My first trip to Central America!
El Salvador, Friday, the Journey begins…
The journey down to El Salvador began Thursday night, with everyone just showing up in Orlando whenever they could get there. Dan Brooks and his sons, Trevor and Colin were in Tampa at a soccer tournament. Ben Groshell and his sons, Nicholas and Jacob, along with a friend, Hobie, drove down from Jax. Mitch and I got an early start and made it to O-town pretty early. We had a pretty good steak at Charley’s steak house and then tried to find a room out by the airport. About 3 hotels later, we scored a room at the Best Western about 2 miles away.
Up early to catch an 8:40 Flight. Meeting up with the guys at the airport made the reality sink in–I’m on a surf trip. Colin didn’t win the night before and Dan was beat, for sure. 48 hours with no sleep, tons of driving and hotels can make you weary.
The flight from Orlando to Miami was short and uneventful, with the exception of a hyper-hardcore left banking turn to line up with the runway. I almost ^@%^ myself.
The news in Miami was not good. Our connecting flight was already an hour behind, making a crappy, two hour layover even longer. Mitch and I upgraded our seats from Miami to San Salvador when we checked in at Orlando… possibly the best $100 I have spent in a long time. Big seat, decent meal, champagne, wine…whatever!! Sweet. My plans to sleep for most of the trip were out the door.
Approaching San Salvador you fly over big mountains and then hit the flat land where fields of sugar cane and palm trees are all over. The palms produce palm oil, which, according to the guy sitting next to me is a relatively new crop for this area, but doing great.
Getting off the plane, the humidity and heat hit us in the face. This is Central America, balmy and beautiful. Load up the van for a 25-30 minute ride to our hotel, the Casa de Mar (www.casademarhotel.com). This place is stunning. After miles and miles of surprisingly good road, with the occasional cow or goat in the way, we pull off the road into this amazing paradise. Our host, Alfonzo Alvarez is almost done with some amazing renovations to this property. His staff is all over us from the minute we get here, taking boards and bags to wherever they belong. Antsy to get in the water, the young guys are waxed up and ready to go before I can even put my camera down and get my board shorts on. It’s high tide and the waves look amazing. Too big for me, really, but I paddle out anyway and take a beating while everyone else, young and old KILLS it for about 45 minutes. I limp back to shore…I am exhausted, as always after I surf. Only this time it’s multiplied many times over. Early up, travel, no sleep–whatever excuse I can come up with puts me in the mood to lay down and just breathe deeply. After about a half an hour I arise, refreshed and ready to join the rest of the crew, who are sitting out by the pool, watching the waves and talking about how awesome tomorrow morning is going to be…
Dinner is up in the restaurant. By up, I mean way up–at least from the pool. The restaurant is a palapa–palm roof, open air room that overlooks the beach and the Pacific. The view is spectacular from almost any spot on this property–made more-so by the way Alfonzo has designed and planted and tiered it. Awesome.
By the time I drag my rear-end up the steps, the boys are already halfway through their shrimp wraps and fries. Ben, Mitch, Dan and I sit down and order a beer and 3 or 4 appetizers–all ceviches of various fish and shrimp. When Alfonzo arrives and the game changes. Our beers are on the table, but Alfonzo has brought along the bottle of Tequila I brought for him and begins pouring tequila and ordering wine for the table. I brought a bottle of Milagro Single Barrel Reserve Reposado–I wish I had 4 of them, because in about 15 minutes, we were halfway through it… I never intended to drink it myself; it was a gift to Alfonzo for having us, but you just can’t refuse your host…
Alfonzo decided that what I had ordered for dinner, a piece of grilled Mahi, was too boring and changed my order to a dish that was amazing. Still grilled fish, but with Plantains and a sauce that was perfect with it all.
After dinner, we walked out of the compound and to Alfonzo’s house, which is basically attached to Casa de Mar, but there is no access from the hotel. His home sits at the highest level, has an amazing view and is made of several buildings that are built into the side of the cliffs. It’s a hundred feet or so straight down to the beach. The centerpiece is the palapa, that is the palm roof, open air type, with a couple hammocks, a bar, a TV and some beautiful furniture. Wide open, breezy and beautiful! Alfonzo is truly the king of all he surveys!
Bed time…the rumor is we’re getting up at 5 am to surf. I’m not sure it’s even light enough to surf that early. We’ll soon find out…
