Playa Mitla

Playa Mitla is a stretch of Pacific shore in the municipality of Coyuca de Benítez, on Guerrero's Costa Grande, running along the sand bar that divides the ocean from Laguna de Mitla. It lies about 10 km west of the town of Coyuca de Benítez and some 3.5 km west of El Carrizal, a village of roughly 690 people. There is no sheltering bay here: the beach faces the open sea, it is long, and very little has been built along it. It is one of the municipality's four beaches, together with La Barra de Coyuca, Playa Azul and El Carrizal.

Behind the sand lies the lagoon, about 4,800 hectares and 25 km long, mostly within Coyuca de Benítez with shores in Atoyac de Álvarez and Benito Juárez too. It once had its own mouth to the sea; natural processes and human works closed it for good, and seawater now reaches it only through a long channel linking it to Laguna de Coyuca, whose own mouth is 18 km away. Mangroves line the shore and shelter many nesting birds, and the land around is planted with mango, tamarind, papaya and coconut palms, with pasture for cattle.

Local life revolves around fishing from small boats: tilapia (known here as carpa), cuatete, white shrimp, snook, mullet, mojarra and jack. On the western shore sits Santa Cruz de Mitla, a hamlet of about sixty people with a primary school, a health post and a bandstand. Visitors will find modest restaurants and simple places to stay, and the bar is a good place to camp. Sea turtle conservation camps work on the beach and, in season, let visitors help release hatchlings into the Pacific.

The lagoon has its troubles: the channel keeps silting up, the water risks eutrophication, and Hurricane Manuel caused damage in September 2013. In October 2023 Guerrero's state congress unanimously urged federal and state environment and fisheries agencies to tackle the pollution and dredge the lagoon, at the request of fishermen from Llano Real and Santa Cruz de Mitla.