Acatenango Volcano, Guatemala

So far all I have done in Antigua is Spanish school and a fair amount of getting to know the bars. The Terrace (hostel) gets people up and moving place to place, which makes it hard to stay in at night. Anyways, surrounded by volcanos it was time for me to hike one of these sons of bitches.

Surrounding the town of Antigua, there are 4 solid volcanoes. Some you can hike in an hour, the others are full or multi day trips. The small hike is to a volcano called Pacaya. Years ago you could hike this up and see lava flowing around you! Sounded rad...but today its just heats the old dried up lava. When you get to the top you roast marshmallows on the lava bed (no lava = boring). So I decided to do the gnarmax hike and bite the bullet. At this point I can't say I'm in the greatest lower body exercise shape. I can paddle all day but legs haven't done much except walk every bit of Antigua multiple times a day.

My decision was to hop on a multi-day trip to Acatenango. This was supposedly the hardest hike in the area. 5 hours straight up a volcano to 4,000 meters up in the sky. 3 levels of climate change: farmland, cloud forest, and the peak). The night before the large group of 14 had to meet at the lodge and go over gear and equipment. The owner of the place talked to everyone like we were 5 years old and knew right off the bat this guy sucks. So made a point to not engage with the dude as much as possible. I judged the book by the cover but this guy was a real prick. The other 2 guides seemed cool, so that was a easy way to by-pass the weirdo.

Meeting ended and I grabbed some old gear: fleece pants that was made for a midget, a pair of gloves that showed the cotton out of the thumb and a sweet old school puffy jacket, plus a cool beanie that was made in the 70's. I was in.

Woke up the next day at 5:30 am and heading to the lodge to meet everyone. Cold and tired but a quick coffee did the job. Two vans pulled up and we headed out. The drive was about a hour on some good roads then turned into a bumpy gravel nightmare. We finally pulled up to a trail that literally went straight up. No turns and soft gravel/ash. Everyone got out, prepared there minds mentally and got a group photo before we headed up.

The trip finally began. 14 people stuck together like bees quickly separated within 10 minutes. People were sweating like they were in a sauna and appeared like they were dying. But they are all pussies.

20 minutes in the boss stopped everyone for a break. Supposedly this was the hardest part of the hike. Not warmed up and instantly going straight up. He was right. One of the girls at this point looked like there was no way she was going to make it up. She hired a porter (local to carry her backpack to the top). I guess that helped her even though the backpacks only weighed 10 lbs. Regardless, we pushed forward. At this point we are still in the farming section. Surrounded by lush fruits and vegetables all perfectly aligned agriculture. It was truly a great site to see.

About 1 hour in the farm land changed into the cloud forest. Colder and full of amazon looking giant trees. If tarzan existed this would be his homeland. Large vine-ropes you could swing from one to another. Each tree didn't have your traditional trunk. It was full of small vines. You could walk through some of them they were so big. As we pushed further up the hike the air got thinner and much harder to breath. At this point the trail finally started to cut back and forth, rather than straight up. The dirt was dark brown/black. You knew anything you would plant here would grow. The soil was incredible.

3 hours in we finally made it to the halfway point. This area was called "lunchbox". A nice flat piece of land with a small hut you could go inside to be protected from the winds. A bunch of local Guatemalans were here taking naps and relaxing. Go figure, we all posted up and ate lunch...and took a nice nap. Potentially dangerous b/c when we all woke up, no one could move. All stiff and tired made the initial 2nd half much harder. The view at this point looked over the whole countries farmland and a few cities. Already up 2,000 meters up and a airplane was parallel with us. Plus 2,000 more to go.

We trekked on. The group separated into 3 small klans. I was in the front with some new friends. All of which were Canadian an of course acting like it was the best country (Canadians are good at this b/c they don't want to be associated with Americans for some reason). Regardless, still a great group and made some good friends in the future. We charged up this mountain. Each time the guide wanted to rest we kept pushing further. At this point, my legs are pretty tired. Getting that weird vibrant, jello like feeling everywhere...but kept charging.

Passed the cloud forest and into some extreme winds (no trees protecting us). Above the clouds and walking in slush...well it felt like snow. Each step would drop you down a foot. The soil was so loose and the rock would just fall apart if you stepped on it. The trail turned into multi trails. Each person just picked there own route. Huffing and puffing this whole way, the air was thin and every 20 feet you had to stop. The group dispersed again. If you pushed it too hard you would just pass out from exhaustion.

5 hours in we made it to the top. Well, I thought we did. Walked around for a bit taking photos and then realized we had to walk down the hill for a bit to get to the campsite before we summit the peak. Like I said before, my legs were pretty much dead at this point so getting to camp was a relief. Right next to camp was the giant peak that once again went straight up. We had a half hour break and geared up with are warm clothes and headed up for sunset.

Of all of the trails then one was the hardest. Straight up and full of loose sand. This was a long hike to the top. Some of the spots if you fell, you would rag doll down the hill for a mile. The wind was howling and slow babysteps got me to the top. Finally crawled up to a image I've never seen before.

The scenery was surrounded by volcanoes and popcorn looking clouds. Fuevo ( the active volcano) was right next to us. The peak of Acatenango dipped down into a huge crater. It took 20 minutes just to walk around the crater to get a better view of Fuevo. Best part is, right when we got to that side, the volcano erupted and shot smoke right in front of us! Unreal. At this point, all I can say is pictures don't capture the experience that went down that day. Freezing cold, snot running down my face and a smile that was locked in for that hour. In the distance you could see San Pedro and the 10 volcanoes that wrapped around it. The other side you could see even more volcanoes and both Antigua and Guatemala city. Just look at the photos and ask me some questions b/c I'm not sure how to write down this experience. Just unreal.

Sunset happened and instantly rad down the hill to our campsite. Literally ran down the mountain like your on snow at the resort. My nike's were full of rock but didn't matter. I haven't been this cold in years.

Got down to the camp and the guides passed out wine and whiskey. A much deserved celebration. For dinner was some asian noodle dish. We all ate as fast as possible, shot this shit and drank. Then went to bed. It was probably 6:30 by the time I passed out.

Next morning me and 2 others woke up at 5 am. with our torches in hand and climbed the beast again. This time it was pitch black out and a bit more scary. Even colder than before and we kept on charging up to the top. We made it up and instantly Fuego shot out a a bolting blast of red hot lava! None of us were prepared for this and only our eyes captured the glorious moment. For the next hour, we posted up next to Fuego waiting for it to shoot more lava out. It never did. But it did shoot up a bunch of smoke plenty of times while the sunset came up. Truly amazing.

That morning we came down and ate, packed up the gear and headed back down. A two day hike took us about 3 hours to get down. By the time we got down I was exhausted.

Check it off the bucket list and memories for a lifetime.

San Pedro

Back on the grind! Its been a few weeks since I've been on good old blogger. Here's a update:

After a few weeks of learning Spanish, I booked a trip to Lake Atitlan as a celebration of learning again. Said goodbye to some friends at the hostel and jumped on a shuttle to the lake. Specifically a town on the lake called San Pedro. 

Instantly, the shuttle was full of fellow travelers and a new set of friends was born. The drive out to the Lake was filled with beer drinking and story swapping. The standard: where are you from, how long you traveling for, age, yada yada. After you pass that level, then the good stories come out once people know each other. A quick example of a story is this UK kid got slipped a pill and had some nervous reaction to the drug and watched his right hand wrist loose all control. Now, his hand is paralyzed for life (well, until he flys back home and gets some serious surgery on it. Pretty messed up.

Anyways after a few hours of driving, climbing up and down mountains, we finally arrived overlooking this lake. At that point, the drive down to the lake took about an hour. If you remember the Mazda "zoom zoom" commercials, these roads would put it to shame. Every corner coming down was a switch back. Finally, we arrived in San Pedro.

At this point on the shuttle we had about 11 people who were all friends and no hostel to stay out. We jumped off the bus and got a nice settle bombarding of locals trying to sell us hostel information. Since this town is very small all of the well known hostels get full each night. Its 8 pm. so we already screwed for those options. This dude took us on some trek, in and out of some sketchy thin alleyways. If that guy disappeared we would all be lost. We arrived at some shitty looking hostel that was marketed for $1.50 a night. We were stoked but they only had 2 rooms available so we took off for the next place. Next stop was a upgrade to $3.00 a night so we booked it. Settled in and went off for food and drinks. Ate some fish and we all got lost coming back to the hostel. I say this b/c the town isn't your average one way street, its all rape valley looking alleyways. Once you think you find your way out, theres another tiny road that links to another one. Like I said, a perfect place to get robbed or like they call it "rape valley".

Anyways, we partied that night, found some weird hippy bars (San Pedro is a hippie, expat town) and called it a night.

Next day woke up to this incredible view overlooking the lake. Volcanoes surrounding us and cold, clear water...and no one in it. To my surprise there were no flashy boats, jet skis, or any commotion in the water. Which was good. 

For the next few days, all you do is go from smoothie shop to the next, eating cheap food then drinking cause there wasn't much to do. One of the days we headed to the town San Marcos (other side of the lake). Even more of a hippie town. Filled with massages, shaman readers, and acid. You can walk the town in about 1 minute. Speak with locals to buy fruit from them, while watching some gringo hippie juggle bowling pins in the air behind them. Quite strange, hard not to laugh at them, but a general twilight feeling. Pretty fun for one day.

Back to San Pedro. Cheap, good food but nothing to do. We made the best of it but I couldn't take it any longer. I booked my shuttle back to Antigua. When you go to an incredible city with everything to offer and then switch it over to a small hippie town, its quite a shock.

Antigua Continued

Day 1 and a half

That night after wondering the city with my buddy James, got back to the hostel and the place was packed. On the top floor is the bar which overlooks down. Cheap drinks and lots of good people. Met up with the group I found the night before and got things going. This time two more Aussies joined the group. Similar surf trip itinerary I am doing but they were going from South to North. Anyways, you find Aussies to party with and you know its gonna be an out of control night.

We partied at the hostel until midnight and headed out. The way it works in this town is the bars close at 1 am but then the other after party bars open up and don't really close. We all headed there. By the time we got there, the place was packed. Full of Guatemalan girls and fellow travelers. Super fun! Pretty standard move of mine when abroad, I instantly lost everyone from bouncing around talking to new people. This resulted in me on my own like a dumb-ass. I looked at the clock and it was 5:30 or something. Some absurd hour of the night. Problem is, I still didn't understand the city and knew from the get go I was about to get lost...and lost I did. I walked out the front door and didn't know whether to go left or right. I was screwed. I ended up walking around the city for an hour or so lost out of my mind. Not stressing at all, as I knew I would find the hostel, but frustrating because I didn't mentally map out the city in my brain before we left.

Saw an upcoming cop car heading my direction and thought I was about to get robbed. They pulled over and interrogated me. All in Spanish, so I knew nothing of what they were saying. Luckily, I had a copy of my passport and gave that to them. They searched me top to bottom looking for drugs. Pulled out all of my money in my wallet and even searching in there for drugs. All which, I had none, so that helped me. They put my money back in my wallet. I tried asking them where my hostel was and they wouldn't help, or better yet just didn't know what I was saying. After chatting for a bit we parted ways. No harm no foul. Literally a block away was my hostel! Got in and went to bed. Great night, even though the cops were actually doing there jobs and didn't take my money for the hell of it. This city is pretty safe. Don't worry mom, they do this to most travelers at this time of hour.

Antigua, Guatemala

Conquered El Salvador and decided to move north to Guatemala for the time being, then head south to Nicaragua end of the month to meet up with Garrett. 

So the journey began with a 5 hour mini shuttle bus from El Tunco, El Salvador to Antigua, Guatemala. The shuttle was me, a couple from France and a Aussie. The ride consisted of world travel talk, where to go, where have you been, etc. All three of these people came from South America and all got me pretty excited to go there (If I make it that far)... It was a fast drive, weaving in and out of cars to finally arriving to the border. The border consisted of a few guards, tiny little bridge and no lines. Got my exit ticket / stamp and moved in Guatemala. This was all within 5 minutes, real fast. On the flip side the traffic coming into El Salvador was out of control. Miles of trucks were parked waiting in line as we drove by. Bummer for those guys...we win.

Instantly we started to climb into the mountains. At this point it was dark but a distant thunder and lightning storm lit up the skys for the whole drive. There were some lightning bolts that struck from cloud to cloud shooting a Zeus like football pass across the skys. It was pretty cool.

Finally arrived to Antigua. Rich colonial town, cobble stone and lots of people walking the streets. We didn't know where we were staying but the bus driver said he would drop us off at a hostel. Luckily, the Aussie heard of a joint, so we got dropped off there. This hostel was called Le Tariza. Large, four story colonial house that got transformed into a hostel. Really neat and full of travelers. Instantly knew this place was going to be trouble. Me and James (Aussie) went to book a room but they were full for tonight. They referred us to across the street and booked there for the night. I dropped my bags off and headed back over to Le Tariza to make some new friends at the bar. 

Few hours later I'm with a group of 5-10 of us walking around looking for some other bars to party at. The problem is (actually the coolest thing ever), is there is no marketing in this city. Everything is preserved, no real signs for your business until your at the door. Each small building changes from pastel color to color and each with a castle like door to enter. When I own my castle, Antigua will be the place to shop for my entrance door. They take pride in these things. Seriously unreal doors.

Anyways, we found the bar. Inside was dimmed lighting and nooks and crannies around each corner filled with more people. Mellow environment but great atmosphere. Only thing they sold here was Mariskata and beer (some liquor that makes feel all good inside, you know...like tequila. People end up dancing on tables and laughing hysterically. You get the point).

The rest was history and was the first night with new friends.

Next day, woke up at my hostel and packed my bags to move to Le Tariza. Took a shower and headed out to explore the city.

The city of Antigua isn't huge but the amount of walking and driving traffic is everywhere. Tuk tuks drive all around. Similar to the ones in Thailand but they have soft top rain guards over the top when it rains, and convertible Labron style driving when its sunny. All of the roads are cobble stone, horses are walking around, and old colonial buildings are everywhere. It truly puts you back in time. The twist is, once inside a restaurant or store, there updated and renovated. You may be walking around, stumble across a store and it would be a handy store like home depot. Super random but really cool.

Best part about this city is the ice-cream and popsicles. They truly understand my obsession and fed all of my needs. Literally every corner of the city has 2 or 3 ice-cream shops, and all different. My favorite so far is this popsicle that looks like a football but cut in half. The end of it has the popsicle stick, the other end is the fruit. Hope that makes some sort of sense. All of which has 20 or more flavors to choose from. My favorite so far is Zapota. Its some Mexican/Guatemalian fruit. Taste like a guava mixed with passion fruit. Great texture and will be in the future popsicle book. Good stuff!

The city gets really cold at night but doesn't stop anyone from getting there sugar intake and binging on ice-cream.

Around the city is there market. Which is similar to most markets I have been to: full of fruits and vegetables, exact same clothing at each vendur, and lots of people. Easily getting lost around each corner and having a rabbit whole like feeling. I got stuck walking around this place for hours, having no idea where I was. It was great. I bought a large bag of strawberries for 50 cents and probably saw the biggest carrot of my life.

After walking around all day, I found a Spanish school that I signed up for. Four hours a day from Monday-Friday. I'll be getting my Spanish on and hopefully be able to talk to some people.

Day 1 down.

Overall, I see why people get stuck in the city for a long time.

Las Flores road trip

Road trip to Las Flores

Two French guys, (Antoine and Francois), a squeaky, unresponsive Mitsubishi Montero sport and some car keys and we headed to Las Flores for a 5-day camping trip. The goal: find some unreal, un-crowded waves away from society. Mission definitely completed.

To start things off, the roads are insane; imagine a normal road but all patched up with random earthquake holes left and right. While dodging cars that are coming at you in both directions you have to watch out for the cracked out truck drivers that will plow over anything and everything that gets in its way. In this case, it forces bikers, small cars and of course us off the road for this to pass. This equaled an adventure in itself.

The overall drive down to Las Flores from West to the East coast was about a 4-hour drive. For us, it took a bit longer because we were stopping left and right at little towns. A small 3-hour tour brought is to Play Costa Del Sol. This random village town had about 5 nice multi-story tall bungalow looking restaurants. Right when we pulled up, a group of guys ran out to silicate us to park in the restaurant. In return, we get a free parking spot but a obligation to eat there after we surf. Which was fine. This gem of a beach was a powerful beachbreak and from the look of it scary shallow. It offered this hollow 3-4 foot speedy barrel. If locked in, you get a solid fast ride, if you fail; you get worked and thrown into the sand and fun deep breath to hold in.

We watched if for a while and decided to paddle out. The current was pushing hard, and before we knew it we were a half a mile down the beach. Constantly paddling and dodging walled up waves. 9 out of 10 waves I got tossed straight into the sand. You get out of the water covered in gold sand, filled with adrenaline. It was pretty fun! The couple of waves I did get though were pretty fun. Fast, tucked down and holding my rail, if you lift you life your head too high up the waves would smash your face and throw you over the falls. This session turned into a long one. You would see your friends way down the beach, catch a wave, then run back up to the zone, and do it all over again.

After the session was over, we headed back to the car. But actually, instead of the car we got funneled into the restaurant to eat. We ended up upstairs with a private, old school jukebox playing a mixture of Spanish and English jams. One song would play, then stop for 15 minutes, then start again. It was a nice treat when it turned on.

The menu here was a surprise, it reminded me of back home. Fresh seafood on the menu but fairly expensive: $15-20 a plate. These sneaky bastards one this battle, well at least for the French they did. Luckily, I found the daysayuna (breakfast) on menu and got myself a big meal for $2.50. I win.

Back on the road we headed. Sometimes you see road signs, then all of a sudden it forks of into 2 or 3 roads without a sign. You cross your fingers and hope it right. Quite a few times, we were wrong. Finally after passes an incredible mountainous terrain filled with volcanoes in the background we arrived in the town of El

Cuco. This tiny village offered nothing to us. It was right on the beach but trashy and not a place we wanted to stay. Next to El Cuco was Playa Las Flores. This was the place we were looking for but from the sound of it, the area was full of American resorts and a place for the group of friends to party and surf for a week. We drove past this and found the off beaten 4x4 large gravel road that in hope would take us to Punto Mango. After about 30 minutes of driving and about 8 kilometers later, we found it. Not sure how, but we found it. On top of that, we found one of the best camp spots of all time. It overlooked the point and maybe a 1-minute hike down. This was a dream in itself and a picture perfect view you see in magazines and don’t think they actually exist.

Well they do.

We grabbed our gear and ran out there. It was almost sunset and not a single person out in the water. The waves weren’t great, but manageable. After we got back, we set up a campfire, ate some food and set up camp. Meaning, I threw my surfboard back on the grass and my sleeping bag on top of that for my bed. This night was interesting, we didn’t know our surrounding and heard scratching and noises all over. About 2 hours into half sleep/dream mode about 4 locals popped up out of the bushes walking through our campsite. This scared the shit out of me, no harm no foul, they said “hola” and kept walking. Good news but still was a interesting situation. Time went on and still heard noises all around us. We all knew something was there but couldn’t figure it out. I soon fell asleep. I then instantly woke up to a known object about 20 feet away. Shined the light onto this white unicorn looking creature and soon realized it was a cow.  A damn cow, all he was trying to do was walk by us but we were sleeping on the trail. The light scared it away…Finally fell back asleep looking at the stars. This time woke up to the same noise. Shine the flashlight in the exact same spot and this time was a white horse. They switched spots and again trying to pass by but we scared it off. At this point, it was some twilight dream state was going on. I couldn’t figure out if it was real or not…

Woke up to the sunrise to some funny stories about the night. You finally look around and see your surroundings and realize the bush in fact was not a human, but the horses and cows were definitely real…because they were still next to us in the morning. Pretty funny to say the least.

We ate and headed straight to the water for 3-4 hours. Unreal waves: long, hollow barrel waves that peel for about a football field, maybe more. If you took off the wave too late you get thrown into the rocks. All of which happened to us 3 and soon learned not to do that again. My back got scratched up and a very sore back but lesson was learned. This was a bit more difficult for me since everything out here is a right and I’m a goofy. Nonetheless, great practice for me and by the end of the trip had some huge improvements.

Still no people, and a whole private world class break to us. This made no sense to us. There were resorts 10 kilometers down the road and seemed like they had no idea about this place.

We ended the session and headed in for siesta and food. Woke up to the blistering heat and about 10 people and 2 boats in the water. It all made sense now. But like idiots they arrived around lunchtime to a full blown out wave and choppy conditions. We were very happy about this.

For the next few days we made do of what we had, re-boiling cans of rice and beans for dinner and passing out at dark (which was probably around 7 pm.) Words can’t even explain the treasure we found. The photos don’t capture what you see and only long term memories get in-grained into your memory.

The last day here was a real treat. All night we heard the waves getting louder and louder. At one point the whole see was white. We counted 16 well overhead waves fill the sea with water.

That morning was firing. It took about half hour to paddle out to the point. Again very consistent and sometimes so big it was scary. Right when we finally got to the point, two boats arrived with about 6 people. Great thing was, the waves were happening so fast that it didn’t matter. Everyone was friendly and took turns. The group was from America. They were the classic one-week stay away from the family but were all super cool. This was the group that reminded me that it was thanksgiving! You know you’re on vacation when you don’t know the date.

These waves that came in on Thanksgiving were the fastest, scariest mountains of water I have ever surfed to this day. These were all steep and sucking up to barrels within seconds. You would drop down the line at mock ten-speed, grabbing your rail and praying to god you make the turn. A few times, I didn’t make this turn, but the ones I did I will remember for the rest of my life. The waves that day were consistent 8 foot slab barrels. Good god! Some the sets were bigger. These were the ones you paddle for your life and hope you can duck dive the thick piles of water. My fish had a good time, I can tell you that.  A new board in the future is coming.

This trip sealed the deal. Best camping and surf spot to this day. I know I keep saying this and will probably continue to say this but as far as rights go and pure adrenaline this is at the top of the list.

Well played El Salvador…

San Salvador

City bound. San Salvador was where I first arrived but got picked up and headed straight for the ocean. Therefore, I never even saw the main city of the country. Better yet, this time, I had owner of the hostel here, and two local girls who live here to show us a good time. Where we went, I still don't actually know. I say this b/c for the 24 hours I was here, it was all Spanish and no English. Which made it fun, but equally frustrating. We heading from downtown San Salvador directly up windy roads to the top of some mountain park. Mainly to kill time but we walked up and down these steep trails that overall, looked over the whole entire country. If I didn't know any better I may have been looking over Guatemala or Honduras. That view was incredible. We finished and hung out in the park for a while. Two gringos and two very attractive local girls draws attention. The local food stand slowly DJ'd there way into playing a random "Now 15" music jam CD. I mean, were talking 7th grade asking the girl to dance jams...You know what I'm talking about. Which was pretty funny. We left, and headed back into town for food and drinks. We made our way to a semi-backpacker district (though not too many backpackers were seen, but a area lonely planet recommends). Overall the city is spread out with semi-tall buildings, no skyscrapers. This is because of constant earthquakes. The city is surrounded by large mountains and green lush trees (only Ian would know the names of)

Exploring El Salvador

Overall the country of El Salvador is small. You can drive the country in 5 hours but the exploration going up and down the coast searching for waves is a month in itself. A few days ago we (2 french guys, one Alaskan with a old volkswagon van) headed West. In my mind, its north, but on the map you can only go West or East. There is no North or South. Its a trip. Regardless, we headed west looking for some uncrowded waves, and on top of that, head inland to hike up some volcanoes and check out the scenery outside of just the ocean. So it began...crazy ass drivers, kids, dogs, monster transformer looking trucks speeding faster than small geo cars going straight toward you on the zig zag f-ed up roads. Oh yea, and this is in the daytime, nighttime is a whole other story in itself. As were driving were also on the prowl for unspoken beaches with no access and small villages that populate 50 people. Even when we found a cool looking beach overhanging the top of the cliff, we couldn't get to it. You would have to swim for a mile just to get to it. Which could be fun but we kept on moving. Break after break we would look on the map and realized they were all world class breaks (well we did know this but wasn't sure where they were)...check, found, but not necessarily utilized...well get back to that later. We passed all the spots, knowingly, but the main mission was to head inland to hike a mother f-ing volcano! right? Inland we headed, still dodging random people crossing the freeway and cows walking on the sidewalk like a human. We drive through random villages, open farm faces and slowly but Surely approach a massive mountain landscape with shoots up multiple volcanoes and soon to be exploding ones in the future. Though, the closer we approached, the crappier the roads got. Potholes left and right we were dodging, turning a normal 2 lane road into 1 just so we could make it a smoother ride. Finally we arrive to, what it appeared to be a opening to a local, Oregon garden park. Some spanish dude pops out of his booth, wearing his park ranger outfit and start talking to us, asking us questions in spanish, we say "si" and give hime a buck, were in! Well, we thought so. To the left of us was a gigantic volcano that we already drove up but another one was to our right. We were trying to hike this other one...We start to drive up to another gate. A bunch of kids soliciting guides up the volcano. We say no, like stubborn tourist who think there broke. "we can figure this shit out on our own, were all growns up and I'm a man". Lets do it! We park and onward we went. Oh wait, Theres 4 trails and no trail map, just a big spanish sign that tells you what you shouldn't do: drink, get lost, cry for help, certain age, etc. So we started with the first trail we found and we walked. Problem is, this trail circled around and connected with the other trails, which then connected to the other trails, which led us back to the parking lot! These savvy Salvadorians and making money! We kept being stubborn and searched all over for a hidden trail. Finally we found some gate, locked up and a obvious trail to flavor country. We say, screw this, lets hop this and become volcano bound! Half of the group jumps, the others bring up horror movies and how were about to start one. Majority votes and we turn back like a bunch of pussies. Though smart, b/c when we got to the parking lot a huge group came out of that exact trail. What really happened is that they close the trail off at a certain time, and we got there too late (safety reasons b/c of the wind and danger)...I guess. We leave in disappointment and more so pissed off b/c we drove for 3 hours on some crazy roads. Luckily the map showed a cool lake at the bottom so we headed there. About 2 hours later we arrived at this amazing lake! The lake was surrounded by volcanos and mountains 360 degrees around us. This was all worth it. We found some shack to post up at and get food. Only thing on the menu: Parascada (deep fried lake fish) Sold! Overall, the long trip was worth it. All we did was explore all day, without any local tours or better yet anyone who knew the area. This adds a huge bonus for figuring out point A to B. We won.

El Sunzal Point continued

Day 3: Each day the swell is getting bigger. First day was head high. This morning is was couple feet overhead. Large and powerful, yet still the most peaceful looking wave I've seen. When you paddle out and look back at the land, all you see is bright green mountains filled with trees I've never seen (Ian you would know) with bungalows scattered on top of them, filled with strange looking thunder clouds that have yet to break open and rain. All of this I think equals some sort of heaven. Especially when the sunsets over this. I'm not sure what else it could be. Besides surfing, today was a different adventure. I needed to go grocery shopping so I can cook at the hostel and save some dinero. This meant me going to La Libertad. This is a hub for food and importing/exporting goods. In order for me to to this I needed to find the bus. I asked another hostel how to do this: "go out into the street and wait for a bus, then wave" Still no idea where La Libertad was, since we drove by it 100 miles an hour. Either way, I went into the street and waited. Then this average looking school bus from home pulls up around the corner blowing off black smoke. Oh wait, not average at all. Think of a bus size rub on tatoo, mixed with trival icons spray painted all across this bus. It was like those weird jewelry shirts you see people wearing or one of those sparkling hats you wear crooked. You know? This thing was off the fu*#ing charts. Some dude swinging outside of it looking at me and I keep waving at it. I knew this had to be the bus. The bus barely stops and I run to get aboard. Its great, cause I'm a gringo and super white. There not, they look at me. I say "hola" cause thats all I know! We drive for 1/2 hour or so, and I still have no idea where were going. But the bus did say La Libertad so I had to be in the right place. We then pulled up to town and the bus stopped. I was here. I got off, got hageled immediately and started my search for the market. Easily found, I went in and got some goods. Then headed across the street to check out Punto Roco. Again, firing, but never seen anything like this in my life. check it out here: http://www.surfline.com/surf-report/punta-roca-el-salvador_5800/travel/ I found some restaurant and sat down for a beer and some seafood. I've heard of a few seafood soups out here and had to give it a go. I ordered Mariscada en crema normal. This was full dish. Lobster, Crab, Oysters, Shrimp, a few other oddly shaped items. About 30 minutes later I crashed. Stumbled over a hammock for a mid day siesta. Woke up to some expat talking English across the way. I got up and headed over to pay. He must have heard my American voice and we started to chat. This dude lives out here, surfs Punta Roca everyday and offered me hospitality and a guide to this surf spot within 5 minutes. Kinda strange but maybe cause I was a fellow gringo. I left and headed to the bus. On the way got haggled for any type of drug imaginable, chatted with some locals who knew bad English and made some weird friends in which they think i'm "maybe" coming back to stay at there hostel and buy all of there drugs. Well see. Got back on the same bus somehow, paid my quarter and hoped back on. Made it back in one piece and headed back out for evening surf. Pretty standard day out here in paradise.

El Sunzal Point

I may spelled Zunzal point wrong in the previous post...Moving on. Day 2 Woke up and headed straight for the beach. This time I broke up the session into two. Morning and Afternoon. Both about 3-4 hours in the water each time. When you get out of the water, all you do is sit in hammocks and relax. Not bad heh? As far as the point goes, you start out on the beach. This beach is all black sand from the near by Volcanoes and lots of round rocks. Too large to skip the rocks but big enough to stub your toe. You then paddle out at least a half mile before the wave first starts to break. At any given point you could half-ass it and catch a wave that has been breaking for a while. But thats no fun. As you finally approach this point, large, constant sets come in. If you in the wrong spot, you get worked by some white magic. Like I said before, there is a great channel that takes you out, where the wave doesn't break, and if you don't even know how to surf, you could go out there and watch your friends and never ride a wave. But again, thats no fun. The point break peels to the right (if your in the water, looking at land, it goes right). And boy or boy does this thing peel. I would easily say each ride has potential for about 2 football fields long, 1/2 mile or something. Your basically on a training ground to learn all of the best moves. After an all day session I head back to the hostel. I didn't mention this before, but when I got there, I was the only other person staying here. Very quite. When I got back, there were 3 new folks. One aussie, and two people from England. All here for the same thing I am. The aussie is on a different story though. He bought land here and is grown a ton of fruit and vegetables to sell to the locals. Apparently he has been here on and off for the past few years. A good person to know, since I know zero Spanish and this dude is fluent. He showed me around town, where to go, other surf spots and some secret street foods not on the strip and close to the hostel. The hostel is about 1/2 mile away from the town, safe and quite. The town is filthy dirty. The street food vendors around pretty much our neighbors. The sell you beer and water for a local price for some reason. Best food I have had in these few days have been here: pupusas Unreal treat. You get 3 for a $1. Its basic, Torrilla, cheese and beens. Its like a grilled cheese sandwich on steroids and a mouth full of flavors. They cook them on there small charcoal grills and make them in about 5 minutes. Look them up on the google. The day once again ends pretty early. Swapping stories with the fellow hostel friends but all cashing out early for the morning.

El Salvador bound

To start things off right, I bought a one way ticket to El Salvador. Being naive and not knowing where I would end up, made this decision easy. As far as PDX international airport goes, thats another was another story all together. Regardless, I jumped on the airplane and headed to Houston, TX for a nice layover. At the layover, I was surrounded by El Salvadorians, and me the white gringo. In fact, when I got to my gate, I was alone, so I fell asleep in the corner and woke up to these surroundings. I mangled and tired, crawled over to a seat. About 5-10 minutes go by and this huge group of retired Florida grandpas and grandmas roll up. Of course, they spot me and headed my direction. Well, you know, we gotta stick to your kind...I then got up and headed to starbucks for an adrenaline shock for this next airplane ride to a hopeful surfers paradise. On the airplane is was all spanish. So really it was just me and my thoughts. My neighbor could actually speak English so we chatted on the flight. This guy jumped every border from El Salvador to America, then after this long stretch of a story, pulls out his American passport. Go America? I land in El Salvador, looking over an amazing landscape of sugar can fields and large volcanoes. I get off, and rush to customs. After filling out the forms incorrectly, I then hit this large traffic light sign (red, green, yellow...same size as we see on the street) to green! I'm in. 3 month visa in my pocket and about 50 taxi drivers looking at me for a ride. I keep walking, saying no, no. I then here this yell "ssss-en". You know, just like my old Vietnamese girlfriends who couldn't pronounce my name. I instantly knew that was for me. Look over and see this local surfer waving his hands at me. "Whats up sss-en?" high fives go down, instant friends. He also has this smoking hot lady friend with him. We swapped hugs and also, another friend. We left the airport and headed to his truck. About 80 degrees, 100% humidity and I'm already covered in my own sweet. As we drove a hundred-miles an hour, zipping in and out of random cars/cows/bicycles/whatever, we ended up at the coast in about 30 minutes. Instant waves for days as we zip the coastline. First town was La Libertad. World famous point break called Punto Roco. Which to this day is the best thing I have ever seen. We keep driving to Sanzal point (san-sal). We start to drive down this off-beaten path until we finally arrive at homebase. I'm stoked and cheering on with Brata (driver who picked me up). He looks at me and points to the beach. I get up and head straight there...Meaning I walked 300 feet to Sanzal point where there is perfect head high waves peeling for a half mile! I run back, slap on some screen, wax the boat up (surfboard) and run back out there. Luckily, Brata was right there with me, showing me where the take off point was to get in the channel, rather than get worked by some whitewash (watch the movie "north shore" and you'll know what I'm talking about). Anyways, got out there and didn't come pack until dark. Which was about a 6 hour session. At this point I have already caught some of the best/longest waves of my life and it was the first day I arrived. This is a good sign my friends. I got back, found some restaurant, ordered some tacos, ate and went into a comma at 6 or 7 pm? Early. Then, woke up in the morning.

I was that tired.

World travels about to continue!

Central America bound. Its about to get crazy.