Surf, Skate and Pupusas...
- Lois Butler-Kettle
- Oct 16, 2019
- 8 min read
Our first big adventure outside of our Candelarian bubble took place during Morazán’s week in late October; this is an annual holiday week which was created to combine three separate public holidays into a single consecutive week and is named after Francisco Morazán, a 19th century Honduran politician. For our week off, the Lempira District volunteers and I decided to spend it in El Salvador at Playa El Tunco as we thought it would be pretty easy to get to and many of the previous volunteers had raved about it so we just had to check it out for ourselves...
The start of our journey was far from smooth. Izzy and I decided to stay the night before our journey in Mapulaca with Esther and Libby as their village is located right on the border of El Salvador and only about an hour away from us. Iona and Erin had the same idea so the six of us spent the night prepping for the following day but also managed to watch the lantern parade which was happening in the central square with all of the primary school and college kids. The 4am wake up call was not fun, and neither was the mototaxi ride to the border in the pitch black; the thing with these 3 wheeled mototaxis is that the whole duration of the ride you feel as though the car could topple over at any point, and when your driver is going at full speed in pitch black up steep pot-hole ridden tracks as well as trying to avoid hitting the odd lost cow, you tend to get used to having your life flash before your eyes. After a long day of cramped buses, lugging around our immensely overpacked backpacks, sweltering in the glaring sun at bus stops, misunderstanding locals, and stressful taxi rides in San Salvador, we finally arrived at the beach and couldn’t have been happier with the end result.
El Tunco is a small surfer town outside the larger city of La Libertad - it’s off the main road and consists of just about two streets, both of which are lined by little shops and independent companies selling surfboards and typical tourist trinkets as well as a range of places to stay, from fancy hotels on the seafront to more chilled and social hostels. Yet, the best thing is that nowhere is more than a 4 minute walk from the seaside! At first glance, you can tell it is a tourist hotspot, but as we were visiting outside of the tourist season, the town had a calm and mellow feel to it which was just what we had been looking for. For the week, eight of us shared a dorm at Papaya Lodge which was wonderful - a hostel with numerous hammocks and a pool as well as a rack of surfboards on offer, although none of us could surf nor were in the mood for some intense surf lessons during our week off, so sadly they were of no use to us. One of the things we did take advantage of though was the variety of food which was available in El Tunco; although the hostel did have a pretty functioning kitchen, there were too many good restaurants and food stalls to say no to so, unfortunately for our bank accounts, we ate out at every possible opportunity. It was nice to have some variety as well, as for the past couple of months, our Honduran diet has mainly consisted of tortillas, beans, eggs, cheese, and sometimes the odd pasta dish or seafood soup (which we have nothing against as Mary is a pretty incredible cook!). Yet, sometimes, it’s nice to switch it up and so this week we made sure to make the most of it. Something we ate a lot of during our week by the sea were pupusas. Pupusas are the signature food of El Salvador in the same way that baleadas are for Honduras, and they are incredible - they are tortillas about the size of your hand which are typically filled with melted cheese and beans, although the filling options are seemingly endless as you can choose to have garlic or shrimp or whatever you want really. They are so so wonderful, and especially after a busy day or a night out, there is nothing better.
El Tunco was quite the contrast to the Honduras that we had grown to know and love. The little surf town was hot, but not hot like it is in Candelaria where it is either still and dusty or heavy and humid just before the thunderstorms, but fresh due to the constant sea breeze. It was also a nice change to be able to wear lighter clothing and not be restricted to wearing clothes that covered our shoulders and knees - as there is nothing more scandalous than showing a shoulder in Candelaria - and this meant we could enjoy the sun and the heat without suffering from heat exhaustion. As well as this, it was the first time we had been around other people who spoke English which meant we could take a break and breathe without having to constantly be on our toes, listening and trying to make sense of what the locals were saying. Although, I found that the El Salvadoran Spanish accent was much easier to understand than Honduran; sometimes I can come away from a conversation with my host dad Victor and not have a clue what he just said! However, all in all, it wasn’t that much different from Honduras in the sense that the people were just as friendly and welcoming, which I have come to learn is just the Central American way and I love it :)
We spent the week recouping and updating each other about our projects as this was the first time a lot of us had seen each other since our first week in Honduras. When I think about it, this holiday was the first time we had all spent a decent amount of time together as beforehand we had only spent a few days on Coll during training, and then been put on the flight out to our new life at the start of August. We spent quite a bit of time at the beach, but not the one in El Tunco as that is mostly rocky and very wavey, much better for the surfers (although we didn’t mind watching) and so we hopped on a chicken bus and headed to the nearby black sand beach of Playa San Blas which was stunning and strangely reminded me of Piha Beach in New Zealand. We spent the day in the sun reading and chilling, and ended up catching a little bit too much sun to the point where I’m sure some of us got heat stroke but hey ho, we survived, just about.
Most of our evenings were spent getting to know the locals and meeting other travellers, trading stories about their travels for ones about our year in Honduras. The majority of the people we met were quite a bit older than us, and it was then that I realised how young we really are to be doing what we are doing. From completing our exams and finishing school in June/July to then moving out to live in Honduras at the start of August is not what I ever imagined I would be doing at the age of 18, but I couldn’t be happier. So many tourists we met were making their way down through Central America which got us all very excited about our travelling plans during our school holidays over Christmas.
We also explored the town and made good friends with Salva, the owner of the local tour guide company Tunco Life, and Kevin who offered to take us up to a nearby waterfall in Tamanique for a discounted price so we couldn’t say no! The next day they picked us up in their minivan and we headed off, learning local slang and phrases along the way which was super chivo :) Tamanique is a beautiful little village known for its avocado trees and coffee plantations, and is only about 17 miles from La Libertad, so we arrived pretty quickly. The hike itself was a little difficult as it was downhill all the way, only getting more slippery and more steep as went; near the bottom it was practically vertical to the point where old electrical wires had been installed as guide ropes and wooden ladders had been put in place to help you down the last few meters. Yet, we really couldn’t complain as Kevin was wearing flip flops and he weaved his way down that hillside with such ease and grace unlike anything I have ever seen before, putting us to shame as we slipped and slid everywhere. However, despite how wet and muddy we got, it was most definitely worth it as not only were the views from the top of the surrounding mountains absolutely stunning, but once we reached the bottom, I had to take a moment to fully take in the surroundings; we had emerged from the jungle and arrived at a ravine where the trees climbed up the rock faces, reaching all the way up towards the sky and meeting in the middle above us to form a mesh ceiling - it was breathtakingly beautiful. After clambering over more rocks, clinging onto slimy logs and treacherously wading through water, we reached the waterfall. It was so big that the sound of the falling water hitting the pool below was deafening and we ended up shouting at eachother in order to be able to hear anything. Quickly, we stripped off into our swim suits and dove in, initially appreciating the freezing water as we were so hot from our hike, however it soon became too cold and with all of us in what was quickly becoming a whirl pool crush of bodies, we got out rather promptly, but not before getting a photo with Kevin in the middle of the pool! After drying off, we headed back up the way we had come in and hiked to another waterfall, but this time because we had climbed to the top of it, there was only one way down - to jump. I was so against it at first as it seemed so high, but after seeing Izzy launch herself off with such confidence, Emily and I finally convinced ourselves to do it and I’m so glad I did. Something Salva said in attempt to convince us to do the jump was that he was surprised that while we had been prepared to move across the world to live in Honduras for the year, we still couldn’t bring ourselves to jump off a ‘little’ waterfall, and when I thought about it, he had a point. We currently live in Honduras, a country with one of the highest mortality rates in the world (which friends back home like to remind me of every so often) and so I need to learn to be more flexible and willing to take risks and this, albeit a waterfall, was one of the first times I truly let go of fear and threw myself into what I was doing, so I have Salva to thank for that :)
For most of us, the rest of the week was spent reading in the sun by the hostel pool or making up for lost time with family phone calls, whereas at night we sought out the best places to eat and dance, which led to countless midnight adventures with the help of our local friends who knew the best places to be. One of my favourite things about our week by the beach were the incredible sunsets. As cliche as it sounds, there is something slightly magical about the sunsets at El Tunco; sitting there with the girls, sipping on mojitos, watching the surfers catch the last waves of the day in the fading light, the bars starting up and beginning to play soft Latino music, and the giant golden sun slowly sinking below the horizon, washing everything in a reddish hue. No description can ever do it justice, so I will let the following photos do the talking.
While watching the world go by, Erin - one of the wonderful volunteers based in the Belen project - and I spoke a lot about the realisations we had made during the week, the main one being the importance of slowing down every now and again and taking time to appreciate the moment. For all its cheesiness, it has really made me open my eyes and gain a newfound appreciation for the little moments, things and people who make me happy. This week in El Tunco was so special for a multitude of reasons. Not only did we get closer as a group and have a chance to get to know each other, but it was also my first taste of what Central America has to offer outside of Honduras, and I have no doubt that we will be back!
Volveremos pronto El tunco!! x
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