Hola!! Greetings from El Salvador, land of the tan wannabe surfer gringos... that would be us! No, we´re surfers.. cause we can paddle! But man, the waves have been sticking it to us lately! They started out at about 12-15 foot high with a monster curl that would just gobble us up... Now they´re down to a comfy 3-5 foot size, but we´re so humbled by previous experiences that we still sulk in and out of the water with much respect for mother ocean.
Yesterday, I paddled out with two Canadian girls and one by one we each took on big set... thinking, naively that we could just dip through the top of the moster waves and each finding out that, well, no... not really. The waves picked Gwen up from the base and slammed her down, the last three in the set dragging her over the rocky point - she escaped with merely a scratch on her foot. Jen thought she could pop through the top of a wave in another set and instead was flipped upside down and munched by the beast and carried to the beach by the next three waves... her souvenir a scratched hip... then another set rolled in... I thought I was in there... I was going to toss the board and dive under the belly of the big daddy, but decided, nah, I got this.... no such luck! He took me too, up and over onto my back and into a big old rinse cycle for a few seconds that felt like a few minutes.. up for a breath, enough time to get on the board and try to ride on my belly with the next wave only to end up over the rocks.... another rinse cycle, back on the board paddling for fear of destroying the board and my legs in the rocks... and then finally, cleared and literally spat out of the ocean by a final wave, tossed on my butt, board by my side and back to the possee of gringos that had money on how worked I would get... Not a scratch! We three pups just sat with our hair strewn and our bikini tops around our necks under the rash guards... nodding and gasping, realizing... hmmmmm maybe better luck tomorrow!
And ' today was better.... Jered and I paddled out at another mellower break and had a blast bouncing around on soft friendly waves, being selective and not having to fight 15 other surfers for a spot in the line up.... life is good in the water. The locals are little rippers... some very deserving of sponsorship! Ripping it up modestly with no idea of how bad ass they are! It´s great!
The hostel is sweet... we basically wake up daily, have two cups of coffee, granola, fruit and yogurt then surf... the we come out, lie in hammocks and read, drink a milkshake made with papaya and bananas grown over our heads and get ready to go out again... after which we come in and have fish burgers or tuna salad and start downing pilsners as we watch the last of the surfers ride the sun to sleep. Our hostel is twenty steps from the water and is well guarded by three fabulous dogs... Chito, Coco and Coral... who walk with us, our entourage... everywhere we go... the beach, the store, back home, to surf... They´re like our dogs and it´s great cause I miss mine tons! Plus, they´re the cool dogs on the block - the best hair and skin, the most well-fed... There are plenty of others in the little town we´re staying in - hairless and skinny as hell! Heartbreakers, really...
So, when I say town, what I really mean is the cul de sac that we stay on at the end of a cobblestone-dirt road. The homes are all made of big sticks holding up tin roofs with palmetto branches over the patios and sand for the floor - inside and out. Our hostel has cinder block walls and concrete floors, but basically, it´s basic... We do have a pool and showers and running water and all that ' but not everyone in the area does.... The average wages down here are not pretty. The cooks and cleaners where we stay - our buddies, Carlos, Ana, Blanca, Bea, Mirna and Pajaro- make $6 a day and apparently that´s a lot. The construction workers that are building an addition at the hostel shovel sand and schlepp bricks all day with bare feet or sandals, and they make $4 a day!!! At least our crew gets tips and they are treated very very well by our hosts, Alex and Emilia.
We went on one excursion from surfing to see some ruins closer to the capital. One set of ruins was a mayan pyramid similar to that of Tekal (in Guatemala... I think....). An impressive structure built around 1500AD. The other ruins were so old... and were only found in 1976 when they were digging with bulldozers to create a development for housing... the ruins dated back to 500BC and had the most wicked construction for their time, but were buried when the volcano erupted and were buried under 15-20 layers of ash... like 20-30 feet deep! They also found little bowls, pots, masks and animal skeltons... but no people.. they had the chance to run from the lava ... how far, who knows and crazily, there is probably sooooo much more under the developed parts of the city that will never be discovered because it´s already been built on. After the field trip, we went swimming in a huge crystal clear lake surrounded by smaller mountains and then had dinner in a beautiful hotel with the most lucious plants and artsy decorations. Aside from that day, we´ve just been beaching it - happily!
Next stop - Nicaragua. We´ll probably leave here at the end of this week and make our way south. We are heading to a town so far south that we have no choice but to pop into Costa Rica too! So, that´s exciting. Until the next stop - enjoy your summers, send updates and plan your next vacation out of the US of A!!!!
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