Beg/Int. Month Long spots?

[unrooted]

I was recently blessed with a job that not only lets me rack up a lot of Comp Time instead of taking overtime, and even more blessed to have bosses that expect me to use that time off! I just returned from a short trip to Kauai and was able to get 2 mellow days of surfing in at Hanalei, but would love to take a month (likely Nov, Dec, Jan or Feb) to go somewhere that I can work on becoming decent at surfing. I was told to check out Nicaruagua, but it doesn't seem as cheap as I'd expect it to be. . .

I'm looking for a place that is considered safe, cheap and has decent selection of board rentals. . .and waves that would allow me to progress at a reasonable rate. . .