Gabriela Paez Allup
Gabriela is a Venezuelan Surfer that migrated for 16 years to Central America looking for more consistent swells than the Caribbean Coast of her country. She started surfing when she was 15 yo and it wasn't an easy journey at the very beginning due to not having a Surf School to attend to or really much guidance besides a some friends that gave her a few tips on the water.
Having no clue on what to do and how to really surf but with the willing and love for the sport she started to watch surf videos and watch other surfers in the water; in her advantage the waves in Venezuela were perfect for beginners because their small size and plenty of coast line near the city of Caracas where she grew up.
Despite all the disadvantage but with the help of many surfers and her commitment to learn and make the sport her lifestyle she became a Surfer Girl.
After a few years, she started traveling in her country for surf competitions and got to meet many of the good surfers in her country, hang with a group of surfer friends that always went to catch some waves together and in the hustle of the crowds of talented surfers she got the inspiration to move further out her country limits and started traveling to other countries like Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Mexico.
Residing in the Caribbean of Panama as a home-based, she encountered plenty of waves and started working with different surf schools where she learned how to teach others besides herself.
Every year with her goal to surf at least one new wave she ended up surfing more than one and got to watch and share waves with internationally recognized pro surfers.
Working as a surf guide/instructor for many years on surf retreats she noticed that there was something missing in the retreats, even when she was having the best time of her life also understood that part of being a surfer is to connect with the ocean and care for it, not just the ocean but the whole environment and the people that enjoys it. A truly deep connection with herself.
Big part of traveling is the distance created from family and old friends but also a great opportunity to create community and in a certain way start the healing process that surfing can give you.
Gabriela begin to connect her surf lifestyle with yoga, permaculture, art, web development, meditations, journaling, and also balanced with the normal life by dancing and celebrating life in many ways. Living the experiences that came along by recognizing her limits and setting boundaries for herself and others towards her. Inviting nature in her life spend years in isolated island and travel by herself by bus, motorcycle with a friend, road trips with new friends she found in the road, in a catamaran to galapagos and many more stories like we all have, that someway or another made her understand and quote “Surf Saved My Life”, in many ways.
Surfing is a meditation, community, and care for others, the environment, and most importantly ourselves.
In 2022 Gaby arrived in Australia, got an Australian accreditation as a Surf Coach, found an infinite of waves and people that care for them, clean beaches, and best of all some other kind of healing and connection with the history of the country and the surf culture that now she wants to share, experience and heal in resonance with you. A Surf Healing Path was born!
