When I arrived in El Zonte for the first time with a backpack on my back, one of the first people I met here was Alex Novoa. He was operating a hostel with a crew of his friends and they invited me to a New Year’s Eve party that night, twenty-three years ago.
We had been travelling around Central America, my brother and I, for just a few weeks, but the last day had been its own little adventure. We were tired and in need of new company. And we had been hoping to land in a decent place to celebrate the new year.
When we sauntered into town, walking down the road from the bus stop to the beach, we noticed a nice house on the corner with a family playing in the pool. As we turned a corner, a young woman named Emilia said, “Hi, are you guys looking for a place to stay?” We introduced ourselves and then she introduced us to Alex.
Tall, with a leonine smile, Alex looked us over and said, “We’re having a party tonight.” This was the beginning of El Zonte for me.
Twenty-plus years later, Alex owns a beautiful little hotel himself, Escencia Nativa, which he has operated for twenty years. Alex is a waterman, a soul surfer, the best surf instructor in town, a warm, calming presence in the ocean. Recently featured in Dossier Magazine, he said, “El Zonte has this special magic that keeps people coming — and they stay.”
Escencia Nativa has twelve rooms, a restaurant that always satisfies, and what I find most interesting: it is a vector for small businesses.
Alex has built or provided facilities for countless local entrepreneurs on the grounds of his hotel. Zonte Cafe does coffee and cacao tasting and education, best coffee beans in the world. SAY ZONTE is a well-appraised Spanish school for travellers. A 3rd story overlook offers fitness classes such as yoga and natural movement. There are motorcycle rentals, tourism operators, a jewelry boutique, and - of course - a surf shop. He has created a hub of El Zonte commerce at Escencia Nativa. It’s beautiful.
About seven years ago, a young woman named Nette Clement popped into town from the Netherlands. We met shortly after she arrived. A true athlete with diamond-piercing blue eyes, Nette quickly became a part of the El Zonte community. She is among the go-to skateboarding coaches in town, especially if you want to learn to surf-skate in a bowl.
A couple years later, she and Alex opened a new business together there in Escencia Nativa, Surfing Your Fears. They realized there are a lot of people travelling to El Zonte who want to learn to surf – and also some with crippling fears of the ocean.
With one-on-one instruction, they can provide anybody the knowledge and skills needed to learn. But their special talent is taking people with fear in the ocean and working with their feelings and emotions to make them comfortable in the water. They have had remarkable successes on both fronts.
Most important to their success is Alex and Nette’s ability to suss out a person’s surf skill level and level of comfort in the water and meet them where they are. Their signature program combines boosting confidence, improving your flow, learning surf technique, and breath-holding work in the pool. It is a holistic approach to surf training they have pioneered and they have numerous testimonials touting their successes.
That’s why at Al Suave House, we recommend Surfing Our Fears to all of our clients, whether they are learning to surf, improve an established practice, or overcome their anxiety in the ocean.
I’ve enjoyed watching my friends in El Zonte as we’ve grown together into “responsible” adults. Some of us have become parents, opened businesses in town, become community leaders. Alex has done all of this and more. Every day, he and Nette erase a little bit of fear from the world so more light and love can come in.
