Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
a surfer on Guatemala's Pacific Coast
Along with Maripaz Fernandez, Vergara started
Maya Extreme Surf School
(
www.mayaextreme.com
)
in 2001 and
Maya Extreme Surf Shop
(Centro
Comercial Pradera Concepción Local 308, tel. 6637-9593) in 2005. The shop
sells the company's own brand of “G-land surfboards” and is based in one of
Guatemala City's nicest shopping malls. A one-day “learn to surf” package costs
$125, including transfers, food, equipment, and instruction.
In2006,RobertAugust(of
Endless Summer
fame)traveledtoGuatemalawith
his crew to surf the Pacific Coast waves. The result was
The Endless Journey
Continues,
a movie chronicling their trip to Guatemala.
While Guatemala's Pacific Coast hasn't yet attracted the attention of foreign in-
vestors,thisdoesn'tmeantheregionlacksinfrastructurecomparabletothatofits
better-known neighbors.Local investors, as they always do in Guatemala, have
stepped in to fill the void. The planned community of Juan Gaviota began in the
late 1990s as the dream of a group of five Guatemalan investors who purchased
a sizable land plot with 15 kilometers of beachfront.
The development essentially sprang up out of nowhere. A trail crisscrossing
the property was upgraded to a serviceable road, a canal was dredged (and a
bridge to cross it built), and electricity had to be brought in. The latter, at a cost
of over $4 million, now benefits nearby communities in addition to residents of
MarinadelSur.Wavebreakerswereinstalledinordertoprovideasafehavenfor
boats and facilitate the construction of the marina. Several thousand tons of rock
werealsobroughtin.ThefirstphaseofMarinadelSuraloneisestimatedtohave
cost over $130 million.
The project has a 20-year master plan, made in conjunction with a local con-
sultingfirm.Thenextphaseencompassesagolfcourseandthreehotels,opening
Juan Gaviota to foreign investors and visitors. It is rumored the hotels are being
built by a U.S. investment firm.
The community is in some ways an ecological preserve. Juan Gaviota's creat-
ors left local mangrove swamps undisturbed in their quest to maintain the local
ecological balance. Poaching of sea turtle eggs and iguanas from the property
is strictly prohibited. Private ownership of the vast property and the presence of
private security forces to patrol it ensure closer compliance of these restrictions,
something not easily replicated in coastal communities elsewhere in Guatemala.
