Beyond the Ceibos

When we think of South America’s sweeping deserts, deep-green rainforest, snowcapped mountains, and vast coastlines pointing southward to Antarctica, Ecuador is not the first country that comes to mind. But Ecuador is, in many ways, a microcosm of the continent’s diverse geography.

In the northern section of the Andes Mountains are the headwaters of river systems that wind deep into the Amazon, flowing east through the jungle until they eventually find cross-border counterparts en route to the Atlantic Ocean. On the western side of the range, it’s only a six-hour descent in a beat-up truck to reach the Pacific coast, where you can still find waves to ride solo or to share with a couple of eager locals.

Surfer Pacha Light, photographer Maddie Meddings, and I made this journey to collect footage for our feature film, Ceibo. Maddie carried a small gimbal and camera, an agile setup for maneuvering between landscapes and communities. And me, dragging my not-so-agile 9’6″ single-fin longboard. 

Light was born off-grid in the Andes, left for Australia with her mother when she was a child, and went on to become a professional surfer. She recently joined the Ecuadorian national surf team. 

Her journey into rediscovering her heritage was sparked by the death of her father, who was from Bahía de Caráquez, a port city midway along Ecuador’s coast. Light had a distant and complicated relationship with him. With his roots firmly planted in the ground of his dry forest reserve, populated by tall ceibo trees, he was unable, or unwilling, to leave Ecuador to be present in his daughter’s life. His death left many questions that triggered Light’s multiyear search for answers and identity. 

In her pursuit, Light has found right pointbreaks and hollow beachbreaks reeling under her homeland’s hot white sun. Among these waves is a growing surf scene. Slowly, too, more women are joining these lineups. The movement is spearheaded by 2020 Tokyo Games Olympian Dominic “Mimi” Barona, from Montañita, the country’s main surf town. A small cluster of the next generation, including Light, is following Mimi’s path and helping to elevate Ecuador’s reputation as a surfing nation. 

Waves in Ecuador aren’t limited to its mainland—the Galápagos Islands rise from the Pacific Ocean 600 miles offshore. Deep ocean currents upwell and hit these speed-bump-like islands, bringing rich nutrients to the surface to meet the equatorial sun, resulting in a blooming of life. The archipelago has a patchwork history of pirates and buccaneers who hunted whales and pillaged tortoises, though it’s mainly known for inspiring Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

We surfed among the Galápagos’ abundance at San Cristóbal’s left points. Sea lions flitted below the surface as swell lines rolled east, slamming against the rocky coast. Light made the deep takeoff look easy. I sat wide on my longboard to avoid the sucky inside section. Bright-blue water contrasted the arid grays and browns of island terra firma. Sandy beaches were patrolled by slow-moving iguanas, scooping out divots as they prepared to nest while others sunned themselves on the hot black rocks.

Despite all their country has to offer surfers, many Ecuadorians express feeling overlooked. Ecuador barely registers in the imaginations of those who make films, tell stories, and travel. As surfers like Light and Mimi make their mark on the global surfing scene, however, the country will become more visible. A sense of anticipation is in the air among Ecuadorian surfers as they gradually build the ecosystem of a domestic surf industry, one that will bring them more opportunities. 

[Feature image: (Left to right) Lucy Small, Dominic “Mimi” Barona, and Pacha Light, surveying the oft-overlooked “Country of Four Worlds.” Photo by Maddie Meddings]