WF Nicaragua Travel

Yesterday some of us spent the day taking surf lessons from a loco (crazy) Peruvian named Alfredo. Alfredo has been surfing for over 38 years and started a surfing school through a local hostel called Casa Oro (The Gold House). After getting our boards we all piled into a truck and rode out to Remanso beach to ride the waves. Alfredo was a great instructor and rather entertaining to try to understand. I think we managed to follow what he was saying about half of the time. He gave us instruction on the beach and then took us out to surf in pairs. I was surprised that it was much easier than I had anticipated. I was able to stand up practically every time and really enjoyed the whole experience. Everyone did pretty well for being first time surfers.

The most interesting thing that I’ve observed here in San Juan del Sur has been the surfer culture. There are surfers from all over the world here and the Australian accents never get old. Many of them are currently “taking a break” from their job and traveling down the Central American Pacific coast. They stop in major surf towns along the way and have no agenda or planned schedule to follow. I spoke with quite a few people who were going down further to stop in Costa Rica next. They stay in hostels along the way and have a gift for just going with the flow. The hostels are inexpensive but I’m not sure that I’d be gutsy enough to stay in one myself. Casa Oro has a few showers and an open kitchen area for everyone to share. Needless to say, the nomadic surfers don’t sweat the small stuff (until the waves or beer run out). I’ll certainly be able to take away a good lesson from observing the laid-back lifestyle of the surfers, but I think I’ll keep my job…and a little structure.