La barra

Powerful wave that works almost everyday. there's a place where they rent rooms in a lovely house and have a boat to take you to the spot. you will need to paddle a lot in order to stay on the take off area because the river current but trust me, it's worth it!!

Atmosphere:
Quite empty place. only some local weekend friendly surfers. The place, Likin, it's amazing, water chanels like Venice, tidy streets, friendly locals and no crime! it's an amazing place. The only one like this that i've seen in Guatemala. it is a sand bottom right-hander that breaks just in front of a jetty built in the mouth of a river that flows for a good distance parallel to the beach until it comes out to sea by the jetty. Even with the right conditions (see below), it is surfable roughly 2 to 4 hours (at best) a day, as the spot is very, very tide oriented. It needs a low-incoming tide with no-wind or very little wind conditions (e.g. 6 to 9 or 10am). At incoming mid-tide a rip makes it very difficult to stay on the point and thus the possibilities of actually riding a wave are greatly restrained. At high-tide the rip slows down and it becomes surfable again (wind permitting), but only if there is a big swell. The outgoing tide creates a very strong rip and the wave is literally un-surfable for 6 straight hours.It is a good wave but not a 5 star wave. It is also not an all surfers wave. It is a very powerful wave, fast and hollow that breaks in shallow water and requires a very fast stand-up and turns that you can only achieve if you are an advanced or expert surfer. The ride is pretty much of 30-50 meters of a speeding wall forming in front of you and when the critical section is passed there is actually not much to rip, because the wave fades out. Beware of left-handers, since they close out frequently and the whitewaters take you straight into the rocks of the jetty. Still, with the right conditions, the spot can be a lot of fun if you are a good surfer who is not afraid of nasty wipe-outs. About the area: the spot is very close to an electric plant with high chimneys puffing black smoke on the side of big warehouses used by the harbor of San Jose. It is not a pretty sight. The rest of the beach, for miles and miles, including the beach break of San Jose (a small and dirty port-town), Itzapa and another spot further west that I checked is simply a powerful close out with the (very) occasional wave that shows a shoulder to rip on. If La Barra is not breaking or if the tide and wind conditions are not right, you are stuck there with no decent surf.

from Guatemala City take a bus to Puerto de San José, Escuintla. That's only 5 km from Puerto San Jose. From there go to Aldea Puerta de Hierro. Ask any local for directions, because its right there.

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