Session 121 - Aug 16 - central america

Saturday Aug 16, 6´8 Taylor

Woke up this morning to much improved surf, so didn´t waste time and hustled on out there. As tends to be the case anywhere, surf here is generally glassy in the morning, blows out by lunch and afternoon, and calms back down again at dusk. So this morning saw nice clean conditions, much more organized, not huge and not epic but fun waves...actually I´d call it similar to 1st and 2nd peak at home but with one-tenth the crowd. It´s not like it is empty here, there are people, but it was Saturday morning and I´m at one of the best known spots in the country, so no complaints here. People are friendly too. Surf was good enough to keep me out in the water from 8.30 am to 12.30 am, pretty exhausted after that...came back and ate a really good hamburguesa at the most bustling beachside restaurant-bar, read some more...the scene was pretty busy, all the city folks over at the beach enjoying a nice sunny day, everybody drinking lots of cervezas and having a good time...fun to take it all in. Like said before, the crowd is much more locals, gringos are outnumbered 20 to 1 easy...give it a few years and we´ll see what happens to that ratio. Development is coming quick.

I lounged around for the afternoon and in the evening paddled back out again, crowd had dropped significantly as had the waves, smaller but still a lot of fun. Followed up with dinner...had had enough tourist-beachfront priced meals so wandered down the street a bit for some more authentic flair. Found what I was looking for in the form of a streetside cart cooking up hot pupusas, the local staple...started out by ordering two. Quickly scarfed those down, time for 2 more. And then 1 more after that. Good little things. And good price too, 35 cents each. Bill for my 5 pupusas and 2 beers- $4. Including tip. Good meal. Jose, the same guy posted about earlier, saw me eating and joined me as well, so we had a good meal together. He ate 8 pupusas, impressive! He´s an interesting guy, born and raised here but went to college in Michigan. He works in the city as a graphic designer, but spends all his weekends and down time here at the beach...he´s my age but says been surfing since 1994, when there was nothing at all out here. so he has some good stories to share. Wish I could say we were sitting there having a meal talking in spanish, but the dude speaks perfect english so, english it was. Followed dinner with more hammock time and reading and bedtime. It´s the next morning now and surf is smaller still, dropped off, but I´m gonna go paddle out anyway and see what I can get. Good times.