El Salvador...the sun shines at Las Flores

It's been awhile since I posted, largely due to inclement weather, poor internet, and nothing much to report. All that has changed, however.  After getting a few good sessions in here at Sunzal, I decided to hit the road with Nookie to eastern El Salvador to a place called Las Flores.  It was a blast, and I'm gonna upload a ton of pictures which probably won't do the place justice.

looking out from my campsite 

the point and the wave at low tide

The drive from Sunzal was about 3 hours, and I wound up giving a ride to two guys staying here at La Guitarra, Tom (from Cali) and Ricardo (from Spain).  The drive was uneventful except that Tom wanted to stop at a Wendy's in a town called Usulatan.  That wasn't terribly eventful, just a bit odd, I guess.  There was a Pizza Hut and and Wendy's right next door to each other in the middle of this mid-size Salvadoran town.  The food was a bit more expensive than it would be in the States, as well, and not quite as good.

the beach at low tide.  those aren't cannons, but trailers used for launching the pangas to take surfers to other points such as punta mango, etc.

 We made it to Las Flores in about 3 hours or so and started looking for a place to stay.  The first hostel right on the beach was full, so I had to take Nookie down a pretty steep road with giant cobbles/rocks, then across a little creek, down the beach a bit, then up into a sweet little setup run by a vey nice family.  The husband and sons all fish and take surfers in their boats to other points down the coast.  They have 4 small rustic rooms, and I stayed in Nookie for the grand total of $5 per night.

I was a bit apprehensive about getting Nookie down the road and across the water, but she took it in stride.  The scenery there is pretty amazing, wide-open, beautiful beach with a picturesque point, this time of year lush and verdant after all the rain we've had.  I wound up staying 3 nights there, and am now back in Sunzal.  I had an unexpected trip come up, and I'm flying out of here late tomorrow night to attend a good friend's wedding in the Dominican Republic.  I'm taking the awful redeye out of here at 1am, but I can handle that, and am looking forward to spending some time with the Crose clan and some of their good friends.  I'll fly back here late wednesday night, then probably head back to Las Flores for a few more days before braving Honduras and trying to get across it in one day and into Nicaragua.

nice little mid-day wave, still glassy but a bit of texture.

looking back to the campsite from the beach.

I took the Ruckus (my scooter) on a little journey back up the coast.  I came across a guy named Rafael painting this fence at this sweet overlook.  Lot's of points and waves visible, and Punta Mango way in the distance.  He thought my scooter was really funny, at least I think that's what he was laughing at.

After I got back from my little ride, I decided to check out this swank hotel up on the point, directly overlooking the wave.  Sitting in the lineup you can see the giant deck and part of the hotel, as well as people looking down at the waves and the surfers.  It was posh and has just a ridiculous view of the wave and the next bay to the west, called La Vaca.  I snapped a couple of shots of a guy on a wave and the view back in the little area where I was staying in Nookie.  Then I made haste back to my site and got my board and went out for another surf.  The only downside to this place is it can get quite crowded, but such is the price for such a great place.

nice head high right.  this was about 1pm, and still pretty glassy.

The view from the hotel.  Nookie is tucked in down on the beach roughly behind where the palm trees in the left part of the frame.

I'm going to try and upload a couple of videos, as well.  One is a little wave I was able to capture with my gopro waterproof camera, and the other is a little vista from the overlook mentioned above.  As always, more to come!!!