The Journey

July 05, 2005

Well, I finally made it to El Salvador! Right now I'm laying in bed that is covered by a bug net. I'll try my best to recapture what happened today. Got off the plane—not too bad—I thought to myself as I started to feel beads of sweat building on my forehead. That was in the terminal where the cool air was still escaping the airplane's cabin. Once I entered baggage claim, I was drenched with sweat. I got my bags, and fiddled around with them for about twenty minutes, trying to get situated. I walked to inspections/customs—the guy looks at me, nods at the stop light and I push the button. I was hoping for the green light, but of course got the red. But he just looked at me and laughed and told me to keep going. Wow, awesome. So I walked out into what felt like hundred degree wet air—and all at once—about twenty guys start yelling at me, "Hey! Taxi! Amigo! Punta Mango! Punta Roca!" I just looked at them and smiled; I knew I wanted to take the bus, so I kept walking. Then one of the taxi drivers said he'd take me to La Libertad for $25. As I felt the sweat drip off my nose onto my damp shirt, I decided a forty minute, air-conditioned taxi ride beats a two-hour hot bus ride. On the drive I realized El Salvador is very green. It also has a lot of road kill. Dogs, cats, goats, and horses were laying along the side of the road on the way to the coast. I saw a few guys walking along the side of the road. We passed La Libertad and I saw Sunzal and it looked super good, but had at least twenty people on it. We continued on. Finally got to Playa Zonte and we pulled up to Surf Camp Horizonte. The girl said ten dollars a night, and that they don't allow camping. I was bummed because in the email they said they allowed camping. Oh well, it's definitely worth it. Horizonte has a small pool, a bungalow style bar with four hammocks underneath it surrounding a bar that sells one-dollar beers. Perfect. What's even better is the surf-check tower/lounge. I walked up the stairs and could see the entire point. I walked up it for the first time this morning and saw an absolutely perfect and empty point, with head-high waves rolling through. Amazing. I surfed twice today for about three hours the first time, an two hours the second session. I've met a bunch of cool people already. Two Americans, three Aussies, and one Salvadorian. The owners of Horizonte are very friendly, especially Carol, who is Saburo's wife. The food is great next door. I ordered barbecued chicken, rice, salad, and fresh bread for four dollars. While eating I was laughing at how perfect it all is. After my first sesh, I slept on the hammock for awhile. Cool, I just found a tick on the outside of my bug-net. Unfortunately the water is pretty nasty. Apparently it rains quite a bit here, especially over the past week, so the water is pretty brown, as the river mouth flows directly into the point. The water is about seventy-five degrees, and it's difficult to cool off in the ocean. Earlier, I cut my toe while walking into the water. I'm a bit worried it'll become infected, so I doctored it up pretty well. I also forgot to put sunscreen on my upper back. Actually, I did put it on, but I was sweating so much when I put it on, that apparently it didn't stick. It probably just dripped away. I haven't had to fight for one single wave so far—even when the evening crowd of about twelve came out. Basically, as soon as you paddle to the peak another wave rolls in, and I feel obligated to take-off on it because I don't want a perfect wave to go to waste. My friend Pat has been out of commission because he ate something bad yesterday. He said an hour after he ate he was on the toilet. In the evening, after the session, me and Pat sat in the hammocks around the bar watching Transmitting Live, Football Schmootball, and some Lost video. A perfect way to end a perfect day.