el paredon, gt
El Paredon. What a special place in my heart it holds. Its the definition of one of those 'get stuck here' towns. The most common thing you are going to hear as you walk around town is something like, "well I was only meant to be here for a week, but I have been here for 2 months". That's what happens here. It traps you. Sucks you in. It's a really amazing and beautiful place. At least for now. The place is rapidly changing right in front of your eyes. But right now is probably the time in El Paredon where people in Santa Teresa, and Perto Escondido refer to as "you should have been there 10 years ago." The place has already changed, is changing, and will continue to change, but where it is at right now is pretty perfect. El Paredon is a beach town. It's a surf town, and it's a town that is perfectly suited for backpackers and travelers from all over the world. It's a tiny little place with not more than a few roads, a handful of hostels restaurants and bars. But this small size is warm and welcoming. The local community is really involved in the scene here, which for me was one of my favorite parts of spending two months here, — finding a really great community that was filled with so many Guatemalan locals. It's certainly unique. I think the reason is that there are so many young Guatemalans working in the hostels. One of the best things to do in El Paredon is to volunteer at a hostel. All of the hostels have pretty large volunteer programs. Working at the hostel a few days a week in exchange for your housing. It's one of the best ways ever to get to know people, and a place. The managers, workers, bartenders at all these places are either volunteering travelers or Guatemalans who are the managers and bartenders. So everyone in the town kind of hangs out. All the volunteers in town, regardless of where they work all slowly become friends and the small community becomes really intertwined. It's just a super special place. At any given time there's going to be hundreds of travelers and expats inhabiting this small place. It's a tried and true travel town. El Paredon physically is a large sprawling black sand beach with palm thatched roof houses, and huts lining the beach. The town only goes about a quarter of a mile or so back from the beach until it hits the mangroves that border a river that serves as the northern end of the city. As you move farther to the North, and closer to the river, the town becomes more local and this is where all the local businesses and shops are. The waves here are also the best in Guatemala for the most part, so there are going to be lots of surfers, and it really is a surf town. The local surfers rip, and you will certainly see them out at night as well. When you come here you will likely spend most of your time at one of the main 4 or so hostels. They each have different vibes. But really are all individually great. I will go into each below, but you can't really go wrong I wouldn't say. I have ones I like best, but take a look and you can decide. There's so much I could write about El Paredon, but I fear I am at risk of boring the reader. All I can say is go here. It's one of the nearest and dearest places in the entire world to me. The community there is amazing, the friends I made will be friends for the rest of my life. Go here, get stuck. Why not? But at least come here.
El Paredon is located right in the center of the Guatemalan coastline. It's frankly pretty easy to get to. Especially if you are just taking a shuttle. There is no airport here or anything. The place really is tiny so set your expectations now. It's small, and everyone knows everyone. But for the most part people will be coming from Antigua.
BY SHUTTLE - It's very simple to get here by shuttle and you just need to get on one in Antigua and they will drop you off right at your hostel. You should be able to book the shuttle through your hostel in Antigua but if you want to look a little more into it, here is a link to a place you can book a shuttle online. It's going to cost like $16USD, and will only take about 2-and-a-half hours. With this company, Gekko, there are two departure times, — 10AM and 2PM.
BY CAR - If you are driving, it's pretty simple as well but just know you are going to encounter dirt road. Which if you have made it this far, then you are no stranger to. But regardless, to get here from Antigua you take CA-9 out of Antigua. Put it in your maps, but you will eventually take a right onto RD Escuela 38 and Carr. a Juan Gaviota. This road heads toward the ocean. You will eventually have to take a left before arriving in the small town of Chula mar. Then take this road for about 3 miles, and you will take a left once you pass the Super 24 in Juan Gaviota. This is also the last place to get gas, so I would recommend gassing up. Then you take the rural road all the way up the coast and you will wind up in El Paredon. Welcome to paradise. The whole drive in a car should take about 2 hours.
There's also another way to get into El Paredon, that is by going through Sipacate to the north. You then have to put your car onto a little car ferry to transport it across the river to get into El Paredon. This is a nice way to leave El Paredon if you are going north, but I wouldn't recommend this way in. It's certainly cool taking the little car ferry across but it's not worth the hassle, the other way in is faster.
HOSTELS, CAMPING, AND HOTELS (IF ANY)
The hostel scene here is one of, if not my favorite hostel scenes in central, let alone the country. The hostels here are just top notch and they are all intimate enough, social, really nice, and just check every box for me to be honest. There are like 4 or 5 really good ones, and then outside of that there's a growing amount of nicer, boutique options. But if it were me, I wouldn't look past the hostels.
They are each great in their own way, but check out the descriptions because they are each unique in their own way and have their own personalities.
All the people who work at the hostels end up being great friends with one another and on different nights of the week there are parties or events at different hostels, so no matter where you stay, if you stay here for long enough you will end up going to most of them.
This is my favorite place in El Paredon. I spent almost all of my time here — I worked here as a bartender and photographer for about 2 months, and I absolutely loved it. The best part about this place is how intertwined it is with the local surf community specifically. The owners are all guys from Guatemala. All surfers from Guate. So all the local surfers keep their boards, and frankly spend all their time here. It's great in that respect. It's also a really nice place. The dorms are great, they have really luxury privates, a full bar, the best pool in town and it's right on the beach. They also have really great food. If you care about surfing, and want to be on the beach, this is the best place to stay in El Paredon.
Now with all that great stuff said about Cocori, I do think that Mellow is equal to or even a better hostel. The one drawback here — it's not on the beach. It's owned by a German guy named 'Feliz' who built it here a few years back. It's new, the dorms are really nice, the staff is always really cool, and it's run really well. Probably because he's German. The food is excellent, the pool nice, the general vibe just right on point. The only drawback here, it's about a 4-minute-walk to the beach.
Now this is the OG hostel in El Paredon. It was around before there was really anything going on here. It certainly has a lot of character. I heard that it was just absolutely amazing about 5 years ago, but I think the culture has gotten a little bit weird here. It's going to be the most party of any of the hostels. With younger backpackers going for it almost every night. The dorms are also not going to be great. But it's certainly loved by a lot of people. I went here to party, but after spending a few months here, my choice for accom. would surely be either Mellow or Cocori. This place is right on the beach though, and they have big family-style dinners every night that are cool.
The budget option in El Paredon. It's where all the dirtbaggin' travelers and surfers are going to be staying. It's only like $10 a night, it's going to be the lowest level of accommodation but the culture is pretty rad. Just living and getting by here. It's also right on the beach. I actually really love this place. It's not for the people who want something nice, but if you like being around the people who don't like or can't afford nice, then this is the place for you.
EATS
Now when it comes to eating your options aren't going to be endless, but you are going to have a good amount of them. A surprising amount actually, for such a small place. The majority of people are going to eat most of their meals at their hostel actually. All of the hostels have really good food. Especially Cocori and Mellow. Other than that, there are a handful of places in town that you can go to that have pretty good food options.
I remember being pleasantly surprised here with how good the food was, but it's not going to be the best thing you've ever had in the world. There is actually some nice variety though.
Restaurants
Awesome little cafe, breakfast, and lunch spot right next door to the hostels on the beach. They have smoothies, great breakfast sandwiches, and the ladies that work there are lovely. Don't expect your food to come fast though.
A great spot to grab local-style food here. It's locally owned and locally made food. Come by here and support the locals.
Really delicious spot at the southern end of town. They are serving up Indian and Thai dishes here in a cool outdoor setting.
The aforementioned hostel and hotel. They have a really solid lineup of food. Great burritos, burgers, etc.
Run by a husband and wife duo, chef in flip flops is some of the most well done food in town. Probably the most well done food. The menu changes every night, and it's properly chef driven.
— Great food, but not cheap.
The aforementioned hostel. They have the best lineup of food of all the hostels. Really delicious, and I personally love their pasta and breakfast.
Local bakery here in Paredon. They have great cookies and bread options for really cheap.
A great little cheap and local spot in the center of town. Great tacos and tortas etc. Won't break the bank. I came here all the time. Give the torta a try.
A little surf shop that serves breakfast as well. People come and hang out here, there's a little rock-climbing wall, and it's good vibes.
Probably one of the places that I frequented the most. It's a restaurant inside of a hotel called 'Pacifico'. The tables are all pretty much just couches, and it's a super-comfortable place to come chill with a group. The food — especially the pizzas and salads, are also amazing.
Amazing hand-made pizzas here. Really good option to go grab a pizza and eat it, wherever you are staying.
A local spot in town that has everything from quesadillas to burritos to tacos. It's locally owned as well. Good cheap food that's also good to take away.
NIGHTLIFE
The nightlife in El Paredon is amazing. It's realistically — along with the general beauty of the place, the reason why people get stuck here for so long. If you come here and you spend a while, you are going to love it at first. Eventually it will get a little bit repetitive, but that's okay. There's going to be something to do every single night of the week if you want to. A lot of the time you are going to want to. That's just kind of the vibe here. Everyone goes out a lot, and most people go and do the same things every night.
The place is so small that there aren't a bunch of things to do every night, and it changes every night what people end up doing.
The nightlife is pretty much surrounded by the hostels. That's where most of the partying and drinking happens. There aren't really any bars or clubs outside of that. Occasionally there are parties that happen at other places outside of the hotels, but that is just based on what is going on. Keep your ears open when you are there for the options in a night. There's not going to be too many of them, so it shouldn't be too hard.
Bars and Clubs
Beachfront parties every night. The weekends they will have DJ sets late into the night as well. Great spot right on the beach.
This little rundown hostel has probably the best parties in town. They happen pretty frequently, and it's usually a last minute call whether or not the owner is going to have a party. But there's always a DJ, lots of drinks, and a bunch of people stuffed into a super-cool little beach shack.
There's good parties here pretty frequently. They have DJs, a full bar, and it's a pretty common spot to go party. — Not going to go super late here though.
There's parties here a few times a week. Usually upstairs, and with a DJ. Things have a tendency of getting wild and weird here, in a good way.
SUPER local spot here. It's going to be full of locals drinking late and hard on some nights. I only went a few times, but it's certainly an experience. Not for the faint of heart.
This ice cream shop will have some pretty good parties every once in a while. Also some of the other little shops here will have parties, so keep your ears peeled.
SIGHTS
Being in El Paredon is the thing to see, to be honest. But there are a few things that you can do that are fun here. Some pretty unique. But in general, just hanging out by the pool at your hostel is the thing to do around here.
One of the really unique things that you can do here is go wakeboarding in the river in-between the mangroves. It's really, really awesome actually. It costs like $20, — everyone usually brings beer, and you go out on a boat and get to snake your way through the mangrove forests on a river while wakeboarding. It's rad. You can book at Cocori.
There's a town to the south from El Paredon that has a really cool road through the surrounding jungle that's extremely visually appealing. It's a fun thing to do for a day. Get some skateboards, take some pictures. Whatever.
GO SURFING
If you are here to surf then you will already be doing this. But if you want to learn how to surf, I highly recommend getting a lesson from some of the local boys. This is how they make their living, so support them and buy a lesson. Then get them a beer after.
La Choza Chula is an awesome non-profit organization that is based in El Paredon. They have a little shop in town that is selling really amazing handmade goods from throughout the local community. They also have internships where you can work with them for a few months if that interests you. It's an awesome organization.
DO A BEACH CLEANUP
The beach in El Paredon sadly can have a lot of plastic wash up on it. The hostels all run beach clean-ups. Get involved, and go pick up a bag of trash. You will usually get a free beer out of it too.
There's a cool skatepark in town that will be full of people skating and hanging out. It's fun even if you don't skate to just go by and hang out over there.
SUNSETS
Sunset on the beach is one of the biggest social activities of the day. Everyone in town usually comes by the beach around sunset to watch the stunning sunsets that happen here nightly.
My boy Nacho is down there slanging tattoos. Go grab one from him at the skatepark as a little souvenir of your time in El Paredon. Say hi for me. His Instagram is linked.
SURFING
El Paredon is a surf town. I would say the culture around surfing, traveling surfers coming here for one of the only real surf spots in Guatemala and all that has helped significantly to grow it into what it is today.
The wave here is really just right out front of the town. Much of Guatemala is long unobstructed beachfront, sand with no real significant coastal inconsistencies or uniqueness that is really what drives good surfing. So what you have here is beach-break. El Paredon can be really good for a beach-break. It's not the best beach-break in Central America. Not really even close, but what you have going on here in El Paredon is going to be some of the best surfing in the country. I would say it's generally higher performance surfing here. The beach-break can be really fickle. It's peaky, it's frequently closing out and when it gets to be about overhead it can be really hard to sneak in good waves. Just has a tendency of being a really tricky wave to surf.
The locals here surf it amazingly though. There's a few kids in town who surf as good or better than the best around in any town. The wave season here is May to October. Or the rainy season. The waves will be head high, plus frequently. From November to April waves are going to be smaller but more manageable. Most days here throughout the year there is going to be something to surf. Anything more than a few feet overhead gets really messy, if you ask me.
But the waves here can be really fun. If you are in Guate this is where you are going to come to surf. You can have a lot of fun. It's not going to be the best waves you will ever surf, but you can score amazing waves here. It's also never very crowded, so you'll have waves all to yourself. That's pretty great, no matter where you are.
If you don't already surf, grab a lesson here in El Paredon from one of the local surf instructors. They are all great guys, and it will be a fun. When the waves are small, El Paredon can be a great spot to learn as well.
This is the river-mouth that feeds into the ocean. It's a cool thing to go check out for sunset, or via a boat tour of the river-mouth. Good thing to fill your time here in El Paredon where there is realistically not much to do other and hang out.
This is new since my time there but it looks like a lot of fun. Every Saturday they have a DJ (typically a great guy named 'Sal', who looks a lot like a pirate) on a barge cruise up and down the river. You'll be getting drunk, surrounded by mangroves. It looks like a great time.
