Puerto Escondido offers these children of Zicatela a higher education. Photo: Courtesy of Nicholas Mohnacky
Sitting in the window seat, overlooking the wing nearing takeoff over yet another foreign land, I soaked up the last bit of recycled Mexican air before the door closed. The force of the engine as it revved up and propelled us the few hundred yards across the runway in Huatulco, Mexico, thrust me back in my seat and permanently pressed the memories floating around in my head firmly on my mind as the g-force grew. Just like that, we were airborne making our way back to the United States through Mexico City.
My mind snapped back to the moment in mid-takeoff. I’ve done this 100 times but every time it gets me — I still can’t believe we know how to fly! A simple thought, with obvious logic at 29 years old, brought me to the childhood magic that defied such logic. Ah to think like a kid and those kids.
The kids in Mexico were like most kids in surf towns: frothy and hungry for a surf. Thank God for surfing because out of the water they seemed mild-mannered and borderline uncomfortable in semi-formal social settings. I watched them interact with each other and reviewed the video clips while shooting from afar. Capturing the moments was such a beautiful adventure because we were constantly on the go.
A pre-surf pow wow around local legend Coco Nogales. Photo: Courtesy of Nicholas Mohnacky
The kids filed in a single(ish) line the first night to receive their grab bags, introduce themselves, and hear an inspiring word from a local hero, Coco Nogales. Kelly Kingston, founder of Share the Stoke Foundation, added: “After stretching as if in camp, the kids were sent out for a surf session with Coco to show off their skills. Some of them were very good surfers. Some had less experience. While all the surfing was going on, all the boards had been driven to the beach. We secretly went while they were in the water so they wouldn’t see us bring the boards over. We wanted it to be a surprise that they would be receiving boards. After we moved all 28 surfboards down to the beach, I paddled out to tell Coco we were all set. He motioned everyone in so we made our way to shore.
“We had the kids form a line to help facilitate an easy process to get each kid their board, wax, hat and traction pad. I would watch as each kid was told to come up front, this big smile would appear on their faces. It was hard for them to hide the excitement of getting a new board.”
The kids’ precious faces cracked smiles and shared laughter as they attempted to put on the stylish but not-so-simple-to-understand Hurley t-shirts — the bold print was on the inside of the tee, which was confusing to them. It’s funny how the mind wants to remember common things and always puts our actions to work based on a memory of the way it should be instead of the way things are. For example, the bold color is on the outside rather than on the inside.
I’m not sure what it is, but every time I go to another country — no matter where — I want to speak Spanish. As you can imagine, I was especially excited to get to speak spanish while in Mexico. The people, the culture, the food. Buenísimo! I was captivated by the heart of Coco, his family, and the friends I met along the way. The passion and fiery-ness doesn’t exist in every culture. It was refreshing to be in a place that evokes emotion mostly due to the fact that you can’t ignore the community’s rawness, the surf culture and the fierce wave that is Zicatela. With its rise and fall, like an angry tube monster, the thud nearly shakes the ground. Surfing Puerto Escondido certainly raises your energy which requires a bit of a psyching and adrenaline before taking her on.
Charging through life as they do on the waves they wake up to every morning, those beautiful children of Zicatela have a unique perspective that puts them on the right side of the fear spectrum. They may or may not realize it yet, but because they face their fears in bone-breaking surf, they have a higher aptitude than most. Although those experiences are specific to surfing, they could easily be translated to other areas of their life as they are exposed to new opportunities.
Here’s to continuing to empower them as we did in the surfboard giveaway and meaningful time spent. God Bless and AHAVA!
Stoked in line. Photo: Courtesy of Nicholas Mohnacky
Trip Notes:
Between Share the Stoke Foundation and AHAVA, we gave away 28 surfboards.
I lost the key to my rental car and had to pay 3,000 pesos to have a local “Macgyver” make a new one.
We had lunch with Bill and Bob Hurley.
We stayed at Coco’s house with is beautiful family.
I shared laughs with the fascinating girls from Free to Sea.
I went over the handlebars and destroyed my shoulder and my face on a rock while surfing a solid low-tide day at La Punta (rookie move).
I took photos of the sunset with Jay Adams.
Kelly and I bombed it to the airport and nearly missed our flight.
My heart melted for the amazing kids.
Surf with Purpose,
Nick
For more information on how to surf with a purpose, check out the Share The Stoke Foundation as well as the Surfr app. This article originally appeared on Surfapp.co.
