Living and Surfing the Basque Country// Mushburger California

A couple of days ago, the guys of Mushburguer in California asked me to write a post for their blog. They were curious about how is living and surfing here in San Sebastian as a Mexican, so I was more than stoked to write this piece for them.

Hope you like it too, here it is:

"It’s been three years since I moved to San Sebastian. I originally came here to work for Surfrider Foundation Europe. I had been living in Barcelona for six years, but I was ready to embark on a new stage in my life, I wanted to surf every day. And that desire lead me to a new career in Donostia (San Sebastian), where I live now. 
Donostia is one of the few surf cities in Europe and the main surf spot here is Zurriola, where I surf almost every day I can. Zurriola is a small beach break which means it can get incredibly crowded, I have only been able to surf it once by myself, for 30 minutes on a very cold day.
The Summers can be a living hell at Zurriola because the crowd swells with more surfers, SUPers, boogie boarders, surf schools, swimmers, kayakers and tourists, but since it’s all we have, it’s better than nothing.

Basque surfers won’t say hello in the water if they don’t know you. I‘ve surfed a lot of other spots around the world, and I’ve found that compared to other places, it’s really hard to make conversations here in San Sebastian. But I always say hello by courtesy, both in and out of the water, so there are a few of us.

Of course, we can’t generalize. I’ve met a lot of nice people surfing here too, but it’s taken me a lot more time to break the ice with surfers here than at other beaches.
In fact it’s taken me three years to make friends with the surfers here, and I’m still always the one who has to start the conversation.

But with that said, surfers here don’t like to share waves, but they really have no choice because it’s always crowded. Some of them are okay but a lot of them aren’t. During a good swell some of the attitudes get ridiculous. You have the typical old dude surfing his longboard, getting every possible wave, and when you dare to jump in, he yells at you like there’s no tomorrow.

If you have the time and a car, you can drive to beaches like Zarautz, only 15 minutes from San Sebastian, and usually triple the size. The vibe in the water changes a hell of a lot, too. Much more friendly.
What I really love about living in San Sebastian is how strategically located is. If you have the means, you actually have lots of alternatives besides Zurriola."

Read the rest of the article here and if you have a surfing blog submit to Musburguer, they're just awesome! 

Going solo in a sweet afternoon in Zurriola

Morning glory

One for all and all for one!

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