If you’ve been on a retreat then you know that waves can be cute. I started describing waves that way during surf lessons as a reaction to ladies looking at a little wave and saying, “it looks scary!” I would respond by saying, “no, it’s a cute one!” Things progressed and now any wave that looks good comes with the tag, “cute”. So, here’s me getting a really cute one in El Salvador. This is how you do it!
Video Soundtrack by Nicki Bluhm
The North Shore of Oahu is a no longer the gem it used to be, the trip I looked forward to for months, the place I showed up and unpacked and got into the groove of. Maybe it means I’m old.
Way too crowded!
At 31, it’s different. A lot of those experiences are less appealing. Now I go for a quick week, hope for sun and good waves, and try to get some photos as quickly as possible so I can get out of there and back to other things. I didn’t even want to go this year. Home in Nicaragua is too good. A house that needs work, a garden that needs care, a faithful dog, uncrowded warm waves, and the best partner I’ve ever had.
Fortunately, I met up with my sister Helina at the Honolulu airport. I was looking forward to hanging out with her. She’s awesome – one of my favorite people on the planet.
Then we were kidnapped. Body Glove boys in a rental van with bottles of PVOGs (Passionfruit, vodka, orange, guava) took us on a wild ride through town, picking up a couple of other girls on the way telling us we were going to longboard Waikiki.
Ok, whatever. I gave in and enjoyed the ride. We rode twelve-footers on ankle-slappers, and had amazing pupus at Duke’s afterwards.
Well past sunset we pulled in to the house BG rents at Sunset Beach – a two story, five bedroom within spitting distance of the ocean. No surprise that every bed was full of at least one person, every couch taken, every futon claimed. Standard North Shore in December situation…. I pulled a pad off an outside chair and made a bed on the floor. Here we go again…
Over the next few days we surfed Rockies in patches of sun, hiked to a waterfall, ate poke, and easy simple food cooked to feed a crew of 25: lots of hamburgers and marinara pasta.
I watched Helina jump off a 50 foot ledge and butt-flop into the deep pool, earning her the most impressive bruise I’ve ever seen. I got a few good waves at Rockies, and hopefully a few good photos too.
In the end it wasn’t so bad. I probably seem like a spoiled little brat for complaining. But I’m now so happy to be back home!
Check out a few clips of Holly surfing in Nicaragua in Nov/Dec 2011. Good times, great waves, so much fun!
Holly Beck – InnerViews from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo.
Check out Holly talking about growing up in Palos Verdes, CA, learning to surf, falling in and out of love with competing, moving to Central America, pumping a well for water, and inspiring other ladies to push themselves outside their comfort zones.
Waaaaay back in 2009, I played a tiny role in an independent film called Beautiful Wave. For the story of the filming, check out the blog post here.
That film has finally been sold and is coming out soon. Check out the trailer above and look closely at the very end for some footage of me coming out of a foamy tube at Gas Chambers on the North Shore.
Imagine you’re a 12 year old kid growing up in a remote fishing village in Northern Nicaragua. You’ve spent most of your life barefoot, chasing chickens and skinny dogs through barbed-wire fences. You learned to ride a horse at age 5 and by age 7 your dad had you herding cattle between pen and pasture. Your parents keep you busy with the chores of survival. There’s a two room school house just down the street but not much incentive to attend so you don’t know how to read.
Then one day, some gringos show up and buy land nearby. They give your uncles jobs in construction building a small eco-resort called El Coco Loco. Your mom gets hired to help out in the kitchen and your older brother scores a job as a night watchman.
Coco Loco founds a community development focused non-profit called Waves of Hope to improve the lives of the community they’ve fallen in love with. Volunteers come down from the US and Canada, girls with big smiles that spend mornings in the little school helping the one teacher that is assigned to teach three grades at once. In the afternoons they organize soccer games on the Coco Loco field, do art projects, and teach English. On Saturdays any kid that has attended classes Monday – Friday gets to borrow a surfboard and feel the joy of riding a wave.
Suddenly, there’s a lot of incentive to go to school. Attendance skyrockets. The tiny two room school house is no longer big enough.
Then Waves Of Hope announces that it will build a new school room for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. But we need your help!
The new classroom will cost $9,000 to build. You can help by donating to Waves of Hope. Every little bit helps.
Email hollybeck27@gmail.com or jamie@elcocolocoresort.com for more info on how you can make a difference and help kids go to school!
