Travelogue: El Salvador, May 2007, Part IV

Desayuna Tipico

Hola Todos,

Saturday… El Sabado…

The weekend crowds are back. A new swell is starting to show on the outside of the point, and the weekend locals are dropping in mercilessly on the turistas. It’s a good morning to have a big breakfast (desayuna tipico salvadoreno), drink coffee, listen to the birds and watch los payasos en las olas. Today will be a midday surf session, when it clears out. Besides, after that breakfast, I couldn’t possibly lay on mi tabla and paddle without tasting it again.

A typical breakfast is scrambled eggs, refried black beans, a hunk of queso fresco, a fried plantain and some sort of bread. Muy delicioso. Don’t forget the cafe con leche!

I surfed Playa Zonte on Thursday. Zonte is a shorter point (maybe 50-100 meters, max), but a much more intense wave. Less people than Sunzal, but a tighter take-off area. Right after the take-off at the top of the point there in a small tube section (just the top half of the wave, with a thin lip). The bottom was rocky, with lots of cobblestones filling in the gaps. The swell was creating many peaks that swung wide, and some sections that would close down. The swell was head high with many bigger sets. I took a couple of wide sets first – the wave is much steeper and faster than Sunzal. All of a sudden, I was first in line at the top of the point so I paddled over to the top. I picked the wrong set wave though. The whole tube section broke at once (about 20 meters). I saw it happening and couldn’t decide to straighten out or go over the top… so my too-late effort to go over the top meant I got the lip square in the chest – and got bounced off the bottom. Zonte gave me un beso on my back, but not bad (glad I have betadine and neosporin). Jersey saw that wave and described it as me being ´annihilated´. Bastard. Anyways, surfed for a couple hours, got out, drank a gatorade from the palapa, went out and surfed another hour. A very fun wave.

San Salvador was a fun trip on Wed. I had some difficulties trying to find a massage. I think people were assuming that I wanted a ’special’ massage (looking for a “happy ending”?). To make it sound proper, I had to ask for an ‘officina de masaje MEH-DEE-CEE-NAHL’. I finally got directed to the day spa at the Hilton. Still dirt cheap for a massage ($15 for 45 minutes).

I may go back to San Salvador tomorrow. The surf is a zoo on the weekends. OK, maybe surf at the crack of dawn then go to the city…

Salud, amor, y paz.

Buenas Dias,

Yesterday (Sabado) was the best surf session I’ve had so far.

Wait a second. That was what I started writing this morning (Domingo) while drinking my coffee. The swell kept getting better! I had a great session this morning, although it was a bit busy in the water. So I had a quick lunch and waited for the midday sun and low tide. Only a few people out, no wind, sun beating down, water too warm to provide relief, and perfect clean waves.

One more time… starting again…

This has been a great swell. Started showing up Saturday, big on Sunday, still big today (Monday).

I’m fried.

My arms and shoulders, my skin, my brain, my intestinal system… all of it – fried. Luckily, the wind picked up early this morning and blew out the surf. I don’t feel obligated to surf anymore today and I can go into town and get a massage – and maybe find an air-conditioned museum to hang out in. Last night, playing poker, my brain wasn’t working properly – I think it is a bit of heat exhaustion.

So much good surf. So much heat. So much warm bath water which does nothing to cool me off.

This was (and still is) a good long-period swell. Punta Sunzal woke up, and became much much faster… and steeper… The wall of the wave became much longer also – about 10-15 meters wide – plenty of room to link turns together. The 10-minute sets were head and a half, with occasional double overhead sets that swung wide and cleared the line-up. This actually helped keep the crowd down quite a bit, although made it difficult to push my hybrid through.

So, three sessions on Sat and Sun – two in the midday sun – and I’m actually relieved by the onshore winds picking up so suddenly. I need a day of rest and massaje and air conditioning (and maybe find some ‘health food’ to eat). I also had some really strange feverish dreams last night… and maybe I can find the type of art and images I was seeing (in the dreams). I think I really cooked my brain (hopefully no permanent damage).

Too much babbling! I’ll write later…

Salud.

(Read Part V)