Join us for another live episode of the Thank You Surfing Podcast from El Salvador. It’s our first international episode, and we’re stoked to discuss the vibrant local surf scene with special guests Pollo from Tropical Freaks and Pablo from Hotel Michanti.
We dive into topics such as the impact of tourism and government initiatives on El Salvador’s surf culture, localism in the lineup, the resurgence of alternative surfboards, and how the surf culture has evolved over the years. We also touch on the challenges and benefits of surfing weird boards and the future of surfing in El Salvador. Tune in to catch all the action live from Pescaito Frito, March 2023!
Transcript
[00:00:00] Intro: Welcome to another episode of the Thank You Surfing podcast. Today’s episode is sponsored by BrightBox. [00:00:19] Sponsor: Marketing for design, architecture, and hospitality. iMame Capital. Experts in revitalizing Miami’s urban multifamily real estate. And team key aquatics, fostering growth and excellence in aquatic sports. [00:00:35] Brad: All right. Welcome to thank you. Surfing’s talk story. Season three, live from El Zonte, El Salvador. First time going international. Stoked to be here. We’ve got dogs. We’ve got people, we’ve got music. We’ve got a pop up shop. It’s all happening here in El Zonte. Uh, I got a couple of special friends here today and they’re joining me right now. [00:00:58] Brad: First time on the podcast, we got Pollo and Pablo. If you guys would just introduce yourselves. Uh, you guys have an organization, you guys have a hotel, you guys have businesses, let the people know what’s up. [00:01:09] Pollo: Um, okay. We’re here. Um, I have tropical freaks, which is like a surf account in El Salvador. It’s been running for like 10, 12 years. [00:01:18] Pollo: Yeah. Probably like document and surf for a while. So yeah, [00:01:22] Brad: yeah. You’re a perfect guest for this is exactly what we’re here to do. [00:01:26] Pablo: Thanks, Brad. My name is Pablo. I’m Salvadorian and I have a. A hotel here for surfing and adventures. It’s been a up and running for six years. Stoked to be here. Stoked. Okay. [00:01:40] Brad: So we’re at an event that we all put together called Pescaito Frito, and it’s really to get everybody together and get, and get stoked on weird surfboards. [00:01:48] Brad: And, um, that’s the latest in happening in here in El Zonte in terms of surfing. And I’m kind of asking you guys, what do you think is happening in surfing lately? What’s, what’s been on your mind? What do you guys been thinking about? [00:02:02] Pollo: Um, I don’t know, like, of course, like influx of tourism, like there’s like, uh, governmental, uh, bet on surfing. [00:02:10] Pollo: So of course, like, I think like everyone’s sitting like something of sort of city and El Salvador, like all over. Um, so yeah, a lot of development, a lot of change in the past, what, like four or five years. So, yeah, I mean, [00:02:23] Brad: that’s pretty wild. You just said that the government is involved in surfing. I don’t know of too many governments that get involved in surfing and, I mean, well, it’s called Surf City, right? [00:02:32] Brad: And they’re heavily promoting surfing in this country for tourism. They’ve held how many contests here? The WSL did a contest at Punta Roca last year. We’ve got, uh, ASP or no, what is it? The other [00:02:45] Pollo: juniors, [00:02:46] Brad: the ISA. The ISA is doing their contests here. Multiple contests, long boards. Kids. [00:02:51] Pollo: I know who wants to be in the podcast too. [00:02:53] Pollo: And that guy. [00:02:54] Brad: Oh yeah. That guy’s definitely gonna join the podcast. . Uh, so what do you think about all that, Pablo? Do you think that’s what else is happening in other than just like surf city? [00:03:02] Pablo: There’s a lot of people surfing all around the world. A lot more people in the water, [00:03:07] Brad: actually. [00:03:08] Pablo: Yeah. I mean, we’ve seen that here in El Salvador [00:03:09] Brad: for sure. [00:03:10] Pablo: It’s growing rapidly for sure. And, um, funky boards as well. I recently got into twin fins, retro boards. I used to write the typical knifey boards and, and, and I’m just like learning about all of these other. Shapes and sizes and, and fins and, uh, it’s awesome, man. I love it. [00:03:34] Brad: Yeah. You know, it’s crazy. When I first moved down here, it was really kind of rare to see anybody riding a weirder board. [00:03:41] Brad: Um, I mean, you guys have Puro Surf Academy here, and that really is focused on high performance surfing on a thruster, which is not what this event’s about. And I think you’re starting to see a little bit of a change. Um, I mean, I think Pablo’s, you know, picking up on that tip, you know? [00:03:58] Pollo: I think it’s like a generalized shift in surf culture. [00:04:02] Pollo: Like, maybe like El Salvador is like an example, but I think in general people are like more open to weirder boards. They’re kind of making a comeback. I think album and like all the weird kind of like they’re making like a big dent on it. Um, and yeah, it’s like weird how like for a while I think like, Thruster guys would like ditch on like alternative people and I have to think it’s the other way around. [00:04:25] Pablo: Yeah. Yeah. I think you’re totally right about that. I mean, surfing is about having fun, right? And, uh, and all of this, uh, different, different boards, fun boards, weird boards, kind of change your chip when you’re out there in the water. And as opposed to thinking on your next maneuver and, and, or barrel or smashing the lip or making something critical, you’re more like. [00:04:49] Pablo: Just drawing lines and enjoying the feeling of riding the wave, you know, and [00:04:54] Brad: yeah, I definitely think that’s the case. And actually, I think it’s really cool to like be on a weird board and then take out your thruster again, because your thruster feels like so easy to surf all of a sudden. At least that’s the way it feels for me. [00:05:07] Pollo: I don’t know. I feel like for me, it’s like a change in like, you’re like balanced center. I think that’s how I see it. Like, Oh, [00:05:13] Brad: wow. [00:05:14] Pollo: For [00:05:14] Brad: me, [00:05:14] Pollo: it’s like, okay, like [00:05:16] Brad: dropping the knowledge, let’s get into it. What do you mean? [00:05:19] Pollo: Yeah. I feel like with thrusters, you kind of have like a placement where you’re kind of like, I don’t know, like for me, like really like center. [00:05:25] Pollo: And then like on like a more middling, they go more forward on like a fish. You feel like you have to be like more crouched because then you’re like, you just get out. So I think like for me like the change like it takes me a while like I can do like a day with the two boards I [00:05:40] Brad: can’t. You can’t [00:05:40] Pollo: do it? No. [00:05:41] Brad: What about you Pablo? Can you do that? Does it feel weird to you too? [00:05:43] Pablo: I, I like what you said Pollo. It’s true like the how, how different you write each board and um, I agree, I agree. To me I think that riding twin fins and, and weird shaped boards actually helped me be a better high performance surfer, just because it brought me back to like the basics of like a proper round bottom turn into, into, into your maneuver up in, in, in the face of the wave. [00:06:11] Pablo: So I really enjoy like hopping back and forth from a twin or a retro board it back into my high performance, because I feel like on a, on a high performance, I can just like V bottom turn and go straight up and do all of this. Maneuvers a lot quicker. Whereas on a twin fin, like you said, Pollo, it kind of skids out. [00:06:33] Pablo: So you have to make it You have to draw the line get lower on your board. And you know, that’s at least one of my problems I’m i’m never it’s like a [00:06:41] Brad: fundamentals thing. I want to get lower Yeah, if you stick to the fundamentals on those weirder boards, you can surf them And then when you go back onto a thruster, it’s like oh like you can surf it differently and better Like your bottom turns on a thruster after serving a twin fin looks so much better. [00:06:58] Brad: I think at least. [00:06:59] Pollo: Oh, yeah, I feel like, and I happened to do the other day, I was like kind of locked in. I was like, oh, like I can’t get like this carve to work. And then I got in a twin fin that has more release, and then the next time I got in a thruster it felt better. It’s kind of like a weird, yeah, like how one helps the other and like all the way around. [00:07:15] Brad: All right, we’ve been talking about weird boards. And we’ve been talking about, you know, why we’re doing this event and stuff. But. Really what we’ve been getting into on this on this talk story podcast lately is it’s an investigation of surfing and I Really have found, you know, especially traveling around and talking to people who grew up surfing different areas that It’s not the same for everybody, you know, and so, you know when I was doing it back in Miami We were asking a lot of questions and we were getting a lot of Miami based answers And then as I talked to more and more people, you know, not on the podcast. [00:07:46] Brad: I was like, oh, you know, it’s just It’s not like that everywhere. And so the questions now are really like this investigation, like what’s surfing like where you guys are from? You guys grew up in Sivar, so what was it like growing up here and surfing? [00:08:02] Pollo: Do you want to take this for you? [00:08:03] Pablo: I [00:08:04] Brad: think [00:08:05] Pollo: I started surfing later than you. [00:08:08] Pablo: Yeah, I’m surfing, surfing here. Wow. It’s been 17 years for me and, uh, it’s changed a lot. Back in the day in El Salvador, Going to PIPELINE was a different experience. You know, there was a handful of locals, pretty aggro crowd, and um, And, and uh, is this better? Okay. Yeah, anyways, I was saying, uh, It was a lot of angry, angry crowds, angry locals, and um, So that’s how you started surfing, and That’s why a lot of people from my generation didn’t actually get into surfing because people were intimidated. [00:08:50] Pablo: People were afraid people, people had to make their way up, up the lineup, essentially never at the peak. And, um, and it was a patient’s game, you know, but so unless you had to put the time in actually years in decades in, and [00:09:08] Brad: I think that [00:09:09] Pollo: there’s only a few people that can call themselves like second generation surfers, you know, [00:09:14] Brad: Oh, that’s a whole other thing, huh? [00:09:16] Brad: I mean, [00:09:17] Pollo: Absolutely. And, [00:09:18] Pablo: uh, and Who’s [00:09:18] Brad: dad surfed? [00:09:19] Pablo: So unless Mom surfed. [00:09:21] Brad: Not too many, right? [00:09:22] Pablo: A few, but a handful. And not many, actually. And, um, So yeah, no, it was, it was definitely It felt nice once you actually Were able to surf, uh, at the peak. And, and catch waves because at that point you clearly knew all the locals. [00:09:40] Pablo: You were clearly a better surfer. And, um, and yeah, no, not crowds were absolutely zero. I mean, I think I served this break by La Libertad over five years with not a single person out, maybe Pollo was there and, and, and a few of our buddies, you know, but it was really cool. So, and it’s changing a lot right now. [00:10:04] Brad: Yeah. You know, we’ve seen that a lot. Um, Especially from the older guys, you know, when they come on to the podcast in Miami, they were like, oh You guys have got it easy. You don’t know how violent it used to be You know Like you come out of the out of the water after being thrown out of the water Like physically in some cases and then your car be smashed up I mean getting your windshield wax was like, oh that was nice of them, you know Like you’d show up and you’re [00:10:27] Pablo: are you talking about Florida or El Salvador? [00:10:31] Brad: And even guys from like California. El Salvador [00:10:32] Pablo: was the same thing. Really? You got you, they would pinch your tires, break your windows. Sometimes you get out of the, our buddy of ours, Juan, uh, he came out of the water and his window was smashed and he was, he got robbed, nothing left in the car. He got his computer. [00:10:47] Pablo: He, he was ready to go to work. He couldn’t go to work that day. Yeah. The typical story was that like 10 [00:10:54] Brad: years ago, 15 years ago or something like that. [00:10:56] Pablo: I would say 10 years ago. [00:10:57] Brad: Yeah. Yeah. Wow, it’s changed a lot. So 10 years ago, people were getting their windshield smashed there. And now there’s a WSL contest. [00:11:06] Brad: I mean, that’s a huge change for this country, right? [00:11:09] Pollo: Yeah. Yeah, [00:11:10] Brad: for sure. I mean, there was the COVID influx, right? But before that, I mean, was there more people surfing prior to COVID or? Or was it really like a post COVID kind of thing now? I [00:11:24] Pollo: think there’s like a statistic, right? Like how people like learn to surf during COVID, just because now they moved to like a beach or something. [00:11:32] Pollo: I think definitely more and like the crowd changed for sure. I think like, like since what Pablo says, like the surfers that came here is because they wanted, really wanted to surf, like it’s less raw, violent, like dangerous, so if you actually like really like the wave, then you came. Now it’s not the same. [00:11:49] Pollo: Now everyone comes and is like, Oh, like it’s friendly, like whatever. So you kind of get a different crowd in the water too. Like just from that. [00:11:56] Brad: So what’s the surf culture like in El Salvador? How would you describe that? [00:12:01] Pablo: I mean, it’s, it’s changed a lot from back, back in the day. Um, like you said, after COVID, there was definitely a big push, particularly now with the, with the WSL, of course, because, um. [00:12:15] Pablo: Whenever it’s a live stream of the WSL, you got the whole world watching. And, uh, and then they see El Salvador and they see the quality of wave, even though last year, the qualities and conditions weren’t that they had four hours of good. Yes, exactly. Out of the entire two weeks, you know, but that definitely had a big push, a big influence in, in, in people coming over. [00:12:38] Pablo: I think it’s switching to more of like a. A beach vibe, you know. It’s not just core surfing. People who are core surfers, no matter whether it’s dangerous or not, they will come. It’s switching to more like, now it’s a safe country. Lots of new spots opening up. Restaurants, bars, hotels, hostels, RV parkings. [00:13:02] Pablo: Just about anything is popping up. And, um, yeah, so there’s more people coming over, there’s more activities to do. Um, you know, there’s, there’s lakes, volcanoes, coffee experiences, waterfalls all over the place. I [00:13:17] Brad: mean, yeah, it is a beautiful country. [00:13:18] Pablo: Consistency of waves. But [00:13:20] Brad: about the culture though, like, what was hardcore? [00:13:22] Brad: You know, like I know that there’s localism, there is violence, but like amongst just your buddies, if you’re going to go surfing, like, was there like a surf party or would you like make your own surf party? Would you guys listen to punk? Would you listen to rap? Like what was the scene? [00:13:36] Pollo: I think for me, this is my experience of it, like growing up, like, I think PIPELINE it’s my reference of like going somewhere to surf and like having like a, like a surf town. [00:13:46] Brad: Oh yeah. [00:13:47] Pollo: And so when you got there, it was like a lot of like backpackers. That for me is like my reference of like, okay, like a lot of backpackers traveling through Central America and that was more of the crowd and some of the surf, but not like a surf, surf culture. [00:14:01] Brad: I mean, there was [00:14:01] Pablo: that place [00:14:02] Brad: that, that, that skate [00:14:02] Pablo: ramp right there. [00:14:03] Pablo: There was a lot of Scott reggae. There’s a lot of Bob Marley. Um, a lot of punk as well. Um, yeah, yeah. In terms of music. [00:14:14] Brad: I don’t know. You know, like when I think of that surf culture, you know, it’s, Music and boards and clothes and like a whole attitude that comes with it. [00:14:22] Pollo: Yeah, but that’s what I mean. Like if you’re I think like if you ask the locals like all their like influence of Surf culture was like brought from australians or american that gave them their clothes or like their things That’s kind of how it started. [00:14:35] Pollo: I don’t know if there was Surf culture. I mean like, Atarraya I thought it was kind [00:14:40] Brad: of like sublime ish, right? Sure, yeah. It’s like, punk, reggae. Reggae, ska, [00:14:44] Pablo: punk. Uh, that was the music you would listen to whenever you would come down here. You would, you would drink the, the big regias las regias cholas. Uh huh. You would drink those, and uh, you would kind of make your own party. [00:14:58] Pablo: You would go, go to like, one of the two spots that were available to go to. And just kind of drink beers after your surf sesh. Super Roots. Very Roots. There was actually a place called Roots. Pollo knows a lot about Roots. [00:15:16] Brad: That’s sick. Uh, so it’s changed a lot, you know. Like, I’ve been here for just a little while and I’ve seen a big change. [00:15:21] Brad: I mean, I’m part of that change, I guess, right? Um, what about diversity in the scene? Oh, you were going to say something. What were you going to say, Pollo? [00:15:28] Pablo: I was going to say the roads. There was not a single cement concrete road. It was all dirt roads, lots of palapas, um, two spots to go and order breakfast maybe, or a plate of the day is what they call them here, plato del dia, which is either chicken rice in a salad or beef rice in a salad, you know? [00:15:51] Pablo: Or fish. Or fish. And then apart from that, not much. In terms of boards, they were all very Knifey. Like, like, narrow, skinny, knifey boards. Like the typical Andy Iron board. Huh? For pipeline and stuff. [00:16:06] Brad: Well yeah, I mean, you guys are saying the culture is so influenced by that kind of stuff. So I imagine that the boards are very much like that too. [00:16:13] Pollo: Just like, I remember like when I started surfing. Like now, like, of course, Puro surf and like all the surf schools every beach has a surf school. Huh? Like your friends took you, you got a beat in your first time. You got the shittest board, like not fit to learn. It was like, there was no rule. [00:16:28] Pablo: You were, you were, you were scared to go into the lineup, particularly in, well, for me, two spots were really hard to get into was a pipeline for one and [00:16:37] PIPELINE: pipeline. [00:16:38] PIPELINE: Pipeline was [00:16:39] Pablo: another really aggro crowd. Um, you will get yelled at, you will get insulted. You probably get pushed. kicked out of the water or beat up, you know? [00:16:50] Brad: That’s pretty much my experience, so, yeah. Good times, good times though, I loved it. I [00:16:57] Pablo: wouldn’t change it for anything. [00:16:59] Brad: I know what you mean, you know, and, you know, I localism comes up a lot in this podcast and there’s always a big difference in opinion on it and I mean, after talking to so many people and experiencing it myself I think it’s a necessary evil. [00:17:12] Pollo: Like what they’re doing in France, You They were like, I think they’re like designated people in the lineup that kind of like read the crowd and tell you like, Hey, you shouldn’t belong here. And there’s like a designated by everyone special people that are like, no, you shouldn’t be here. You go over there. [00:17:27] Pollo: I think it’s like still kind of like fair. Like you can see it. It’s like danger. So you, [00:17:32] Pablo: so you have the opposite in California where you actually get in trouble. You can lose your job. You can, uh, there’s a lot of restrictions against localism. [00:17:41] Pollo: Yeah. Pipeline. Call the police. Yes. That’s a huge change, right? [00:17:46] Pablo: That’s very new. Very new. Actually, it hasn’t even been a year since these, uh, this stuff started happening. [00:17:53] Brad: Yeah. So what these guys are referencing is someone did something stupid in the lineup. The locals reacted the way they always would. And when they get into the, into the land, there’s police waiting for them. [00:18:05] Brad: I mean, that’s pretty much the story, right? I mean, that’s like California style. And it’s, I don’t know, like, it seems kind of strange to me and it seems like, mmm, maybe like the police should kind of like, take a step back from that. I mean, obviously you don’t want to like, kill somebody and you’d, like, stealing someone’s stuff is not cool, but there needs to be some respect shown in the lineup or else, like you were saying, it gets dangerous. [00:18:31] Brad: And people put in their time. There’s only so many ways to go around, right? [00:18:37] Pablo: Yeah, it’s, it’s tricky. It’s, it’s very bittersweet. Um, [00:18:42] Pollo: I just want to add a point. Like, remember that we had like an exception rule in El Salvador. So actually getting the police and getting thrown through jail is like a big deal. [00:18:50] Pollo: It’s not like, oh, I’m getting out tomorrow. So you get like shit scared if you get the police on you. Yeah, of course. It makes a difference. [00:18:58] Brad: Well, yeah, there’s a lot happening here, you know, socially and politically that has changed the rules a lot. [00:19:04] Pablo: No. And then on one end, you know, You want some sort of rules and regulations in terms of like, surfing and respecting the history of surfing and localism, because it comes back from Hawaii, in its origins, essentially. [00:19:23] Pablo: But then you also want people to be able to catch waves, and you definitely want everybody to be safe. So, I mean, yeah, we’ll see what, somebody’s going to come up with something, I guess. [00:19:34] Brad: I mean, I don’t think anyone’s come up with anything. This new rule in France are talking about is, I mean, there used to be guys called the black shorts and they, they ruled Hawaii and those are the guys that no one messed with because they realized like that was kind of like the underground police for the water. [00:19:51] Brad: And I, you need some law and order out there. You really do. Cause you know, when it’s firing and it’s big and you’re dropping into a wave and someone’s coming over the shoulder on top of you, I mean, they could kill you. Like legit and that shit can’t happen and you should be absolutely thrown out of the water for doing some shit like that [00:20:12] Pablo: Definitely learning proper surf etiquette is It’s extremely important when when the waves are pumping in and heavy the surfer on the wave Can’t be like looking out for everything that’s happening around him. [00:20:29] Pablo: He’s already kind of surfing the wave. Maybe there’s strong offshore, so he can’t really see anything like people paddling around need to know how to protect themselves and keep the surfer as well, uh, safe because yeah, you can, you can hop off your board and kind of just leave it out there and then, and then it’s a, it’s, it’s a hazard for the surfer and, um, but then if, if, if you just paddle straight and he’s come in Your way and you don’t do anything. [00:20:56] Pablo: He can run you over. So it puts you in a, in a, in a, in a dangerous situation. So it’s, it’s very important to people to know how to handle the, their way around the lineup, you know? [00:21:08] Brad: Yeah, there’s definitely an education necessary. One of the other things that I’ve noticed here a lot and is that there’s not as much respect in the lineup, especially when it comes to visiting surfers, like guys come in for three days, five days or a week. [00:21:23] Brad: And they try to pack in as many waves as they possibly can into that short amount of time. And by nature, they just become jerks, you know, like they feel like entitled to catch every wave that’s out there. And I think that’s probably a lot why there has been like a big pushback from locals because it’s like, who, who are you to think that you just own every wave here? [00:21:43] Brad: Cause you’re on vacation for five days. [00:21:45] Pollo: I think that going back to like how long the surf history, you know, salaries, like the fact is like it’s some. Lineups literally have like, local locals. It’s like if you go to India too, like some spots you’re like, well the local is the guy that’s been here for like 10 years because actually there was no one surfing before him. [00:22:02] Pollo: So I think like, some spot that you, like what you said, like you go in the water and you’re like, well I guess there’s no one here to like, put in line everyone. So like, what do you do? So I think like, it’s still like on that edge of like, localism, how do you understand it, how does it play out in like one lineup versus the other. [00:22:18] Pollo: Yeah. Pipeline. You can clearly see it, like, in the lineup. Yeah, yeah. [00:22:23] Brad: I think the pipeline actually works pretty well right now. There’s a lineup, which is pretty much for the guys that surfed it their whole lives, and there’s a lineup for everybody else, and I’m happy to get waves that everybody else misses or doesn’t want. [00:22:36] Brad: I mean, they’re still better than any wave I would get in Florida, so it’s no problem for me. I’m stoked to watch you guys get the best waves from the top of the points. I’ll sit on the shoulder all day long and cheer for you. And when you fall or give me a shitty closeout, I’m stoked. It’s [00:22:49] Pablo: sick. Yeah, no, I’m, I’m laughing cause everything is so controversial, you know, there’s always two, two, two sides, um, pros and cons, you know, and on one end, like you, you got, you got people on a vacation trying to make the most out of their vacation and, and yeah, I mean, we’ve all been on trips that on a surf trip that you go to this spot. [00:23:11] Pablo: and you catch an amazing wave and it makes your trip, you know and some people are definitely looking out for that trying to catch that wave that’ll make you remember your trip your surf trip to El Salvador for the rest of your life but then at the same time um there’s, there’s, there’s disrespecting in the lineup, you know some people go to Hawaii for a month and during the first three weeks they can’t catch a wave at pipe trip First three [00:23:38] Brad: weeks, first three years, first three decades. [00:23:42] Pablo: Yeah. I mean, I don’t know. I’ve never, I’ve never been, but, but I’ve, I’ve seen a lot of posts on Instagram saying like, it’s, it’s been a couple of weeks of me kind of just like navigating my way around the line. I’m trying to catch a wave and finally I was able to catch this one wave and boom, the video comes out, you know, and it, and it’s this amazing wave, but this person had to play the patience game and the respect game and kind of like. [00:24:07] Pablo: Make their way up the lineup and then finally catch something really special. You know? [00:24:11] Brad: I mean, it’s, it’s like that though. If you put in the time, you have the patience and you’re really working at it. It’s like anything. Like if you put in the time and effort that one time it actually comes through, it’s like that much more special. [00:24:23] Pollo: I think it’s like surfing is like, it’s such a, like a dog eat dog sport. It’s like, if you compare like snowboarding or like skating, I think all in all, like more, they’re like. If you fall on like on like snowboarding nobody’s gonna notice nobody’s seeing like oh he fall three times like he can’t fall under the chairlift [00:24:40] Brad: people definitely [00:24:42] Pollo: But here in the lineup if you fall once and people are like, oh, he’s kind of a cook I’m not sure if it’s gonna get the other way So like you’re reading other people mistakes as well in the lineup sure you’re like, okay, then it’s my way [00:24:53] Pablo: You can’t always get what you want, you know? [00:24:55] Pablo: Who wouldn’t want to fly to Hawaii, catch a set wave at Pipeline? You know? You get what you need. So two weeks later, you catch this little [00:25:03] Brad: wave. So speaking of Hawaii, what is travel like for guys in El Salvador? Do people travel around the country a lot? Do they travel out of the country? What’s been your experience and just like the vibe about that? [00:25:16] Pablo: Not many people travel out of El Salvador for surfing. You know? At least, uh, on something that you can’t access by land. You know, so, so most surf trips here Is your mic up? So, so most surf trips here, like, the ones we do essentially is, uh, Nicaragua, which is 15 hour drive. You know, we all split the gas and shoot south. [00:25:40] Pablo: And or Mexico, the opposite, but north, you know, it’s, uh, it’s, it’s expensive to, to, to plan a surf trip and, and, you know, and, and get out there. So I would say for the majority of surfers in El Salvador, those are, those would be the surf trips you do. Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico. Even in the country, you [00:25:57] Brad: don’t see people moving around that much. [00:26:00] Pablo: It’s got good waves all over the place. [00:26:01] Pollo: I think like just reality, I think like if you’re, if you’re trying to compare like to surfers in like Australia, Brazil, like, uh, the U S like by the time they’re 13, they’re like being all over the world and that’s like, I think like the most traveling surfer now it’s Brian and I think it’s like starting to travel, like he’s still like not accustomed to reef waves as much as like point break. [00:26:27] Pollo: So he’s like starting to get the feel of it. Within doing the Qs. So I think like, yeah, of course. Like, I think like there’s like of course a financial thing, El Salvador of like, not many people can travel because it’s like super expensive. Especially I think like going out of El Sal is expensive. Like tickets to Costa Rica can be like 400. [00:26:44] Pollo: Yeah. Like what the fuck? 700 too. [00:26:46] Brad: Yeah. [00:26:46] Pablo: Yeah. [00:26:47] Brad: Yeah. That’s actually John. True. Huh uh. So what do you guys think surfing’s going like in this country? Generally? What, what’s, what’s the next thing in surfing? The [00:26:58] Pablo: unknown. [00:27:00] Pollo: I think it’s like a free for all. Like, just like with the return of, like, alternative boards. [00:27:05] Pollo: I think it’s like, go do what you want to do in the water. What about pools? [00:27:12] Pablo: I can’t imagine a wave pool in El Salvador. [00:27:14] Brad: Oh, I can totally imagine. [00:27:15] Pablo: Really, no, just cause they’re consistent. With the government [00:27:18] Brad: behind [00:27:18] Pablo: it so much, I’m surprised there isn’t one already. You’re right, you’re right. That could happen, actually. I just, the way I see it is that we, we, We’re blessed with a lot of consistency and swell, uh, here. [00:27:32] Pablo: So, I don’t, I don’t see the need. If you can just do it and it’ll be just for fun, then yeah. But the need, I don’t think we got the need like Texans for, Texas. Yeah, they definitely need it. [00:27:43] Brad: And you know what’s crazy? They have put wave pools in a lot of places that get great waves all the time. I mean, I’ve surfed in Typhoon Lagoon in Orlando and Disney World is not a great wave, but it’s still a hell of a lot better than what we get most of the time in Florida. [00:27:57] Brad: And still we have no major wave pool in Florida. [00:28:02] Pollo: Yeah, I mean like, I think like people that get to it, like they do skateboarding. It’s like, okay, like I’m having the same section all the time so I can like try things. So I think like that’s [00:28:11] Brad: something for like Oh yeah, that consistency for training would be sick. [00:28:14] Pollo: Yeah. And, I don’t know, like, it’s like boards, maneuvers, waves, like, there’s like a lot of, where is it going? Yeah, I think the people are gonna charge more, of course. [00:28:26] Pablo: Yeah, I think the Groms are gonna, our future generations of surfing, the kids are already surfing so, so much better than what our generation or previous generations do ours. [00:28:37] Pablo: And even better [00:28:38] Brad: than us. [00:28:39] Pollo: By [00:28:39] Pablo: a lot, by a [00:28:40] Pollo: lot. We talked a lot about, like, training. Training, like, years ago, it’s like, nobody trained to surf. I didn’t even know you [00:28:48] Pablo: could train to surf. Influence as well, you know, there’s a lot of, uh, a lot more surfers coming, a lot of more rippers. All of a sudden, for two weeks, we got the world’s best. [00:28:57] Pablo: It’s true. [00:28:58] Pablo: surfing [00:28:59] PIPELINE: Pipeline. Pipeline. Pipeline. [00:29:03] Pablo: Every super session is all over the coast, you know? And people get to watch that. We never had that opportunity, you know? [00:29:09] Brad: Yeah, so you had no idea what was even possible in the waves that you got. [00:29:12] Pablo: So definitely the level of surfing, I can see it improving a whole lot. [00:29:17] Pablo: Maybe localism as well. Because there’s a lot more local surfers now. Oh yeah. So, so, so we’ll see. But, but then what, what Paul, you’ll say, I definitely see El Salvador, like with a lot more board options, a funky boards, performance boards, fins. Um, yeah. You [00:29:37] Brad: know, something you said to me a long time ago comes to mind. [00:29:41] Brad: Have you guys like searched around for any weird waves? And he’s like, if you had this in your backyard, would you go driving around? And I was like, Oh yeah, I guess I’m right. But maybe as like crowds start to thicken, maybe you guys will start, you know, as a country. Start looking around the corner for, for weird waves that maybe just right under your nose that you just never realized work only on this tide, on this swell direction, at this size, and things like this. [00:30:05] Brad: I mean, there’s always secret spots, right? But, for the most part, my understanding is that people don’t really look around [00:30:11] Pablo: too much. You’ll be forced to search, essentially, because you’re gonna, I mean, at least myself, I know Pollo’s the same way, we like surfing with lesser crowds. So, as La Libertad and Oriente start, like, crowding up, people are going to start having to search and drive to different spots looking for waves until they find their sweet spot, you know, and are able to have fun with no people around. [00:30:40] Pablo: I think we just did a podcast. I [00:30:42] Brad: think we did it. Pollo from Tropical Freaks, thanks so much for joining us. Pablo, Hotel Mishanti, stoked to have you guys on the podcast. First one from El Salvador. Talk story, that’s a wrap, from Pescaíto Frito at Looking Good Surf Hotel. Join us next time as we get into more investigation of surfing. [00:31:03] Brad: I think we’re gonna go surf a giant heat of everyone surfing on some weird boards. Get you guys later. Peace. Oh, thanks, Brad. Thanks, Brad. Today’s episode was [00:31:10] Sponsor: brought to you by BrightBox. Marketing for design, architecture, and hospitality. IMAME Capital. Experts in revitalizing Miami’s urban multifamily real estate. [00:31:25] Sponsor: And Team Key Aquatics, fostering growth and excellence in aquatic sports. [00:31:34] Intro: Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Thank You Surfing Podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and comment to stay updated and let us know your thoughts. Catch you next time and keep surfing.