Tsunami

For those of you who don't know, it's a moment of truth. I have a strange fascination with natural disasters. I don't want to be in one, and I certainly don't wish them upon people, but if they are inevitable, I'd like to see them. Until yesterday, my main fascination was with seeing a tsunami. Yesterday I paddled out into waves that were 8'+ on the face. There were points where a wall of water was coming at me, sure to break before I could get over the hump, and I felt I was realizing my desire to see a tsunami. The only thoughts going through my mind were a long series of curse words.

Richard, my instructor, said this was a notch in my belt of surfing and if I could get out in these waves, I was already a better surfer. I think he was just trying to make me feel better. But I lived and I think he might be right when he said that next time I go out in medium surf it will seem like nothing. I did not catch a wave.

No Pantelones

When I came home the other day my neighbors asked me what was the highlight of my trip. Their sole purpose was to expose the highlight of their trip. The proceeded to tell me about a guy on the beach who was wearing a t-shirt and no pants. I immediately knew who they were talking about, as I had seen the same strange guy the day before.

Let me describe the painful scene. Two guys, in their early twneties, were laying on the beach, presumably sunbathing. One is fully dressed and the other has on a short t-shirt and no bathingsuit or any form of clothing on his bottom half. He was completely naked from the waist down and his friend didn't seem to think this was strange at all and they conversed normally like everyone was fully dressed. It might not have been abnormal, if not for the fact that as their girlfriends emerged from the ocean, boogie boards in hand, "no pantalones," as he was dubbed by my neighbors, quickly put his bathing suit back on as his fully clothed friend greeted the ladies. This happened two days in a row. I didn't go back and check on the third day.

More surfing stories

I have been eager to share my success stories of surfing, but thus far have kept my failures to myself. Today, that changes. Yesterday was a step backwards in the quest to learn how to surf. IN the morning, I did what every good surfer does, I grabbed a board and stood on the beach for 10-15 minutes doing some light stretches and checking out the waves. I was doing two things (1) deciding if the waves were the small enough for me to paddle out to; there has been a big swell here and the waves have been 8’, which are far too big for me and (2) looking for a channel to paddle out in; a channel is a path between wave’s peaks where the current isn’t as strong and it is easier to paddle out, you want to paddle out between the peaks and surf the peaks. The waves appeared surfable, so I took my giant green table and I paddled out.

Richard, my surf instructor, has taught me a bit about the basics of surfing. Starting at the beach, there are 3 zones:

- The impact zone or the inside where the waves have crashed, this is the white wash area;

- The catch zone or the outside, where the waves are cresting and breaking. This is where you go when you want to paddle into a wave and catch it; and

- The break zone, which is beyond both of these and where you go when you want to sit on your board, relax and take a break.

Paddling out can be a challenge and is very tiring, so I always go straight to he break zone and take a rest. When I reached this zone this morning I was breathing a little heavy from my excursion out and gladly sat up on my board to take a breather and enjoy the scenery. Just then a giant set came in. The waves started breaking in front of me and I was suddenly in the middle of mayhem. The surfers immediately started paddling out, trying to get in position to catch these monstrosities. I started paddling in and made it back to the impact zone quickly enough to prevent tears of panic. I surfed the white wash on the inside for a bit and noticed my giant green table needed some wax so I headed in.

Generally speaking, it is better to surf the inside (the whitewash) in low tide because the whitewash is further out to sea and generally deeper and safer for falls. I grabbed a smaller board and headed back out for round two an hour before low tide. I wouldn’t say I got pummeled, but it didn’t go great. I learned a lot of things: it’s harder to catch a wave on a smaller board, you need to paddle faster to get more speed; I have no idea where to place myself on a smaller board so I ended up dangling my feet off the edge which slowed me down and prevented me from actually popping up when I was actually going fast enough to catch a wave; and it’s easy to break a fin off the bottom of the board, I did it and didn’t even realize it.

I went home, rested up and went out for round three a couple hours after low tide. Third time’s a charm. My green table was almost 9’ long. The shorter board I tried early afternoon was about 7’. On my third round of the day I took out an 8’ fun shaped board and had a blast. I caught all sorts of waves on the inside and can officially ride the whitewash like a champ.

This morning I went out with Richard. The waves were about shoulder high and I caught two amazing waves, popping up, dropping in and surfing them all the way to the beach. It was an incredible feeling.

Another amazing surfing day

Here’s a quick recap of my last few days:

- I received clearance from the doctor and got back in the water Monday. Today I had another break through surf day. I can consistently pop up and surf the white wash on my monster green table. I feel really comfortable getting up and walking around on the board. I think I am ready to tackle the big waves or move to a smaller board; but not both at the same time.

- Last night I spent about 30 minutes trying to find a loud and rather obnoxious cricket in my room. Every time I got close, he would stop making his freakishly loud noises. I finally narrowed his location down to in or around my backpack. I had left the zipper open and was certain the noise was coming from inside. I emptied it and shook everything out but found nothing. The sound never came back so I figured that my commotion had finally chased the cricket away. I began to repack my travel pants and other warm clothing I will never need in 90 degree weather when a giant cricket ran out and stopped right next to my tennis shoe. Sucker. I wish I could say that I am so nice as to have escorted him out of the room, but I’m not. The cricket will no longer be a problem.

- In the months before I left I would run into various members of the San Diego Fire Department all over town. Mostly it was because 3 different departments do their grocery shopping at the Albertsons by my house, and Firefighters do a lot of grocery shopping. But I also saw them when driving, walking, at Starbucks, the bank, everywhere. I joked that I was being stalked, and it’s now official. My neighbors are members of the San Diego Fire Department. I am once again reminded of what a small world it is.

- The 24 security staff working at my hostel/hotel are some of the nicest and most respectful guys I have met. This is important because it’s not always the case. At my last place, the security guard followed me to my room one night and posted himself temporarily on my semi-private patio. It was dark and I am certain he was hoping I would leave the curtain open while I changed, but I was too smart to fall for that old trick.

- Most third world countries have no safety laws and walking in public spaces can often be very dangerous. I have seen sidewalks with giant holes in the middle, sidewalks that end much like a plank over a deep crevice, and all sorts of other crazy stuff. Here the sidewalk has a 6-inch wide, 6-inch deep channel in it, I am guessing for some kind of weird drainage system. After walking over it every day for nearly 3 weeks, today I planted my left foot right in it and fell on my butt. Thankfully, no one was there to witness the fall and my ego did not suffer any damage. My ankle suffered minimal damage.

Photo Upload

Here are some photos I am just able to upload

This is the beach in Santa Teresa; white sand bound by rain forest. It's beautiful and not very crowded.

This narrow strip of asphalt you see diappearing along side the line of trees was the runway that I landed on when I flew into Tambor. What you can't see is that the rain forest surrounds the runway on two other sides and the ocean bounds the disappearing end.

This is the needle I used to give myself my shots in the middle of the night (the business card is there for a size reference). I will stop complaining about it now.

This is one of the places I do yoga at: Horizon's Hotel and Yoga Spa. They have a sunset class on Sunday's that is beautiful.

Being out of the water drags on.....

I moved hotels on Saturday. I loved Pacific Surf School, the rooms were big, there was wi-fi, a pool and a great, quiet atmosphere. But it is so hot here it is impossible to go anywhere during the day without losing half my body weight in water. The walking problem is only going to get worse when I start surfing again as the best waves are located in Playa Carmen, about a mile south of Pacific Surf School.

So I moved to a small room with the strangest bathroom/shower. It is a free-standing system with aluminum frames and plastic walls that could be plopped anywhere. It's not pretty, but it's funcational The room is right on the main road at the main intersection close to the mall and about 200 yards from the waves of Playa Carmen.

I am going to go back to the doctor tomorrow to get clearance to get back in the water and start up my surf lessons again. I've been doing yoga once or twice daily, but am excited to get back in the water and surf again.

Over the past few days I have made some observations about Mal Pais:

- There are a lot of Argentinians and Isrealis here. This is great for diversity and, of course, for dining. But the town is so small and the pace is so slow I find it odd there is such a high concentration of expats from these countries. Most of them surf, which explains some of it, but not all.

- There is the biggest turkey I've ever seen roaming around a random house by the Super Costa supermarket. It's apparent I am outside the US because that thing would have never made it past our Thanksgiving.

- There is only one liquor store and only one armed guard in Mal Pais. He is at the liquor store and acts as the doorman/security guard as he holds his rifle in one hand and opens the door for patrons with the other.

- The best smoothies are always made with sugar. I knew this before I came here, but it continues to be one of life's certainties.

A quick update on the shot

It was miserable. I didn't even need my alarm last night as I awoke at 2am dreading the upcoming shot I had to give myself. I don't mind getting shots from others and secretly, and rather disturbingly, love watching the needle go into my vein when I am getting blood drawn, but there is something about giving myself a shot that kept me half awake with fear. When I got up I pulled out the mixture and followed the directions for creating my antibiotic cocktail, used my hand to locate the place I was instructed to stick the needle, cleaned the area off with rubbing alcohol, took a deep breath and stuck the needle in to my skin. It barely punctured the surface, so I tried again. It took me 5 times to get the needle in. Each time I would stop, regroup and ponder crying uncle. Finally, I pulled myself together, gripped the needle from the base and punctured through my skin. For anyone who has never done this, it is a very weird feeling; the needle slowly goes through the moderately tough layer of skin then it breaks free and effortlessly glides through whatever is under the skin all the way to the end of the needle. Either that or I finally stabbed myself so hard the only thing stopping the penetration was my fingers fiercely gripping the base of the syringe.

One more shot tonight and I dread it even more than last night.

Visiting the doctor in Costa Rica

As I have mentioned, I have been battling an outer ear infection for the past few days. When the Witwers were still here Brian hooked me up with and antibiotic and a recommended ear drop concoction that the pharmacist gladly sold me. But, two days later, my ear was worse, I could barely hear and it felt like water was permanently trapped in my ear. I decided to go to the doctor, a first for me in foreign travels. It was easy. I knocked on the door that said Doctor and was immediately seen by Doctor German Enrique de Jesus Moreno-Rojas. Upon looking into my ear he said "this is very bad" and started speaking to his assistant, who was a teenage boy with presumably no medical education whatsoever, in Spanish. He explained my ear was badly infected and that if I didn't get it taken care of asap, a part of my ear may form a hole in it, which did not sound good. $200 later I was out the door of the doctor's office and the pharmacy with 5 prescriptions including twice daily antibiotic shots one of which he would administer to me and one of which I need to administer myself at 3 am this morning, in the buttocks. First I need to mix the antibiotic cocktail consisting of a glass vile of liquid which needs the top broken off before it is mixed with a powder. Next I need to make sure that I don't hit an artery (didn't know there were any down there) and inject myself in just the right place. All this in the middle of the night. Wish me luck, I am totally nervous. I should be better in 2 to 3 days and back in the water to continue my surfing lessons.

Dangerous driving in Costa Rica

Anyone who has been to Costa Rica knows that the roads leave much to be desired. Most roads are unpaved and filled with potholes and deep trenches created by the torrential downpours of tropical storms. It is especially bad after rainy season, which is right now. The Witwers and I decided to go with Richard, our surf instructor / real estate agent / home builder / farmer / smoothie king, to look at some land for sale in Santa Teresa. About a quarter of a mile past Giselle's house - yes, I mean Bundchen, wife of Tom Brady - the edge of the dirt road fell out from underneath us and the back passenger side tire fell into a hole leading down into a deep ravine with vegetation being the only thing that might slow us down if we rolled to the bottom. I was in the back passenger side, so I slid over. This prompted Richard to get out of the car, quickly. Stephanie, who crawled into the back seat to exit the teetering car, and I, followed him. As soon as we got out we realized the car was balancing on the rear license plate and this was not going to be an easy fix. Brian asked if he was safe and Stephanie replied that she wasn't sure, but she wanted him to hand her the camera. How can you miss a photo opportunity like this?

Knowing that if Brian got out of the driver's seat, the car would likely fall into the ravine, he stayed put while Richard called over two locals clearing a nearby hillside and a neighbor driving home. I stood on the door frame next to Brian and the guys pushed us from behind while Brian gently tried to use the two wheels remaining on the ground to drive the car out of the hole. At this point I was calmly (at least that's how I remember it) calling out explicatives indicating my fear of being launched into the ravine. But in a few short seconds Brian was driving up the hill, the locals were back to clearing their property and we all signed in relief that we were still breathing. Richard asked if we wanted to keep going to the property, to which we replied "no, since we are definitely not buying anything up there." We had, after all, taken out a quarter of the road.

The Witwer's have left and I have settled into my new home at Pacifica Surf School, it is great; $40 per night for a large room with kitchenette, bathroom, AC, pool and steps to the beach. I am out of the water for a few days due to an ear infection, but hope to be back in soon.