Black Sand Beaches

An interesting thing happens on coasts that are not far from volcanoes.  The lava that flows out of an active volcano, hits the water and cools very quickly.  It cools so quickly that it immediately hardens and breaks into fragments.  This fragments are pounded by waves until they become small, smooth rocks and black sand.  Hawaii is famous for it's black sand beaches, but they are not the only ones.

The port of La Libertad in El Salvador sits on the Pacific Ocean and welcomes tourists to it's black sand beaches.  I visited the beach at Sunzal in 2004 with a colleague and her boyfriend.  It is a great place to visit since it is still relatively unknown.  The drive from San Salvador was less than an hour.  Many Salvadorans leave the city on Sundays to spend the day at the beach.  We paid the admission to spend the day at a beach club where we swam in the pool, walked along the beach, ate cerviche, and drank Pilsener beers.  It is even closer to the airport in El Salvador.  There are some hotels, but the adventurous can rent a cabana and sleep on the sand or in a hammock.

Most of the tourists in La Libertad are surfers who come for the beautiful, rolling thirty-foot swells.  When I was there I saw plenty of surfers, including the actor Paul Walker.  It's funny how the locals assumed all of us Americans know each other!