Back to Las Flores, with company

After my quick but fun jaunt up to the Dominican Republic for my buddy Hunter's wedding, I winged it back to El Salvador to check on Nookie to make sure she had survived my absence.  As always, Porfirio and the folks at La Guitarra took good care of her, and after a day of catching upon sleep, decided to make my way back to Las Flores, the place I posted about just a week or so ago.

While I was chilling in El Tunco, I met a few people, as one often does, in that type of town.  A couple from Canada named Kathleen and Greg were talking with me when I revealed that I was planning to head to Las Flores.  They were hoping to make the trip as well, so I told them they could ride along in Nookie.  The morning we were leaving we all had breakfast at a little place across the street from the hostel, and wound up talking to another Canadian couple who were also looking to get to Las Flores.  So I wound up cramming 4 other people, their big backpacks, and 2 more surfboards into Nookie for the trip down.

We showed up in Las Flores and the waves were great, Nookie resumed her station under the palm trees, and life slowed down even more.  A couple of days into my stay, a Chilean and an Argentinian move in to camp in our little compound as well.  Matiaz and Diego arranged for the 7 of us to go out fishing the next morning.  Our captain Miguel didn't speak much English, but with 2 South Americans on board, we were set.  The fishing was pretty slow--several jack crevalles and one nice big Mackerela, but it was great to see the coast from offshore, and we wound up having a big fiesta and grilling the Mackerela and feeding most of the area.  Another group (Chris, Kelli, and Kim) showed up from near La Libertad and we had a good couple of days of surfing followed by a nice fire on the beach under a nearly full moon.  My pics from that evening didn't turn out, (actually I forgot to bring out my camera, but there were many others around and I hope to see some from those nights) but here's one from the fishing trip:

Matiaz, capitan Miguel, Diego, Brett, and Zoe.

Yet another couple showed up in camp a few days ago, Ryan and Eve, on their way back from the US to their home in one of my favorite places, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.  They've been a blast, and I think I'm going to caravan with them across Honduras and into Nicaragua sometime this weekend.   Things are going great, the weather has been perfect, and there hasn't been hint of rain for at least a week.  The nights have been relatively cool--in the mid 70's--and the people and surf couldn't be much better.

The point from the water.  Nookie is behind the big palapa you can see if you zoom in on the pic.

Good spot for breakfast and a little internet

I'm writing this from a hotel up the hill from where I'm staying about 200 steps up from the beach.    A nice batch of banana pancakes, some coffee, and decent wifi. It costs quite a bit more to stay here than the $5 per night I'm paying on the beach, but I get to poach this view for an hour or so while I drink some coffee and write this blog.  The plan is still to be in Costa Rica before Thanksgiving, so I'l be picking up my pace a bit.  As always, more to come!!!