El Salvador, pretty much the best trip I have ever been on, things started out a bit on the rough side, where at one point I was ready to forfeit the entire trip and run home to my comfort zone, but I’m glad now that I didn’t, I would never have experienced such an amazing country, or made the new friends I now have or seen and experienced that things I did.
So in a way now I’m glad that thing went the way they did, travelling alone all the way to El Salvador, was what I needed, before this trip I was terrified to go through international non English airports but now it doesn’t seem half as intimidating as before.
One thing I would change if I could, would be the rain, torrential rain that came down from Friday until Monday evening, causing floods and devastation in La Liebertad, and turned the ocean into a muddy mess with debris everywhere, only delaying the event by one day.
The event ran in contestable clean 3 – 5 foot surf at Punta Roca from day 1 to 5, with sun shine and light winds, the standard of surfing for a masters event was top level with names like Tom Curran, Layne Beachley, Juan Ashton, Heather Clarke and Fabio Gouvier.
Punta Roca is a super fun waves, exactly like they say it’s like Super tubes in J Bay but it runs a bit slower so its super makeable, we got to surf at Punta Roca after the event most days it was super crowded but plenty of waves the local kids didn’t like us surfing out there that much so there was plenty of hustling and just getting plain down burnt if you thought you were on a set, even though you did wait your turn.
So on our earlier day we all decided to surf the point our front of the hotel, also a cobble stone point with super fun right which ran for meters on end, some of the funest waves I’ve surfed in a long time, so Playa Conchalio took up most of our day light free time, surfing till dark watching the raddest sunsets which were more awesome every day.
On Saturday night we ventured into San Salvador which is the capital of El Salvador, we went to a Japanese restaurant called Kamakura, apparently they served the best sushi which had all the boys frothing, even I ate a piece, wasn’t half bad, but I stuck to my Chicken teriyaki.
We were greeted with 2- 2.5 foot small rights for the final day, Team South Africa managed a finalist in all 5 divisions, and ended up with 2 Silver medals, 2 Bronze and a copper medal, as well as the bronze medal over all, great result for a great team, the gold medal went to USA and Brazil took silver, Australia finished 5th ha ha.
El Salvador is such a unique country, and one thing I learnt is that simplicity is the key to happiness, I wouldn’t say the people of la Liebertad were hard done by the had the basic necessities, T.V and internet as well, but they lived simple and I’ve never seen a happier nation of people living in the conditions they live in, the kids play out in the streets till 8:30 each night, kicking balls, playing with the million of pebbles that litter the beaches, and just always wearing a smile, and to see their stoke for surfing despite their equipment ,was moving.
So with two flight down I’m sitting in Sao Paulo Airport, waiting out the longest layover of my life, thinking back on the past 11 days of my life and how lucky I am to have been afforded these opportunities, thinking of the waves, the people, the new friends I have made and the awesome sunset that the people of El Salvador will see tonight, I really hope I return back to la Liebertad sometime soon, but for now it’s just two more flights and i’m back to reality, and I will have that blog on Shin splints out by next week.
Wade
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