THE PACIFIC COAST - Guatemala - page 310

fish,seafood,ormeatdishesrange$6-9.About200meterseastalongthehighwayis Hotel
El Camino (tel. [phone], $23-40 d), featuring bright rooms with tile floors, large bath-
rooms, balconies, cable TV; some have air-conditioning. Fan-cooled rooms on the first
floor are less attractive but cheaper. There's also a decent restaurant here. Head east and
then down a short signposted lane to Hotel Internacional (tel. [phone], $20 d) with 14
large rooms and cold-water showers, fan, and cable TV. Try for an upstairs room.
Getting There
Most buses trundling along the Pacific Coast Highway no longer go into town thanks to a
bypass constructed a few years back. If heading out here you might find yourself changing
buses in Escuintla or Mazatenango. Santa Lucía is also accessible from Lake Atitlán via
Cocales.
LA DEMOCRACIA
East from Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, a turnoff near the town of Siquinalá heads south to
this small town. There's little to see and do other than admire the peculiar Olmecoid heads
adorning the town's small central plaza. There is a certain Far Eastern mystique to these
large grinning heads with swollen eyelids, some of which are attached to smaller, rotund
bodies and known as barrigones because of their swollen bellies. They bear a striking re-
semblance to Olmec sculptures found in the Mexican lowlands of Villa Hermosa, near the
GulfofMexico.ThestonesdatetothemiddlePreclassicperiodsometimearound500B.C.
and come from the nearby site of Monte Alto, located on the outskirts of town.
See YOU CAN SURF IN GUATEMALA
Also on the central plaza, a small museum, the Museo Regional de Arqueología (8
A.M.-noonand2P.M.-5P.M.Tues.-Sun.,$1.50)harborssomemorestoneheads,carvings,
pottery, grinding stones, and an exquisite jade mask.
SIPACATE
IfyoucontinuesouthtowardthecoastfromLaDemocraciayou'llfindGuatemala'ssurfing
capital, Sipacate. Nowhere near as popular as in Costa Rica or even neighboring El Sal-
vador, surfing nonetheless has some aficionados in this neck of the woods and there are
some perfectly surf-worthy waves on the Guatemalan shores. International travelers are
justnowstartingtogetaclue,butforthemeantimetheluckyfewcanstillsurfthesewaves
undisturbed by throngs of fellow wave enthusiasts, despite international travel magazines'
best attempts to make these sites more widely known.
The drive south to Sipacate is almost as pretty as the beaches, with palmettos lining the
road on either side of the well-paved, fast highway. Once in town, it should cost you about