch to the accommodation.
And finally, 4-5 hours later and we made it to Eco Hotel at Playa Quilombo..

Was it worth the effort? 100% YES!

No wifi, no cafes or restaurants, not even a corner store. And no people, with the exception of a few local visitors over the weekend. Our only company was the family that were running the place. Almost no shared language, but still we managed to share something beautiful. The days passed blissfully slowly. Breakfast was soon after waking up, then perhaps a walk on the beach and a swim. A little reading, a snooze between swims and then Lorena is asking what we’d like for lunch. The afternoons passed in pretty much the same way – reading, snoozing, swimming, more swimming..and then what do you know it’s dinner time! HEAVEN!

Truly this place is a slice of heaven on earth! Everything was so amazing, I’m actually not sure what my favourite part of the day was. I’m a total beach addict, so hours of sunning, reading and swimming on the beach were definitely right up the top of my list..as was hammock time watching the sun go down. But while I know I will look back on those hours with a smile for many years to come, it is the dinner times that will really stay with me. And not just because Lorena’s cooking is ahh-mazing! God knows how she pulls together those meals in that tiny kitchen. Every day something different, and every day delicious.

Unforgettable moments

Even better than the meal, was the hour or so spent with Lorena’s two gorgeous children. Andy and Cate (pronounced “kar-teh”) are quite possibly the cutest children on the planet. It was clear that they don’t spend a lot of time with other guests, and even less so guests that don’t speak Spanish. Mostly they thought our strange accents and incomprehensible words were hilarious, but we managed to form a little friendship over those evenings. They showed us their pet cats which they dragged about like rag dolls, they clambered all over us and splashed us as they jumped in puddles. They made up rules to a random board game, and of course they always won. One night they found a huge scorpion and they could barely contain their excitement and dragged us from our meal to check it out…eek :/

After staying in this blissful place for over a week, it was finally time to move on..and those kids practically cried on the spot when we told them we were leaving. And then they snuck away to make us a farewell present.. CUTE!

These memories are little things..but to me they represent the things I love most about travelling. Finding a hidden paradise no-one has heard of; and sharing time with people who don’t speak my language and live such a completely different life to mine..but managing to connect with them anyway.

So, if you ever find yourself in Guatemala with a little time to hang at the beach…definitely make your way here and say hi from me.