The Mansion of The Sea

In the 1990s, an elegant and imponent hotel was constructed on one of the best beaches of El Salvador, Costa del Sol. A place recognized for its golden sand. The hotel was called Puerto Ventura and the locals called its location Las Isletas.

The hotel was relatively hidden and mainly visited by wealthy visitors. Its hidden nature allowed them to escape from their daily routines and enjoy a peaceful stay outside the public eye. The magnificent beaches, proximity to the Lempa River, some small forests, and the powerful Pacific Ocean were the ideal combination for a short or long-deserved vacation. Everyone who visited this hotel enjoyed their experience and shared it with their close ones.

However, everything changed drastically in 1998 when the tail of Hurricane Mitch hit El Salvador. Its fierce winds and storms were an extremely destructive force that caused billions of dollars of destruction all over Central America and the Caribbean, just in El Salvador perished 240 people and the damages were over $400+ million. No one ever expected that a deadlier hurricane would ever hit Central America and the Caribbean after the Great Hurricane of 1780.

The damage to Costa del Sol was unexpected. The beach is in the Pacific Ocean and the Hurricane came from the Atlantic. An ocean that El Salvador has no access to.

Days after the fierce storms and winds of Hurricane Mitch were over, the former owners abandoned the hotel. It was a miserable experience. For them, nothing could be done, and it was better to start from scratch.

Sometime later, the former hotel served as the headquarters of a Christian Church and decided to add a Star of David in one room, the one for their cults; therefore, God would protect them from any other event.

However, the hotel had moved closer to the beach and the tropical storms and waves affected their cults. Ultimately, the community decided to leave it for good. No one knows precisely when this happened, but it’s guessed that at the beginning of the 2000s.

Over the years, the people living in the surroundings created new rumors like:

“The mansion belonged to Luis Vidaurre; may he rest in peace.

He made it enjoy his weekends or vacations there. The Star of David is at the base of the mansion. On the ceiling there was a light trap, for when the sun was in full flight, it would illuminate the star and thus observe the fish crossing over that star. In itself, that was his idea, for the water to cross that star” shared by Elizabeth Rico in 2021.

Coralia another resident says a tall black man comes every night. Many boys have encountered him when they come to play and catch turtles close by.

Years passed and the structure started to deteriorate. Today what remains of the hotel appear as the ruins of what was once a two floors house. The front part has Roman-type pillars, and the side and second-floor windows are large. There are still the iron structures and a bit of cement from what was the access to the second floor. At the top some steps are currently used by tourists who arrive, they climb the mass of cement and iron to browse, take photos, selfies, a joke even though one of the walls of the former hotel can be read as “danger.”

The former hotel is so hidden that no one can see it from the boulevard in its surroundings. It was until this year that Cholopanza was rediscovered in 2021 and shared on his social media networks.

Many people started coming to visit it and taking pictures of its surroundings. They heard that some neighbors want to demolish it like Berta who urged the local authorities for it. “We thought it would be in vain, I don’t think they would listen to us, but it would be good if they dumped it, there are people who get on there and that is not good.”

Indeed, the hotel has a reputation for being dangerous in a way because some boys have drowned in the pools created inside or others died from eating poisonous snails that live inside.

Indeed, this place is surrounded by many mysteries. Many of them might be never uncovered but until today, this hotel is still stuck in the past just as a memory of the mighty power of Mother Nature (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The Mansion of the Sea. ¹

Inspired by Cholopanza, 20minutos.es, Repúblic Inmobiliaria, RT, La Prensa Gráfica, El Diario de Hoy and La Opinión.

Credits:

Location: Playa Costa del Sol, El Salvador

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