Discover how I effortlessly fell in love with the amazing town of El Tunco Beach
Find out how a Dutch girl discovered El Tunco Beach, ended up staying there and how she fell in love with the waves, local people and pupusas
04.45 – The alarm clock rings. It’s still pitch black outside but it’s time to wake up. The waves are calling!
05.00 – Time to take a look at the waves and enter the ocean! It’s still a little bit fresh outside but the water is always nice and warm.
05.15 – It’s high tide so it’s been a long paddle to the point break of Sunzal. Waves are good! Like always to be honest. It’s still super quiet so I can try to catch almost every wave. Within an hour the ocean fills up with a lot of surfers, beginners, intermediates and really experienced surfers. It’s a lovely morning. Everyone greets each other and have some chats.
08.00 – After a lot of waves and a lot of fun it’s time to leave, duty calls! Time to take a quick shower and get ready for work.
17.00 – I had a great day at work today. I met a lot of interesting people and I sold some tours to the Tamanique waterfalls and the Santa Ana Volcano for this week. Now it’s closing time and I go straight to the beach to watch the sunset.
What’s very lovely here is that everyone just stops what they are doing and all come to the beach to watch the sunset. Everyone is having some drinks and after that some go to the party which is every day and some decide to chill and enjoy a nice relaxed evening with some friends.
Who would have expected I would live this amazing easy going life? At least I didn’t expect it myself.
It was always my dream to learn how to surf. Right after I graduated I started to travel. For a year already I’ve been traveling through Latin America. All this time I spend in surf towns along the coast of South and Central America. My last destination was going to be Guatemala so I could go home for Christmas to see my family again.
I was enjoying my last weeks in El Paredon, a nice little surf town in Guatemala. I was talking with some of the locals about the surf and the waves. Because El Paredon wasn’t too good for me, a girl recommended me to go to El Tunco in El Salvador. She just came from there.
To be honest, I didn’t know anything about the country but I thought ‘why not?’. It’s only 6 hours from Antigua and there are direct shuttles which are super comfortable. I decided to just check it out and maybe stay for a week and then return to Guatemala to fly home.
I came to El Tunco without any expectations, I never expected that it would be so amazing here. From the first day already I felt so good here.
There is a super relaxed atmosphere, a good vibe and everybody is super friendly here. It’s a really small town so in a few days you already made friends with the whole town!
The surf is amazing here. The first day I entered the water where I got my first real big wave ever! I cannot describe the feeling but believe me, it felt amazing. All the following days I spent in the water surfing, followed by partying almost every night.
In one of the main streets, there are two super fun bars where everyone hangs out during weekends but also during the week.
Days passed, weeks passed, and now I’m here already for over a month! Because I planned to go home soon, I was running short on my budget so I decided to look for some kind of job or volunteering opportunity.
At the beach of San Blas, a beach 10 minutes from El Tunco I met my amazing new friend Salvatore. Salva is the founder of the tour agency Tunco Life. He told me he could use a volunteer for the high season which is about to start. I started to work in the tour agency, selling tours and transfers and also guiding tours.
Like this I can not only stay longer in my new favorite town, I can also gain new work experience and experience life like a local here!
Tunco Life is a really good tour agency. They offer great experiences to really learn something about the country, see all the beautiful sites and the hidden places of El Salvador and have a lot of fun with fellow travelers. With Tunco Life you can really get to know the country.
Besides tours Tunco Life also offers transportation and shuttles to other places. What I really like is that if you book something at Tunco Life, you don’t have to worry about anything! Everything is taken care of so you can just enjoy your holidays or travels. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?!
I hope to see you soon in El Tunco or in another part of El Salvador. Believe me, you will have an amazing time here.
