Nicaragua, day 3, Playa Santana--- After what was the longest truck ride to go surf, over instant lakes, past cows, and dodging both potholes and motorbikes, we arrived at Playa Santana. This was a beach break with three main peaks; a long smaller left, an A-frame bowl, and a punchy right, all were well overhead. The beach was guarded by a point to the south which made for a very scenic session. There were only a hand full of people in the water which ended up allowing us to surf basically any wave we wanted. One of those in the water was a young local kid; no more than 14 yrs old. He stood out. But not for the way that you might think. What made him stand out was his absolute joy of being in the water. He paid no attention to the cameras on the beach or had any apprehension about the number of gringos in the water, always in the right place, and he was more than respectful of position and wave count. His style was quite interesting. He had no desire to surf the wave, no, the extremely rip-able waves would set up perfectly, but that wasn't for him. Before every wave he took off on he would yell, "DALE!, DALE!, DALE! (Dawh-lay), but he could barely get the words out because the smile on his face was so big. After he caught the wave, there was only one thing on his mind, he would bottom turn and them launch himself into the air. Every time, no exception. He never landed them either, always separating from his yellow board, he would come crashing down and the full force of the wave would then come down on him. A few moments later his head would emerge from the foam with a smile bigger than the one he had when he started. As the next guy in line took often, the kid would be there cheering him on so stoked for the next guy. This pattern was repeated for the remainder of the session.
It was quite refreshing to see this, this attitude of fun and less of competition. And what I'm finding is that this seems to be common among the locals here in Nicaragua, very good, very nice, always in the right place, so pumped to be in the water. When you look at what the locals have on land, and how much badly needed money goes into buying a old yellow board that's been broken in half twice, it becomes all the more evident that the ocean is a sanctuary and literally heals our water deprived and ironically our watered down souls and provides us with something that solid land just can't.
Playa Santana
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