La Cebada, Beach in Coquimbo Region, Chile

La Cebada is an agricultural and coastal community in the Ovalle commune, Coquimbo Region, at km 338 of the Ruta 5 (Autopista del Elqui), near the border with Punitaqui and Canela. It has two small beaches of about 100 m each, not suitable for swimming, and a desert landscape with medium to strong erosion, gullies and dunes fed by wind-blown sand.

La Cebada began as a single land grant from the Spanish Crown in the early 17th century, given to Captain Blas Pizarro del Pozo y Gamboa de Astudillo, son of Diego Pizarro del Pozo y Clavijo de Galvéz of La Serena. The estate ran behind Cerro Talinay, from the mouth of the Limarí River south to the El Teniente ravine. On 21 November 1680 Blas Pizarro sold part of it to Maestre de Campo Joseph de la Vega y Mendoza, who in 1696 left his lands to his cousin Antonio Niño de Cepeda y Mendoza. By 1820 the land formed the Hacienda de La Cebada, owned by Agustín de Carvajal and María Campos, growing barley, wheat and fruit trees.

The name La Cebada comes from the barley (cebada) once grown on the hacienda that occupied these lands. Today the community is made up of smallholders who raise goats and work in small-scale mining, a way of life inherited from the estate's descendants.

La Cebada lies at km 338 of the Ruta 5, now the Autopista del Elqui, in the Ovalle commune; the nearest towns are Mantos de Hornillos 10 km south and Peñablanca 16 km east. Its two small beaches, about 100 m each, are not suitable for swimming. Winds from the south reach 50–65 km/h in the afternoon, strongest from February to May, and can make moving around difficult.

La Cebada has two small beaches of about 100 m each, and neither is suitable for swimming. The strong south winds, known locally as the surazo, can reach 50–65 km/h in the afternoon and carry sand inland, while a softer northern wind often blows in the morning.