Category — Surf

Sometimes the best made plans go awry. Like this travel blog. Due to a number of external (and internal) forces, I have not been keeping up on this. Plenty of good old-fashioned pen-and-paper writing has occurred – it just needs to be translated into flying-photon format. Next week (when I´m back in the cold, coastal, far northern California climate), I´m going to start this travel article from the beginning. It will make sense when I get there. Until then, I´ll post a couple of pieces.

5:30 am. No alarm – tried to sleep in – awake anyways. Today is a day off from surfing. After five consecutive days of overhead-or-better surf, I need a break (and a chance for my shoulder injury to heal a bit).

I´m awake – and there´s something natural about checking the surf – so I walk.

The surf doesn´t look much smaller than yesterday – but it is a lot less consistent. Like yesterday – there is a huge pack in the water already.

La Bocana looks great. This may be the option for the remaining days of smaller swell (beside the fact that there are a lot less people surfing there).
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El Mangle´has been overrun with Brazilians. Last year, Canadians were everywhere – no Brazilians. This year, the exact opposite.

I really enjoy the atmosphere at el Mangle´. There seems to be an endless supply of quirky characters hanging out in the common area (myself included). The sorority-like orphanage volunteers from last year? They were here in force again this year – some of the same faces. They were here for the beach party – Tunco must be on the internet bulletin-board party-circuit.

This year, there are Brazilians everywhere – 5 crammed into 2 rooms in Mangle´. Roberto is the patriarch – the fittest 48-year-old you´ll ever meet – drinking from his fancy metal mate´cup. Conejo is a young guy (mid twenties) – who like Roberto – speaks some español and some ingles. The other three speak only Portuguese – and while one will smile and nod towards me, the other two seem too cool to bother. (Maybe this is only perception – that Brazillians, with their aggressive mannerisms, appear unfriendly if no verbal communication occurs.)
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The lonely cry of the Peruvian Leafcutter filled the air…

I was dreaming (nightmaring?) I had to get up and go to work. I was tired and hitting the snooze button…

I woke up in the dark with my alarm going off.

5:00am

Time to get up, make instant coffee, break-fast with a Cliff Bar, stretch, and be in the water for the 5:40am sunrise.

Alarm off.

5:00 am in El Salvador has a pleasant climate. A breeze was coming in through my north-facing window, nice and cool and in the high 60´s.

North wind? The wind is offshore this morning.

Coffee.

Get up, find a mug in the community pile – and mix it strong – about one quarter instant coffee, three quarters water. The trick is to drink as much as you can as fast as possible – instant coffee tastes like mierda.

Power down the bar (and glad that it´s chocolate chip to cut the aftertaste of the coffee), chase it down with a juice-in-the-box. Manzanillo today.

More wax on the board? Nah, I´ll finally do it tomorrow… tomorrow… tomorrow…
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It´s not the heat – it´s the humidity.

For some reason, neither feels bad right now.

Maybe that additional year in far northern coastal California has given me new perspective. Lying in a hammock, all pores open, sweating, feverish…

All the open pores feel like they are exhaling (not panting) – outgassing all of the pollution, sickness, and stress associated with the last several months of work.

I feel as if I´m slowly deflating.
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View from my door

I woke up as the plane was making it´s final descent, and would you mind putting your seat into the upright position please?

My brain was filled with sand, my cold felt a lot worse – and worst of all I had missed getting the immigration paperwork.

Looking out the window, I could see point after point with swell wrapping in perfectly. The swell lines could be seen to the horizon in the low morning light. Suddenly, I didn´t feel so bad.

Somehow, I made it through customs. The officer would ask me a question in Spanish – which made no sense to me in my foggy state. As I stared at him, trying to remember mi español - I heard another part of my brain control my mouth and say “dos semanas“.
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Surf Report, March 10, 2008

This was actually not a stellar day for surf – but it was a day worth celebrating nonetheless. Monday, March 10, 2008 marked the first day I had time to surf after work this year. Due to Daylight Savings Time on the 9th, I now have the opportunity for post-work paddling.

The surf looked sloppy from the cliff. From the cliff, the waves looked knee-to-waist high with only the large rocks for scale (no people out to gauge true height). A storm was coming ashore, and the offshore breezes were helping, but the majority of the swell was leftovers from the previous swell combined with the local SW wind chop from the approaching system. The combination was creating peaks at several places along this beach, and some were held up by the offshores to make what looked like fun little steep sections. The tide wasn’t quite low enough for that other spot, so this was best choice.

Actually, it was also the best choice because no one else was out when I looked. It looked small and disorganized – so people would probably drive to low-tide spot (which did not have a low enough tide) and surf where they already saw people in the water.

For all the time effort surfers make trying to escape the crowds – many of them appear to be lonely and need to surf where others are already out in the water.
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Today is a celebratory day of symmetry. Happy Candlemas! Or is it Groundhog Day! Or…

Today is the halfway point between winter solstice and vernal equinox.

We have now entered the three-month-period where the length of day increases the fastest (for the northern hemisphere).

For all the sunshine junkies, this is a time of celebration!

As my custom dictates for the astronomical holidays, I look for surf. As you can see from the picture, the surf in this very protected cove was a bit messy.

At least the days are getting longer faster…

Hey Everyone!

I realized that I have left you hanging on the end of this trip. I’m back in the states safely, although not necessarily safer. I’ve had two days of work to think about moving down to Central America. It’s a good time to share a couple pictures. Lots of new pictures are up on my myspace site also – including video of the mariachi band performing ‘Mariachi Loco’.

The end of the trip went well. The night before I left El Salvador, I had to eat at my favorite places and visit people. Elias (the bartender) asked if we were surfing at sunrise – he would be there. Of course! I had just enough time to surf a couple hours, pack, and catch a taxi to the airport.

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Hola Todos,

I think I’ve finally acclimated over the last few days. Too bad this is my last full day here. I woke up Tuesday extremely hungry… and able to sleep at will. All of a sudden the heat is no longer affecting my appetite. Good thing – my shorts are getting so big that I’m developing a serious SoCal sag.

It’s been quiet in the bungalow. Only Flaco, Canuck2 and myself have been here the last couple days – and Flaco left this morning. Actually, Canuck2 has a Salvadoreño nickname – it’s Risitas (which means ’smiley’). My Salvadoreño name has been ‘Callado‘ as of a few days ago. El Callado – the Quiet. Super. But true in a way. When I get loaded around new people, I usually am a bit quiet at first. And, the Salvadoreños appear to call it like they see it when nick-naming gringos. If you’re fat, you’re gordo. Skinny – flaco. If you look asian – chino. None of it is to be taken personally, it’s all in good fun (and they only name the people they talk to – usually because the pronunciation of our names is foreign). Anyways, I occasionally hear ‘Callado!’ when I get a wave now.

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Vomit Roulette

Hey Everyone,

During this air conditioning break, I would like to tell you about a game we play here – Vomit Roulette.

It’s called vomit roulette because the ‘winner’ has to vomit (well… they just vomit of their own bodily urges). The roulette part is that it can strike anyone, any day, anytime.

There are so many factors that decide this game – and all of these variables is what makes the game interesting. Saturday saw four winners – Canuck2, the new Kiwi surfer, Jesus the surfer/waiter, and one of the sorority-girl-volunteers. The clean-up woman was not happy with us that next morning.

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