El Salvador.... Land of the machete.

After a week of fairly challenging travel through guatemala, the violins were playing hard for us and we thought we were due for a holiday from the grubby backpacker scene.

The beaches of El Salvador had been recommended to us as an alternative destination to recharge the batteries. El Salvador is a country that people often pass by due to reports of crime and other unfriendly behavior towards gringos, and It had also just been hit by a pretty massive hurricane (10 days of torrential rain), so the beaches had been turned upside down with whole palm trees and huge amounts of debris scattered along the coast. Despite these factors, it turned out to be a very good choice....

The first afternoon we arrived we checked in to our hostel La Guitarra (the guitar) in a small surfing town called El Tunco. The hostel was set up for surfers and was located on the beach overlooking the 2 main surf breaks, and had a sunset bar with happy hour for 4 hours every afternoon. The rooms had surfboard racks, and the taco lady was open everyday right at our front door.... Could you describe a better place if you tried? Well, it did get better, because the surf increased in size from 2-3ft to 5-6ft over the next 5 days that we stayed there. Perfecto!
I hired a surfboard on our first afternoon we got there, and after catching one of the bigger waves of the day (well thats how the story is now being told) i unintentionally practiced my salsa dancing on a shallow part of the reef during a wipeout. This didn't turn out so well due to some of the driftwood that was wedged between the rocks and my feet came off second best. Lesson learnt.

The second day turned out much better though, and I bought a second hand board to travel central america with and travel bag for $170. It's a 6'2" short board that seems to suit me, and I managed to surf all day at the 'locals only' break on the beach without being chased off with a machete (not uncommon apparently)
The third day was my birthday and Melbourne cup day. Many thanks to anyone who sent me a birthday message (or wished me a happy Melbourne cup day). This day was particularly good because the swell increased to 6ft which is how it stayed for the next few days. The point was firing all day, and I caught a couple of waves for over 200m. The birthday night was also good, as most people at our happy hour bar joined in for shots and dinner after an awesome day surfing.

The next couple of days we also explored a few breaks up and down the coast. Punta Rocca is one of the longest waves in the world. Its challenges include 1) timing the paddle out over shallow rocks; 2) avoiding bandits near the long walk out to the point ( they have been known to rob surfers, or failing robbery, chase surfers into the water across the rocks); 3) catch the hard, fast breaking waves. Lucky for us we surfed it on day of the dead (public holiday) and there was a lot of people around, so no machetes, but I did get some more salsa practice on the rocks during the paddle out on low tide. The ride was worth it though, and some of the waves were scarier than an armed el salvadorian, but we lived to see another day.

The last day involved a 5:30am start to travel on a chicken bus to a break called K59. The day Before at the same place 3 Aussie surfers had mistimed their paddle out and had been washed up against cliffs on the far side of the beach after 2 big sets hit them in a row. They had to be saved by some locals. Oh, and it's also renowned for machete robberies.... Anyways, This place was by far the most impressive, and our group (about 5 of us) had it pretty much to ourselves all morning. We surfed for 4 hours through sunburn and hunger, but it was clearly the winner for the week and a good way to finish.

Oh - I forgot to mention, Edwina was also in El Slavador with me, primarily providing medical attention to my feet and sunscreen to my back. She tells me she had a great time as well and we made a lot of new friends....

Chad