El Salvador... An Epic Surf Destination Awaits

Rails & Tales

. . . El Salvador

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1) Arriving in El Salvador, via Taca Airlines 2) Azul Surf Club, in El Cuco 3) WSSM crew: John (videographer), Dan (wssm owner/publisher/surfer), Amanda (Florida surfer, wife of photographer- Gabriel, of secretsurf007.com), Carolyn (surfer), Sandra (wssm publisher/ owner/surfer) 4) Martina, a guest at Azul Surf Club, and a surfer from New York, enjoying a wave all to herself at uncrowded, beautiful Las Flores 5) Azul Surf Club 6) John- still on Hawaii time, enjoys a siesta in one of the many hammocks at Azul Surf Club 7) Amanda taking in a spectacular sunset at El Cuco beach 8) Azul Surf Club, wrapped in night-time magic.

8 Photos: Gabriel Fernandez Photography | secretsurf007@yahoo.com Story by Dan Olson

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aca Airlines once again pushes the free food and beverage cart by us, as we all get our last dose of technology at our fingertips. Some of us are watching movies with free headphones, while others try to catch a little sleep, but the excitement builds with every passing minute. I scan the vast ocean horizon through the window, searching for any sign of waves or land, but all I can see is the Taca Airline logo, posing as my wing man.

This time, we took a direct flight to our destination, San Salvador- the capital of El Salvador, out of Los Angeles. Sandra, John and I had arrived from Hawaii into LAX, to meet up with Sandra’s sister, Carolyn, who often surfed with us in Hawaii, but this was her first “exotic” surf trip.

Within just a few hours we landed in San Salvador, where our tour guide, Alfredo Alvarez, and his driver, Leo, met us and guided us to our air conditioned van, supplied with fresh juices, sodas and ice-cold bottled water.

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I’ve found this to be the best thing to do when traveling for surf in exotic countries that you’ve never been before: get a tour package! Spend a little extra money and “live the life”, while staying super safe.

Alfredo stayed with us from the time we left the airport, until he dropped us back off again for our return flight home. We never had to deal with

parking, driving, or getting lost. Leo, aka “The Bull”, drove us safely, anywhere we wanted to go, on our (surfer) schedule, and guarded our boards while we shopped or dined. Now, don’t get me started on how good the food was just yet!

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For the first few nights, we would be staying on the eastern coast of

an epic surf destination

EL SALVADOR

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Rails & Tales

. . . El Salvador his next project there. She is now currently looking for volunteers to fund the project. It will be $2,000 per person for a great surf trip: all meals, transportation, boat trips and room included. Anyone who can get a group of 7 together can stay for free. Their time would be divided between surfing and helping with the construction and it is all tax free. They will begin construction in August of 2011.

El Salvador, at Azul Surf Club, in Cuco Beach, where we met up with our east coast photographer, Gabriel Fernandez, and his wife, Amanda, a surfer from New Smyrna Beach, Florida. You see, the western side of the country is the only part that has a coast, and it is riddled with undiscovered surf breaks. We would be staying near the world class surf break, Las Flores! Leo drove us to Cuco Beach where Ruby, the dog, was the first to greet us, and Lissette Perez welcomed us with open arms to her world class surf resort.

Lissette’s story is a good one, and one that we support wholeheartedly. In El Salvador, the majority of children only make it to 9th grade. Lissette, together with the local community and support from the surfing community around the world, is on a mission to change that.

The Azul Surf Club was even nicer than we expected, and overflowing with loving energy, friendly staff, and comfortable rooms with A/C, cable TV (which we never turned on) and hot water to shower in. The property boasted hammocks out by the sea or under the sheltered canopies, several eating and lounging areas, a beautiful pool, and a hot tub. It’s so nice to have a hot shower and a pool to lounge around, after having surfed 2-3 sessions in a day!

The project for the school came about when Lissette searched for students to give 3 scholarships to, that she could afford. She found that there were 25 kids from just 1 school that were interested. It broke her heart. Soon after, Alex from Surf for Life came to stay at her place and decided to do

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That first evening in, after taking a short nap and filling up on a delicious meal, we grabbed our boards for an evening session, right out in front of

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1) Rich entertaining the school kids in El Cuco, with magic tricks 2) Rich & wife, Shirley, perform a 360 head spin 3) Lissette helps Rich communicate with the children, including them in several of the tricks 4) John giving out the candy he brought for all the kids 5) Country & school pride 6) WSSM relaxing in the hammocks at Azul Surf Club before heading to the school to meet the children (l-r: Carolyn, John, Amanda, Gabriel, Dan, Sandra) 7) Dan pulls out of a close-out bomb, at Las Flores 8) Dan drops in at Las Flores 9) A local gathering rubber 10) Sandra, stoked on her El Salvador flag 11) Azul Surf Club 12) Dan using his GoPro HD video as John catches waves at El Cuco beach, directly in front of Azul Surf Club 13) Sandra on a close-out at Las Flores 14) Sandra contemplating going back out for just one more! 15) arms are pooped... she’s done! Ruby (dog) agrees.

THANK YOU to Honey Girl Water Wear for outfitting us girls on this surf trip.

These are the ultimate suits for surfing because they stay PUT, and we loved them! - Sandra, Carolyn & Amanda (www.honeygirlwaterwear.com)

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the club. It’s a fun beach break, offering both lefts and rights, and it can get gnarly on a rising tide with the right swell. Though the waves were only head high this evening, the black sand beach, silhouetted against the brilliant orange, pink and red scalloped sunset, was the perfect way to start our surf adventure. We fell asleep that night, anticipating the rising swell we had heard so much about.

The next morning, Leo loaded our boards for us, and we all piled in for a short 8 minute drive to Las Flores.

Upon arrival, we were excited to see double overhead surf pounding the coastline, with an occasional surfer dotting the coast, disappearing behind the sets of waves rolling in. Hearts pounding, we followed the “local” as Lissette advised, out to the lineup, and proceeded to enjoy some of the biggest and most powerful surf of our trip.

10’-12’ glassy rights peeled away from the rocky cliff, then re-formed on the inside, and then re-formed once again. We logged some of the rides of our lives, with only 2 other surfers out. Nice!

That was our schedule at Azul Surf Club: eat, surf, sleep, surf, eat some more, surf some more… until the last day of our stay there. Lissette, along with some other guests at the club, were going to the local elementary school to perform some magic tricks for the kids. They invited us along and we gladly accepted. This was going to be something most tourists would never get to see. As you can see from the pictures, the kids numbered around 400 and were stoked to see “visitors”. They were polite and extremely well-mannered as they all crowded into the center of the school yard, anxiously observing these Gringos that can defy the laws of gravity with floating handkerchiefs and 360degree head spins. My brother, John, and the “magicians” brought candy with them to give away at the end of the show, and the kids were overjoyed.

That evening, our last night in El Cuco, we walked the few short blocks to town for a better understanding of the culture. There weren’t too many cars on the street: a lot of walking and overloaded bicycles. Drinks and snacks cost about a dollar, and the people were very friendly, watching us watch them as we walked by. The people of El Salvador are very friendly and inviting. This was a refreshing change from Hawaii.

Upon returning to the camp at dark, huge bonfires lined parts of the road, yet no one seemed to mind. Alfredo informed us that everyone burns their trash and anything they don’t want, which explains the light smell of smoke that hangs in the air throughout the country. And we thought it was due to the active volcano there!

After saying our goodbye the next morning, we all piled into the van for the drive to Punta Roca Surf Lodge, the hotel owned by El Salvador’s #1 ranked professional surfer, Jimmy Rotherham and his family, in La Libertad.

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Small, quaint and very comfortable, it was also located right on the beach with stunning ocean views, complete with hammocks, 2 pools and security guards with shotguns that patrolled the property. It felt safe, and the famous surf break, Punta Roca, was nearby. Sandra and I joined Jimmy for an evening session there, and though it was crowded, it was an awesome place to put another “surf pin” on the map. Thanks Jimmy!

Our morning session was at Sunzal, an incredible right-hand point break that offered multiple wave sets that just peeled through the lineup like liquid corduroy. It would reform over and over and over again- offering countless turns and snaps, with a nice channel to take you back out to the lineup. We followed this epic session with a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, frijoles, and fried platanos (banana family). We then headed to the board of tourism to say hello to Martha and Maria, that had helped set up our entire itinerary and worked closely with Alfredo, coordinating our excursions and meals.

They did an excellent job helping us plan it all, and even provided us with

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another guide, Roberto, that would accompany us to our next great adventure… zip lining!

We drove up the winding to the San Salvador volcano and zip line, admiring the coffee trees that were densely scattered on the slopes, bursting with white flowers. It was a beautiful sight. Once there, we “signed our lives away” and loaded into the safari style truck with our own personal shotgun-toting security guards, and headed to the volcanic peak. All six of us had never zip-lined before, so this was an item to cross off our bucket list. At one point we were flying at over 300+ feet in the air, over coffee tree laden ravines and canyons, back to the bottom. Breathtaking! A lunch at the zip line restaurant, Café Miranda, of the local Sunday fare, Pupusas (kinda like a FLAT tamale—of sorts, filled with cheeses, pork, or chicken, and served with salsa and pickled cabbage—don’t forget the fresh juice!) was served on the open air patio, overlooking the many volcanoes in the distance. wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 33

Rails & Tales

. . . El Salvador

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an epic surf destination

1) The WSSM crew saying goodbye to Azul Surf Club.

We didn’t want to leave! (l-r) Leo, Gabriel, Amanda, John, Lissette, Dan, Sandra, Martina, Carolyn, Alfredo) 2) Dan catching his line at Las Flores 3) Carolyn enjoying the inside at Las Flores, in her new Honey Girl swimwear 4) Inside the surf mobile, stoked from the morning session 5) Carolyn heads out at Las Flores 6) A pretty standard storefront in El Cuco 7) Sandra drops on a nice wave at Las Flores 8) Lissette, and her wonderful crew at Azul Surf Club 9) Sisters- Carolyn & Sandra, head out for some early morning rides at Las Flores

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Rails & Tales

. . . El Salvador

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Opposite page: 1) An evening walk in El Cuco 2) Dan & John, silhouetted against the burn piles that dot the roadside 3) Halfway down the zipline 4) Val, Rich, Shirley, and Butch at Azul Surf Club 5) Lissette, Martina: Las Flores morning patrol. Photos 4&5 by Martina Melendez 6) Sandra zipping down through the lush countryside at 300+ feet in the air 7) Tough guys: at the San Salvador Volcano and Zip Line 8) Chatting with Martha & Maria at the Board of Tourism 9) Carolyn buying jewerly from a local girl in El Puerto 10) Schoolgirls in El Cuco 11) A really cool looking truck in El Puerto 12) Carolyn checking out the local architecture in El Cuco 13) Walking into El Cuco as evening sets in.

This page: 1) Lunch at La Terraza Bohemia, with the ladies from the Board of Tourism, and professional surfer, Jimmy Rotherham. (l-r) Gabriel, Maria, Amanda, Jimmy, Sandra, Dan, Carolyn, John, Emilia 2) Amanda, Sandra & Carolyn, strategize about the paddle-out to Punta Roca 3) Beautiful flowers abound in El Salvador 4) Board of Tourism- a great start to planning your surf travel in El Salvador 5 & 6) Sandra and Dan at Punta Roca. Can you see his HD GoPro camera?

It’s secured via an FCS plug.

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TOP RIGHT: In the background of this photo with the pier, you can see the waves crashing against it, and that it’s lined with fishing boats.

They lower the boats down one at a time, in between wave sets, and then quickly start the engine and zoom away! I’ve never seen this done anywhere before… it’s a great use of space, but Jimmy Rotherham also said that when they’ve lowered the boats too slowly, and therefore, failed to time the sets; it results in boats being dashed and broken against the pier! Did I mention… this is also the way they have to come back IN! On the pier itself, is a world class fish market where you can buy trinkets and souvenirs from the shops that line it and the boardwalk.

You’ll also see the local kids jumping from the pier and swimming in with the sets.

Back in La Libertad, we grabbed our boards and headed to El Zonte, about 10 minutes away, to meet up with some of El Salvador’s best local surfing chicas, Gabriela, Noemy, and Evelin, before they left for a surf competition in Guatemala the next day. It was late, and a bit overcast, but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to surf with these girls… they were ripping!

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Gabriela met up with us the next morning back at Sunzal with her friend, Eli, for a killer morning session, with big, glassy waves once again. Such a perfect swell: one that locals were calling the best they had seen in several months. God always seems to bless us in our surf travels with epic waves.

Remember I said the food was good? In the town of El Tunco (the Hog), we enjoyed some of the best seafood EVER. Gigantic shrimp prawns the size of two fingers, lobster, steamed fish, flavorful pastas, tender seasoned carne… leaving us with no room for dessert whatsoever. It was easy to communicate with most of the staff at the local restaurants, because most spoke enough broken English to decipher our bad Spanish. La Guitarra was an awewSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 37

Rails & Tales

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some place for grinds after a session at Punta Roca. The live band playing in the restaurant, combined with candlelight, huge platefuls of scrumptious cuisine, and the sound of the ocean crashing on the beach, was a sensory overload and we recommend it highly. One afternoon at the Dulce Vida (“the Sweet View”) in La Libertad, while waiting for our food to arrive, we watched the local children dancing on the beach for tips. I threw a few dollars down to them, and after a few seconds, other tourists from the adjoining restaurants began throwing more money down to them. They gratefully dashed about collecting it: then promptly returned to dancing, and then soccer. After finishing our meal, we asked for our leftovers to-go, and took them downstairs to the hard-working entertainers. They loved it, and Alfredo told them firmly, they were to share everything.

1 & 2) Punta Roca Surf Lodge 3) Giving the local “beach performers” our remaining lunches from La Dulce Vida 4) The ocean view from La Dulce Vida. See the “beach performers”? 5) Amanda at Sunzal 6) Flashing our “signs”before heading to the fish market on the pier 7) Local surfer girl, Noemy Centeno Alvarez, drops in at El Zonte 8) Perfect lines peeling in at Sunzal 9) Horse rides on the beach only $2 10) El Tunco beach 11) Josselyn at Las Flores 12) Sandra on a smooth wave at Las Flores 13) Evelin Centeno Alvarez at El Zonte 14) Mariachis play love songs for Sandra (from Dan) at La Dulce Vida restaurant 15) Dan and John, returning from a session at Las Flores 16) Local surfers, Eli and Gabriela, at Sunzal 17) El Tunco “the Hog” 18) Amanda going right at Sunzal 19 & 20) Carolyn strokes into a wave at Sunzal... and she’s off! 21) Leo (driver), Gabriel (WSSM photographer), and Alfredo (local tour guide, surf trip specialist/owner, explorelsalvador.com) 22) It’s good to surf in El Salvador with friends... Sandra, John, Carolyn, Amanda, Dan 23) Carolyn- picture perfect at Las Flores 24) Dan, blasting out at El Zonte 25) Sandra on an outside set at Las Flores 26) The local surfer girls of El Salvador: Gabriela, Evelin, Amanda, Noemy, Carolyn, Sandra, Dan, John.

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Our last 2 days/nights were spent at the luxurious Paradizo Azul Resort, which had king size beds, exquisite décor, cold A/C, and 24hour gated security. Perched on a hill top overlooking the spectacular Sunzal point break, the view from the patio deck, swimming pools and dining areas was breathtaking, making us to wish we could just stay there forever. Steve and his wife, Ramjet, built the resort themselves, and manage it along with their adjoining restaurant across the street, Kayu Bar and Grill. They offered board rentals for John and Carolyn, which they found helpful since it eliminated the need to lug longboards back and forth to the beach.

and restaurants lining the cobblestone streets. Board rentals are plenty here also, and the atmosphere is very surfer-friendly.

We hit the town on our last night in El Salvador. There were plenty of clubs and restaurants to choose from, with no hassling from the locals. One funny thing we noted here was that the girls were dressed nicely, in dinner and beach dresses, but weren’t wearing shoes. They brought the elegance of a night out, and combined it with the casual beach and surfer lifestyle… and it worked.

Sunzal offered up some of the best waves as far as quality and consistency, though with a crowded lineup. The sets had multiple waves, allowing for lots of rides for everyone… if you wanted a set wave, all you had to do was go get it. And the middle to inside section had a nice second drop, where beginners and intermediate surfers can snag some sick, long rights.

This beach had pitch black, silky sand, littered with smooth cobblestones, where you can ride a horse for 20 minutes, for only $2. My brother, John, had never ridden a horse before so I thought it couldn’t be any more perfect than to take an afternoon ride on the beach, especially for the price. They even let us run the horses! The town of El Tunco was within walking distance from Paradizo Azul, and is a pure-surf town, with small roadside bars, cafés

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El Salvador definitely offers waves for all levels; from my favorite wave- heart

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1) Map of El Salvador, courtesy of the Board of Tourism 2) Gabriela Castillo enjoying Las Flores 3, 4, 5) Paradizo Azul Surf Club: breakfast on the deck, accomodations, and room view 6) Amanda on her way to Las Flores for an early morning session 7) Carolyn blasting out of a late take-off at Las Flores 8) Eli from Germany, at Las Flores 9) Roberto (standing) tells the group about the rich history and culture of El Salvador- they truly ARE a friendly people 10) Steve and Ramjet, owners of Paradizo Azul Surf Resort 11) Amanda (l) and Sandra (r) sharing a party wave at Las Flores 12) Dan throws a bucket at Las Flores

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EL SALVADOR pumping, heaving Las Flores on a big swell, to snappy contest-like waves in El Zonte, to the perfectly pealing, slow rolling mountains of Sunzal. The only obstacle standing between you and the perfect surf session is getting your head in the game to surf in a foreign country and just let loose... and your arms giving out from the sheer exhaustion of catching so many waves.

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I’d like to give a big thank you to the Board of Tourism for helping us set our plans. Alfredo and Leo “The Bull” from ExplorElSalvador.com made this whole trip so comfortable, informative, and safe for the girls and us guys.

Thanks guys… and we’re planning to return to El Salvador very soon. F

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RECOMMENDED SERVICES WHEN TRAVELING TO EL SALVADOR u

air travel

TACA AIRLINES www.taca.com u

tour guide & surf trip specialist

EXPLORE EL SALVADOR Contact: Alfredo | explorelsalvador.com info@explorelsalvador.com u

local information

El SALVADOR BOARD OF TOURISM www.elsalvador.travel/en/ u

surf resorts AZUL SURF CLUB PH: 626.487.4863 www.azulsurfclub.com PUNTA ROCA SURF LODGE www.puntaroca.com PARADIZO AZUL SURF RESORT www.paradizoazul.com

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