The Driftwood Surfer [A Review]

Danielle’s Review: ★★★★☆

Some of you may recall from my previous post about arriving in Antigua, that I was freaking cold. Many backpackers rave about the surfing village of El Paredón on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala, but they rave even more so about the primary hostel in the area, The Driftwood Surfer. With the black sand beach and hot weather beckoning only two hours from Antigua, I knew where I would be heading as soon as I completed my hostel obligations.

A few points for visitors to know before visiting The Driftwood Surfer:

  1. No Wifi (though they do have a laptop available during the day if you need to book onward travel/check email)
  2. No cards accepted and no ATMS in the village (more info on this below*)

I arrived in El Paredón around noon on a Thursday afternoon, after a musically entertaining shuttle ride (the driver’s nostalgia inducing playlist included One Night in Bangkok, Mamma Mia, as well as a number of hits by Elton John). As you can probably imagine, upon arriving in 80 degree temps, I frolicked in the ocean, burned my feet on the scorching sand and basked in the sun for the entirety of my four day visit.

The Driftwood Surfer is an excellent place to veg out, eat and meet other folks. See more below!

CHILLING

There are a number of spots to chill at Driftwood. There are other hammocks closer to the pool, as well as up in the bar/restaurant area for those who desire a sand-free hammock experience.

The swim up bar makes it too easy to drink the day afternoon, but I’m not complaining. This is a popular spot, not only for guests of Driftwood, but for people staying at the neighboring hostels. It felt a tad crowded at times, but really, who cares?

SLEEPING

Despite the large number of beds in the dorm (I counted 36 beds, dispersed throughout four interconnected rooms, with three bathrooms/showers), I managed to get a great nights’ sleep each evening. Comfy beds, cozy linens, clean, and AC (!!) from dinner time until 9am the following morning. Bliss.

They also have a couple of private rooms, for those of you crave some privacy and/or sexy time.

Generally, most people went to bed around midnight (the bar closes at 11 o’clock, I think) and woke up early to go surfing. While I was there, there didn’t seem to be much craziness, which I appreciated – but every crowd is different.

View of a few beds in the large dorm. A full house and no one snored! Win.

EATING & DRINKING

There are a few nice places in town to eat, as well as some tiendas to buy random items, but a number of the guests eat the majority of their meals at Driftwood. They serve a limited breakfast menu until 10:30, lunch from 12-4, and then there is a “family dinner” each night at 7pm for Q49, which if I may say so, is pretty damn amazing. The first night we had roast chicken, vegetables, and potatoes; the second evening it was grilled fish, rice, roasted veggies and a beautiful salad; and the final night, they hosted a fajita buffet. There is always a vegetarian option, and you just have to sign up by 5pm and show up and stuff yourself. WELL WORTH IT.

The volunteers and staff hosted a trivia night, as well as some drinking games after dinner. The feedback from other guests was that despite the activities, there wasn’t a ton of partying happening. However, I have a feeling that for those of you who want to party, you can certainly make it happen here.

My personal tip – GET THE YOGURT SMOOTHIES FOR Q20. Filling and kind of healthy. 🙂

Family dinner. The food was seriously tasty.

AMENITIES & ACTIVITIES

As I mentioned earlier, there is no Wifi available, but the laptop at the bar is in decent condition for whatever you might need to do. You can also rent surfboards, go horseback riding on the beach (I heard very positive reviews), lounge at the pool, do some morning yoga, or play volleyball every day at dusk (ok, no one is playing in the below photo, but a game was on every day).

The Driftwood Surfer also helps donate funds to a turtle sanctuary down the beach. At 6am each morning during nesting season, you can view the release of the baby turtles into the ocean.

In addition, one day a guy showed up on the beach with a little airplane – so I took a ride! More about this and about baby turtles in the next blog post.

FINANCES

*As I mentioned above, there are no ATMS in the village, and the hostel has signs everywhere that say that cards are not accepted. While this isn’t really all that shocking, I was disappointed that this wasn’t better communicated on the website and Facebook, or via emails when making the booking. I feel that this could be made more clear, especially because they work on the tab system, which can be particularly dangerous for the fun loving traveler who enjoys eating and drinking. Note: I was asked to make a deposit via PayPal for the first night, but I think it was because I was staying over a weekend.

With that said, I heard through the grapevine that the hostel could indeed accept cards in a pinch, so I decided to stop stressing out over each quetzal. I even dropped half of my cash to take a ride in the airplane over the ocean. Irresponsible? Maybe. But worth it!

When it came time to check out, the guest ahead of me was using a card, so I wasn’t worried about being unable to pay. However, I was given attitude from the staff member about it, and I was also charged a $3.50 card fee without being informed. This was slightly irritating, but understandable. I did learn later that the government limits how much an organization can accept from credit cards/online purchases. I’m not sure of the details, but at least it provided a little more context. Lesson learned: have enough cash on hand!

OVERALL

The Driftwood Surfer is a great getaway for a few days, or even longer! Be prepared to eat all the food and do all of the relaxing. As long as you have the cash, you may never leave.

CONTACT INFO

Email: thedriftwoodsurfer@gmail.com

Phone: + 502 3036 6891