Giant’s Foot Surf Nicaragua was founded in 2004 with the vision of offering a kind of surf vacation experience found nowhere else in Nicaragua. One that makes our guest feel at home, and makes us feel like our guests are more like our friends than our clients while still providing a high level of service. Our team has really made this dream a reality. When you come to stay with us we are your friendly hosts, knowledgeable surf buddies, and hard working staff all rolled into one. Read our individual bios below.

The Giant’s Foot Team

Bryce Kuklok

My name is Bryce, and I studied International Relations and Political Science at UC Davis.  After graduating, I worked for a year on California State political campaigns. I then spent the better part of three years working on various private contracts throughout the middle east, including Kuwait, Jordan, and Iraq. After receiving a thank you note from Iraq for having done quite enough, I left and retired to Nicaragua in mid-2008.  I drifted with my fiancée for a year, trying to decide where we should spend our twilight years and came across Gigante, Nicaragua.  After falling in love with the town, a deep depression set in due to the fact that it already had an awesome surf camp; Giant’s Foot Surf.  When we were on the brink of giving up and moving to less paradise-like environs, the staff of GFS opened their loving arms to us, and welcomed us home. I now spend my days maintaining pipes, maintaining air conditioners, maintaining the roof, maintaining engines, (you probably get the idea by now) and when time permits, surfing.

Elisa Donato

My name is Elisa and I was born and raised in Upstate New York.  I eventually had enough of blizzards and winters that lasted 6 months, and began accepting jobs in warmer climates.  During my travels, I met Bryce in Baghdad, and he convinced me that it was high time the two of us “retired” and moved to Nicaragua to buy a surf camp.  And why not?  So, we hopped a flight to Managua (via Switzerland) and immediately enrolled in intensive Spanish language courses in San Juan del Sur, while scouring the country for potential opportunities and weeding through real estate scams.  When we found Gigante and Giant’s Foot Surf, we knew our search was over.

Chapin Kreuter

My name is Chapin Kreuter and I was born October 27th, 1979. I was raised in Newport Beach, California with my younger sister Bristin by my parents Bob and Sue. I started surfing at age nine and it was the first thing I ever became passionate about. I discovered my second passion, soccer, which I had played on and off for years but didn’t take seriously until my senior year in high school at Newport Harbor when I decided I wanted to try to play professionally. I spent two years training and studying at various junior colleges in order to give myself the opportunity to “walk on” at the best program in the country, UCLA. In 2001 I enrolled at UCLA as a psychology student and made the men’s soccer team. In 2002 we won the Men’s Division I National Championship and in February 2003 we flew to Washington DC to meet the President. From Washington I flew to Belgium where I tried to play professionally but didn’t make any of the teams I tried out for. I wasn’t ready to go home so my friend John and I traveled around the world for a year spending most of our time in Asia and surfing along the way. After getting home and working for a year Jack gave me the opportunity to be a part of Giant’s Foot Surf.

Matt Eloso

I’m Matt Eloso, but I prefer to go by Matty the Bear.  During most of the year I am a high school English teacher in California, but for the summer I am a Boat Captain and Handyman at GFS.  I am also CPR and First Aid certified by the American Red Cross. As an English teacher, I sometimes have to pretend to have read and understood all sorts of English literature.  The truth is, booooooring. The only books I have ever actually read, beginning to end, have been Choose Your Own Adventure.  They are great because if you always decide to fight the monster in the first chapter, you die and the book is really short.  Would you like to know the secret to my success as a teacher? Wikipedia.

Pepito Junior

My birth name is Bryce Hacker.  Originally the crew of GFS was hesitant to hire me, despite my qualifications, since obviously a Staff this small can’t support two Bryces.  I wanted this job so badly that I filed a Petition for Change of Name (Form NC-100) in the California Court System and I am now legally known as Pepito, Jr. I was born on February 6th, 1989 and raised in Humboldt County, where the waters run cold and the giant Redwood trees reside. I’ve been a surfer since my dad pushed me into the waves as a toddler, but really got into it while in high school. I spent 4 years on the swim team at Eureka Senior High School, and went to Amsterdam for the Junior Olympics during my junior year and brought back a gold medal for the 400 free relay.  I have traveled quite extensively in Central America and Mexico.  It was Summer 2006 when I first came to Giant’s Foot Surf, and fell in love with the town, the camp, and the waves. Three years later, in November of 2009, I returned, with my best friend Evan, to surf these amazing waves. That is when GFS welcomed me into their family. And here I am.

Amie Pierson

Hi! I’m Amie Pierson and I am the chef here at GFS. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, studied Environmental Conservation and have held exactly one job that most people would consider ‘work:’

I made sandwiches at a deli in Safeway. Other jobs I’ve held include: snowboard instructing, river raft guiding, and ‘bartending’ on cruise yachts. This last one could more accurately be described as ‘bar-raiding,’ and I was the best there ever was. My life plan involves never having to participate in a conference call, use words like synergy, or go to happy hour discussing P and L statements and end of year growth.

I came to Nicaragua to learn to surf when most of my friends were pursuing business careers because, in the words of one these friends, my “brain must work better.”