PLAYA EL CUCO, El Salvador – El Salvador's effort to fix its old reputation as a land of guerrillas and gangsters and rebuild its image as a tourist-friendly country is being helped along by a swelling wave of surf tourism.

The Beach to Himself: A surfer heads out for an afternoon set on Playa El Cuco. The big right-hand breaks and uncrowded conditions are drawing surfers from around the world.

Tim Rogers | Nica Times

Similar to tourism trends seen in Costa Rica in the ‘90s and Nicaragua in the ‘00s, El Salvador is experiencing a surge of coastal development fueled by surfers searching for undiscovered waves.

Like the pioneers in the Old West pushing into uncharted territory, surfers are usually the first to blaze new trails up Central America's coastline, for other tourists and families to follow once word is sent back that it's OK to come.

The only problem is that those who have already ventured into El Salvador don't want word to get out about the excellent surfing conditions and uncrowded waves here.

“The surf here is outstanding. This place has got it all – I couldn't ask for anything else,” said Mike McCabe, a long-time surfer from California who recently made his second surfing trip to El Cuco, on the eastern Pacific shore of El Salvador (the country's Pacific coastline runs east to west, rather than north to south).

“Wait, don't write that down – we don't want any more people to come here,” interjected fellow surfer Andy Howden, from Sydney, Australia.

The two traveling surfers, both staying at Las Flores Resort, a tropical 5-star boutique hotel tucked inside a cliff-rimmed cove in El Cuco, said that surfing El Salvador is a refreshing experience after fighting for space on the more crowded and popular waves in neighboring countries to the south. The surfing here, they said, is still pristine.

El Salvador's Tourism Minister José Napoleón Duarte says the new El Salvador is “betting on a future of tourism” and that surfing figures to be a key ingredient in that success.

“Along with our cultural and mountain attractions, we are betting on sun and sand as important elements to develop tourism. And on the beach, surfing is king,” Minister Duarte told The Nica Times this week in a phone interview from San Salvador.

The beach-front restaurant at Las Flores Resort.

Tim Rogers | Nica Times

Duarte refers to El Salvador's small size as a “country of 45 minutes,” where most destinations are less than an hour's drive from the airport. The close proximity of world-class surfing spots to the country's international airport is another major benefit to El Salvador, he said.

In fact, “easy” is a word that many surfers seem to use to describing the surfing here.

“El Salvador never seemed like an easy surfing option before, like Costa Rica and Nicaragua are. But this is very easy,” said Ross Wittendorfer, a 27-year-old surfer from Alabama who said he's surfed Costa Rica in past years but wanted to try something different.

Wittendorfer's recent surf trip to El Salvador was made even easier by staying at the all-inclusive setup at Las Flores Resort, which offers 3-7 night surf packages including transportation from the airport, meals, lodging, and daily surf trips in a boat.

“I've been surfing three times a day. All I do here is surf, sleep, and eat. And the food has been awesome,” he said, adding that it is helpful having all the meals provided because he doesn't speak Spanish and “would hate trying to figure out what to eat in town every day.”

“If you only have one or two weeks for vacation, this is definitely the way to do it,” said the Australian Howden, from a nearby hammock.

“This is too easy here,” he said. “I surfed for a couple hours this morning, and now I've been lying in the hammock for a couple of hours waiting for the wind to die down so I can go back out.”

According to surfers, the strongest waves in El Salvador – all of which have right-hand breaks – occur during the months of March to November. The waves from December to February are reportedly better for beginners and long-boarders.

Rediscovering Salvador's Surf

Bob Rotherham, owner of the Punta Roca surf hotel in La Libertad, 35 minutes south of San Salvador, says El Salvador isn't being discovered as a surf spot, rather rediscovered after a 20-year hiatus due to war and civil unrest.

Rotherham moved to El Salvador from Miami in 1972 and still refers to the late ‘70s as the “golden years” for El Salvador's surf scene.

“El Salvador was appearing in surf magazines as early as 1969, and we had an invasion of surfers here back in 1978, before the war. Then came the ‘80s and everyone disappeared,” Rotherham said.

Though the war ended almost two decades ago, it's taken a while to convince tourists that it's now safe to go back in the water. But now the fear is gone.

“Five or six years ago, the first question in all the e-mails I got from potential clients and surfers was always about security problems here,” Rotherham said. “But in the past two or three years, I don't get that question anymore, which is a good sign.”

Now, he said, surfers of all types are coming to El Salvador – from the “18-year-old surf maniacs” who were born after El Salvador's civil war had already ended, to the 60-year-old surfers who remember surfing here in the 1970s.

“A lot of older guys are coming back out of curiosity,” Rotherham said.

The veteran surfer and father of El Salvador's national champion surfer Jimmy Rotherham said surfing is unquestionably providing a strong boost to the country's nascent tourism sector.

Though El Salvador gets about 1.4 million tourists each year, most of them are Salvadorans living abroad or business folk visiting San Salvador for a convention.

Rotherham, however, estimates that many of the other people who visit El Salvador strictly for tourism are surfers.

And the good news is that percentage is growing, and helping to develop the local economies in popular surf towns such as Playa Sunzal, to the west of La Libertad.

“Sunzal has had about 15 new hotels pop up in the past three years,” Rotherham said, “Everything from places with rooms from $10 a night to hotels for $150 a night.”

Unlike El Salvador's business tourism sector in the capital, surfing tourism “creates a cash-flow that usually stays close to the local community,” Rotherham said, noting that his community of La Libertad now has new bars, restaurants and a boardwalk in response to increased tourism.

El Salvador's surf scene will receive another important boost in August, when the country hosts the Latin American Surf Championship.

Waves are International Draw

Roxana Revolone, general manager of Roca Sunzal Surf Resort on Playa el Tunco, says the famous surf break in front of her hotel has helped the zone develop into what is becoming an international tourism destination.

And the presence of international tourists has helped the zone become a quality destination, too.

“First the surfers come and they don't need much infrastructure, just the waves. But as more international tourists come, they become more demanding and the whole zone has to improve the quality of its offering and develop a more global view,” Revolone said. “We are competing with Costa Rica and other surfing and beach destinations.”

As Sunzal continues to draw more surfing traffic and development, it's already starting to see an evolution of the type of tourist who visits, Revolone said. More recently, she said, families and middle class Salvadorans from the capital are visiting Sunzal, which she said is now home to several quality restaurants, bars and an emerging bohemian music scene.

Located only 35 minutes from the capital, it was probably only a matter of time before Sunzal developed into a tourist destination. But without the excellent surfing conditions, the town would probably have a much different feel, Revolone said.

“The waves bring the international tourists,” she said. “Without the surfing, this would not be an internationa l destination.”