It was time to now go from the lake to the beach. El Paredon is a small, popular beach town on the coast of Guatemala. It took about 4 hours to get to from Lake Atitilan via shuttle bus which included a 20 minute boat ride that the shuttle boarded. There’s not a whole lot to do in El Paredon except surf and chill and the whole town could be walked around in about 15 minutes.
The weather during my time in El Paredon, and presumably almost always, was excruciatingly hot. Luckily the hostel I stayed at had an amazing pool and much of my time during my stay here was spent at the hostel. People during the day either hibernated or surfed and then at around 4-5pm when the weather cooled it was a very different atmosphere as the town became alive again.
I put my 3 years of Prendiville Surf Science experience to the test on my first day as me and my German friend, Finn, rented boards and gave the waves a go. I hadn’t missed a beat out there and one could be forgiven for thinking it was Kelly Slater out there on the waves. After 2 hours and several near drownings, it was time to get myself some well earned cervezas.
Every afternoon during my stay in El Paredon we watched the sunset on the beach and also played volleyball. The games would kick off every day at around 5pm, when the sand became a somewhat tolerable temperature for the soles of our feet. It became evident very early on to the other backpackers playing why I was Prendiville’s best volleyball export and multiple time MVP award winner. If there was an MVP for El Paredon Volleyball it could surely only go to me? This was a highlight of my time in El Paredon as we would play, jump in the sea and then drink some cold beers. The life!
On one of the nights we entered a musical bingo trivia night at one of the neighbouring hostels. I would consider myself fairly knowledgeable about music and me and my team made a strong start to the night. After each round everyone would get a tequila shot. Not even the winning team, just everyone that was participating in the trivia ?? I didn’t really understand it but who am I to question the rules – cheers! A low point of the night came when a Frozen song (unbeknown to me at the time) started to play. I was stumped. “I’ve never heard this before in my life” I proclaimed, insisting it must be some sort of administration error. An 18 year old British girl, in the group next to me seemed to get it straight away. I looked at her bemused as if to say surely you don’t know this??? The puzzled look I gave her was enough to evoke a response out of her:
“Its from the Frozen soundtrack, it’s not your generation”. My life flashed before my eyes as I sheepishly retreated back to my group. I was now one of the old people that had no idea what the young people were listening to. One sentence from a girl I’d never met had humbled me and made me question my very existence. “I’ll be the one laughing when Nickleback starts playing” I thought to myself.
We didn’t win but I had copious amounts of free tequila, so who is the real winner?
Surfing, swimming, sunsets and beers were a reoccuring theme during my time here and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Loved reading this🤣Dad could never get you out of bed for your Prendiville surfing lessons and when you did actually go, I seem to remember you struggled big time! 🤣nothings changed then!