Surf Ego

Hola!

Como estas?? 

As you all know, surfing has become a huge focus of this trip. It's the reason why I decided against going down into South America, in favor of sticking it out in Central. Similar to what I just talked about above in regard to writing, I just really really want to solidify this skill set, and although I've become pretty proficient, theres just that last challenge I felt like I needed to face - the short board. Up until this point I've been riding nothing but longboards ranging from 6'8 - 7'6 which has been really fun don't get me wrong, but theres gotta be another level to this. Theres gotta be a reason why all the cool kids are shredding short boards and dammit I am going to find out. 

So since I am starting over in a sense, I wanted to come back to the place where I earned my stripes in  the first place - surfing every day, oftentimes morning and night. Santa Teresa. I arrived back a few days ago and decided that instead of renting I was going to buy a board. A board I could call my very own. Full-on commitment. So after browsing through dozens of boards at all the different surf shops in town, I found it. I found my board and it was perfect - 5'11 x 20.5 x 2.5. A Carton, hand-made right here in Costa Rica. The moment I slid it out of the rack I knew it was the one. 

Cool, so I've got my board now. But over the last couple days a funny thing happened - I found myself making all kinds of excuses for not getting out there. Oh the waves are shitty, or oh I'm just gonna do this yoga class instead, or oh it looks like its gonna rain. All excuses. Somewhere subconsciously I was resisting  it, and it was putting me into a bit of a funk. All the while this brand new perfect board was sitting propped up in my room, unused. Wtf??

As I was lying on my back in yoga class, fully relaxed in the midst of a 10 minute shavasana, I realized why. I had built up somewhat of an ego about surfing over the last several weeks. Walking and talking like a surfer, posting pictures online, fully in control and fully embracing this new aspect of my identity. I was the guy who busted his ass and learned how to surf in three months. I belonged out there. So when it came time to start all over, this little ego of mine was like heeeeeellz no! You are NOT going to embarrass yourself like that! No way Jose, thats not you. Because of this, I was putting a ton of pressure on myself to go out there and shred from day one, something that I knew was not realistic.  So I resisted it. 

After coming to this realization it all seemed so silly. Especially considering my ultimate purpose in all of this was simply to let go and have fun. I thought back to the days when I was initially learning how to surf and how I fully embraced the process at each step of the way. I was unattached to any sort of outcome such as catching waves or looking cool, because I was simply having a ton of fun where I was at. Obviously I was pushing myself to get better and better, but regardless of what happened I was stoked just to be out there, a part of it all. As I sat there reminiscing I started to get excited again. Excited just to be out there in the water, paddling around - grateful for that sort of thing. So I finished up a few things I had on my agenda for the afternoon which included updating my resume (more news on that later) and took my new board out for the first time. And all is right in the world once again :)

 

Go Chase Waterfalls

Whatuuuuup!? I'm sitting here at one of my favorite places in the whole world, Casa Zen in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica after spending the last few days in Montezuma, a tiny little town in the southern part of the Nicoya Peninsula. Its so comfortable here - vast stretches of couches, mountains of pillows, and hammocks slung up everywhere. If you're ever able to check this place out, I would highly recommend it. Anyway, I've got a backlog of other posts that I need to get out spanning all the way back to my time in Guatemala, but I was so inspired by my trip to Montezuma Falls that I just had to get this out. Hope you enjoy!

My friend Kerri and I, who I met back in Nicaragua and who I've been traveling with for a few weeks, arrived in Montezuma last Monday. We checked into a sweet little hostel called "El Capitan" which had a small but very spirited staff. We all clicked immediately, and I knew this would be a cool place to post up for a few days and explore. Theres lots to see and do in Montezuma, but the main attraction are the waterfalls. So on a nice sunny morning, we were on our way.

The trailhead to the falls was only about a half mile from town but once there, it was quite a little trek through the jungle to get to the actual falls. There were two routes, a dirt path through the jungle, or wade your way upstream - we did a little of both. One thing that I absolutely love about the rivers and streams in Costa Rica is the water temperature. I've traipsed through my share of rivers and streams in the US but it seems like the water is always freeeeeeezing and kind of puts a damper on things, especially considering I CANNOT STAND cold water. Just getting in is a mission in itself. Not the case here :)

So we hiked our way through the jungle for a bit until we reached the base of the first waterfall. Wow...massive. It is a series of three falls, the first being about 80 feet, the second 50 feet, and the third about 10 feet. Each are cool in their own way. The first fall is probably the most spectacular and has the biggest and nicest pool to swim in below. Theres a couple cool little jumps off to the side, but you can't really jump from the top - way too treacherous. But rumor has it, you can swim up and behind the waterfall...ya thats def happening. So we jumped into the pool below and immediately felt the power of the current. An 80 foot gushing waterfall churns things up pretty good especially the closer you get to it. The two of us are strong swimmers and we were literally in a FULL ON freestyle stroke, muscling our way toward the ominous curtain of water. It was no joke, and I honestly don't think I could have made it before I had built up my confidence in the water through surfing. Theres a 50/50 chance I would have panicked, seriously. We inched closer and closer until the wall of water which sounded like a freight train was a few meters away. At that point it looked impossible to swim through it on the surface - so I relaxed for a few seconds, treading water while catching my breath the best I could, took a deep breath and plunged below. Everything went silent, a brief moment of serenity. Eyes closed, with my left arm extended straight out, right arm paddling, I felt myself moving forward undeneath the water until my fingertips touched the rocks. I exploded up taking a deep breath as the roar of the falls and massive spray of water snapped me back to reality. Violently. I was far from home free, in no-mans-land treading a rumbling mess of whitewater between a punishing wall of water, and a slick unforgiving wall of rocks. I needed to find a hold, and quickly. So I scaled sideways across the rock face until I found a crease in the rocks that I could grip and hoisted myself out, just as Kerri popped up from below. Too loud for communication, all I could do was point to the holds I had used. She pulled her way out and for a moment we stood in awe with our backs pressed against the rocks. In that moment, finally able to relax for a second, the excitement came flooding in.

WOW.

We stood there laughing for a few minutes soaking it all in. As I looked to the side, I noticed that the force of the water crashing below was creating an updraft of wind and beads of water were shooting upwards off of the rocks, rather than dripping down. It was really really incredible. Surreal. After a few minutes it was time to move on and what better way to make an exit than supermanning through to the other side. I wish I could say I exploded through in slow motion, fully horizontal, arms outstretched like the man of steel but in actuality as soon as I hit the cascade of water it plunged me straight down. Disoriented I popped up to the surface and lazily let the current push me straight across the pool to where we entered. Wow, and that was only the beginning!

It was time to make our ascent to the second waterfall, the 50-footer. The jump. The main reason I was there. And theres really no easy way to get there. You basically scale your way up a cliffside using roots and some random ropes to negotiate your way up.

Finally the trail spits you out at the top of the second fall. There it was. The moment of truth was nearing.

I tried not to waste too much time psyching myself out, staring out over the ledge, and got right to business. I carefully tiptoed out to the jump platform and got into position. The scariest part is when you're standing there looking out over the edge and you come to the realization that this is actually going to happen...momentarily. Roll Footage!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzwNp3x1Y4s

What I remember most about the experience was the surge of adrenaline in the moments before I jumped. It was a calm focused surge, like I had been charged with electricity and it was radiating through my whole body. It was pretty nuts actually. I can't even remember the last time I've felt that sensation, and been so fully present to it. Definitely one of the highlight moments of my trip. As far as the fall and landing, no recollection. All I remember is being in a zen-like state for the rest of the day haha.

Pura Vida!

 

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Castaway

Wilsoooooooon!!!! 

Haha, indeed I am a castaway these days, living on a secluded beach, building fires, spearing my own fish, growing my beard long, but unlike Tom Hanks in the movie I am not plotting my exit strategy - I like it here. Gonna stay a while. Check me out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv2qo2TnNag

 Hope you enjoyed the video! I was definitely more confident in front of the camera than in my first attempt but still its tough to focus on being poised and speaking clearly, while at the same time being authentic and hitting on all the points you wanted to make in a free-flowing manner. Super fun though, and I'm excited to continue with these, as I think they'll be cool to look back on in the future, and really be able to tap into the vibe I was in at the time.

Ok so let me expand on a couple of the points I made in the video. The first would be my decision to alter the course of my trip in order to stay where I'm at a bit longer. This was kind of a tough decision, as it potentially means giving up on making it all the way down to Argentina, on this trip at least. At the end of the month I'll have roughly another 2 1/2 months to travel before heading home for Christmas which isn't a whole lot of time, especially considering I like to take my time when traveling, settling down at places for a few weeks at a time. I'll have time to do Colombia / Peru / Equador but I'm not sure I'll be able to make it much further than that, unless of course I decide to keep traveling through the end of the year which is not completely out of the question. In honor of the start of football season, I figured I'd make this quick analogy - this decision was like calling an audible at the line of scrimmage - instead of sticking with the predetermined play, which was to be on my way to Colombia at this point, I scanned the field and read what the defense (life) was giving me and adjusted the gameplan accordingly.

 Secondly, and something I've been thinking about a lot lately, is the point I made about seemingly random sequences of events unfolding in order to lead us into the right situations. This is something I've experienced a lot on my trip and while yes it could all just be coincidental, I believe there is something to it. I think that when we begin moving our lives in a direction that suits us, we'll be more keen on picking up on the subtle cues or positive affirmations that are leading us in the right direction. Maybe it is so obvious to me because for the first time in a long time I feel like I am moving with the current, rather than stubbornly trying to resist it. This is a topic that I quickly wanted to touch on for now, but believe I'll talk more at length about in the future.

And lastly, if you've been thinking about taking a quick vacation, come visit! Seriously. I've had some people say they want to come meet up at a certain point and this would be an awesome opportunity to do so in a beautiful location with a free place to stay. It's super laid back and peacefull where I'm at, but theres a thriving nightlife scene a quick shuttle ride into town if thats what you're into :)

Anyway, I'm finishing up this post from my little front porch you saw in the video - listening to the waves, feeling the cool ocean breeze, and smelling the salt in the air. Looking out over what is essentially my own private beach, a beautiful little cove in the southern tip of Nicaragua's Pacific coast - easily the most picturesque place I've been in my travels so far. A place where my daily attire is often nothing more than a pair of boardshorts, with the occasional tank top when I need to go business casual. When the waves are good I surf. When conditions aren't great I read, practice my spanish, and blog. When I crave fish I grab a spear gun. When I need groceries, internet, or feel like socializing I hop on the $3 shuttle (the back of an old pickup truck) and ride into San Juan Del Sur. If I stay too late I get a $5 bed at one of the many hostels in town and meet travelers from all over the world. Rough life.

Alright thats all for now, thanks again for checking out the post. And let me know what you thought of my second video blog attempt - comments / suggestions always welcome!

Ross

 

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Antigua!

Oh Antigua - a place that will forever be romanticized in my mind as the start of this epic trip. I wrote about my very first day here in what is probably my favorite post so far:

Ramblin' Mannino: I had arrived.

"After weeks of reading up on and scrolling through google images of Antigua, I was finally seeing it with my own eyes. Right in the middle of the park is the iconic "Fuente de los Sirenas" built in 1738. As the gentle splash of the fountian came within earshot, the sirens drew me in. As I drew closer, everything around me seemed to slow down, and then there I was. It was no longer a picture of a place far away, an idea, or an image in my imagination. Nope. I was standing right in front of it. And that was the moment it truly hit me - I was really doing this. I had arrived."

Haha, I was excited alright. And rightfully so! With its well preserved colonial architecture, cobblestone streets, and unique blend of culture - not to mention all the hip cafes and vibrant nightlife, Antigua is great place to post up for a couple weeks. But what brought me to Antigua was the absolutely thriving spanish school scene. If I was going to be traveling through Latin America for 6 months, I figured I had better invest some time up front in learning the language, and from what I read online prior to my trip Antigua was the place to do so. Apparently within the couple mile radius of town, there are an upwards of 400 spanish schools! So naturally, I chose the top ranked school on Tripadvisor: http://www.antiguaplaza.com/

When I think back to my time in Antigua, the one word that comes to mind is BUSY. As I alluded to in my video blog http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsnfaAN3le8, I had not completely unwound from the rigors of working 16 hour days with the firm at this point, and constantly felt like I needed to be doing something productive. I needed to stay busy because in those quiet moments a bit of anxiety crept in as if there were something out there that Needed to get done. Some phantom deadline that was approaching. Completely irrational but hey, these are the things that public accounting downloaded into my subconscious, and were probably necessary in order for me to have success there, as strange as that sounds.

So busy I stayed! And it wasnt necessarily a bad thing that I was still in get-shit-done mode, as it allowed me to pack in as much activity into my days as possible - hitting the spanish classes hard, taking multiple salsa lessons per day, going out almost every night, all with machine-like stamina.

So with that, I invite you to click on the video below and come along with me as I take you through one of my typical days in Antigua. And it just so happens to be Thursday, which is fieldtrip day with the school where you'll get to check out one of my favorite spots in town - el mercado. Listo amigo?? Vamos!

 Whew...I get tired just watching that! And what the video doesn't really capture are the distances between everything - from home to school, school to the market, market to dance lesson, etc., etc. I was easily walking 5 miles per day, if not more.

What I love most about creating and watching these videos is reliving all the fun moments with the wonderful people and close friends I made there. Now that you'll be be able to put a face with the name, let me introduce you to a few of them:

Violeta and Rafael - Violeta and Rafael were the mother and father of the host family that I stayed with. Incredibly warm and hospitable and made us all feel like part of their family. And having been hosting students in their home for almost 2 decades, in a sense we really were. We ate dinners together, praying before every meal, and sharing our day, like a nice little family should. The food was always excellent, prepared by Violeta and her son Fernando. Violeta stayed home running the household while Rafael was a decorated local officer, often seen patrolling the central park area. However while off duty, Rafael was a total jokester who kept us all laughing with an endless supply of jokes and funny stories. Rafael was one of those people that while talking with him, you were on the verge of laughter at all times, like a balloon waiting to pop. I spent as much time as I could bantering with Rafael, and as you can imagine, dinners were just not the same without him!

Brett, Olivia, and Cathy - The four of us were like four peas in a pod. We all arrived around the same time and instantly connected. We shared life stories, palled around town as well as to and from class, took weekend trips, and helped each other out in our early stages of learning spanish. Brett just finished up as a White House intern and if he ever runs for president, vote for him. He's a cool dude.

Mauro and Lesvia - Hands down Mauro, my first spanish teacher of the day, is one of my favorite people I've met so far on my trip. I remember being all nervous and serious in my first class until a few jokes came flying out of left field. From that point on, going to class just felt like hanging out with a buddy, the beauty of it was that I was practicing my spanish while doing so. While we did some formal textbook learning each day, the majority of class was spent laughing and bullshitting about random topics. It was perfect because it really helped out my spanish, in a more informal but very practical way. It was a shame I could only squeeze in a few minutes of banter with Mauro in this video as I literally have almost an hours worth of hilarious content. I am thinking about creating a whole other video, just with snippets of our often very crude conversations, with English subtitles. If you found those clips entertaining, let me know and I'll def go forward with it, as I'm not sure if it's only me that finds them hilarious. Lesvia lead a more structured class with a lot more textbook oriented learning but we as well went off on long tangents which I really enjoyed. Lesvia was one of the sweetest people you could meet and was a real pleasure to spend time with. If you are interested in taking classes with either one, let me know as they offer online learning through Skype. Would be great for someone who is planning a trip to Central America and wants to get a quick foundation prior to doing so. And don't be fooled by the informal nature of the clips of Mauro and I - he's been teaching for over 20 years and is one of the most respected teachers in Antigua.

Oscar and Nancy - Oscar and Nancy were my two salsa instructors. Having the combination of the two was great as Oscar was more like a buddy while Nancy was a bit of a Drill Sargent, busting my balls for an hour every day as you can see from the vid haha. Both were fantastic instructors and I learned so much in my two weeks with them.

I hope you enjoyed meeting this fabulous cast of characters!

Normally I'd wrap it up here but not today as I've got some VERY SPECIAL BONUS FOOTAGE for you! The day I did this documentary just so happened to coincide with El Dia de Corpus Christi, which is a holiday celebrated in the Catholic religion and especially throughout Latin America. The celebration is highlighted by a huge procession through the streets, which of course we joined in on. I originally included this footage with the above video but decided to create a separate one as I wanted the original video to really reflect a "typical day". What a treat this was to experience and be a part of - check it out!

 Pretty cool huh!?

I really hope you enjoyed the videos! It was a really special time for me and I think my enthusiasm and excitement for being out and about in the world really shines through in them. Let me know what you thought as well as any comments / criticisms / suggestions as this whole video creation thing is still pretty new to me. I'm really enjoying it though and am already working on the next one which I hope to share early next week. Also, I promise my spanish and salsa are better now that what you saw here in only my second week of travel! Es verdad! :)

Chow amigos!

Ross

 

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Santa Maria Volcano Hike - Guatemala

I love hiking. So when the proposition was made for me to join some friends in hiking up a 12K+ foot volcano I was all about it - until I found out that I would have to wake up at 4am on a Saturday morning in order to catch the pre-arranged shuttle bus from our spanish school at 5. Brutal. Made me think twice. But I knew that it would be an amazing experience with an exceptional group of people so I had to suck it up. I told myself I would not go out Friday night and get to bed early, neither of which happened. So when my alarm went off at 4am, slightly hung over after only a few hours of sleep, it took every ounce of willpower I had to peel myself out of my warm bed and into a cold shower.

We met, bleary-eyed at the school at 5am and were on our way. I thought I was the worst off, having been out past midnight, until I found out our guide Kevin was out past 2am salsa dancing, and showed no signs of fatigue, at least not yet. This was the inspiration I needed. After a brief shuttle ride we arrived at the base of the volcano where a friendly stray dog, who became known as Pinta, greeted us and offered to lead us to the top in exchange for food scraps along the way. Fair enough. GoPro camera in hand, we set out on one of the most badass hikes I've ever done:

I hope you enjoyed the video! Having zero experience with anything of the sort, it was quite a daunting task, especially getting started but the more I messed around with iMovie, the more intuitive it became. Now that I've gotten the hang of it I look forward to putting more of these together!

So yeah, back to the hike - it was an unrelenting 3 hours straight up with no switchbacks or flat stretches, just steady incline. The hike up was nothing too special until we got about 2/3 of the way up, around the tree line where we started to get some cool views of the city below. But the big payoff was reserved for those who reached the top. It was like stepping into another world. As the top came into view, we began to hear the faint sounds of random unorganized chanting which turned out to be a Mayan ceremony! I was only able to get a small bit of discrete footage as apparently it is disrespectful and you must obtain consent from the group in order to do so, but from what you can see it was quite intense! There were two ceremonies going on, the second of which was extremely somber. The leader seemed to be fighting back tears as he painfully wailed out prayers while a group of women wept below. It was really captivating. Also at the top we were lucky enough to witness one of the smaller volcanos erupting below through the clouds. while the video doesn't quite do it justice, it was really cool to see live and to hear the faint rumble of the earth as it was happening. We hung out on the top for about an hour until the clouds started rolling in and literally enveloped us, as Rita points out in the video "We are in - a cloud - right now". Haha. Our queue to start heading back down.

What fascinated me most about the whole experience were the Mayan ceremonies. I couldn't stop thinking about them.The next week in class I showed my teacher Norma, who is of Mayan decent, the video and asked about what sort of rituals were going on. She noted that when the Spaniards came and imposed Christianity on the Mayans, the people were forbidden to practice their native religion. The only way in which they were safe to do so was by climbing to the top of a mountain where they could do so in secret. Although no longer forbidden, this is a practice that has carried on into today, and it was really quite surreal to see.

Well thats all for now. I am almost through editing my video from Antigua and plan to post that up in a few days. Please let me know what you thought of the vid - comments / criticisms / suggestions, all are welcome!

Chow

Ross

 

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3 Months In - Just Keeps Getting Better!

Hola! 

And greetings from San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua!

Wow...three months in. My first instinct is to say I can't believe it's already been three months! But when I really think back on all the places I've been, people I've met, and things I've been able to do, I am blown away by the fact that it's ONLY been three months! It's weird, while the days seem to fly by faster here since I'm having so much fun, overall the weeks and months seem to last a whole lot longer. It's as if your perceived duration of a specific time period is mostly determined by how many "wow" moments you fill it with. The more you can pack into a given time period, the longer it will seem, especially when you look back upon it. And vice-versa. To illustrate this, I compare my days here, filled with fun and excitement, to my time in accounting - sitting in the cube, those days seemed to just crawl by. But before I knew it those days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months and months melted into years. It was scary how fast a month or year could blow by in spite of the individual days being painfully slow. Even scarier would be talking to a friend after a few months and when the inevitable question of "so anything interesting going on with you lately?" came up, often neither party had much of an answer. "Not really just workin a lot blah blah" before the conversation turned to current events, sports, or other people. Where did that time go? Kinda sad when I think about it now.

Cheers to making up for lost time!

So anyway I am very excited to present to you guys my very first video blog! It's exciting for me because this isn't some random idea I got. Before I set out on this trip this was one of the specific things I envisioned myself doing. I saw it not only as a cool way to communicate what I'm up to, but a way for me to work on my speaking skills, presence, delivery of content, etc. I just underestimated how tough it would be to actually stand in front of the camera with the little red button flashing and make something happen. I rationalized putting it off to the future when I'd have all these amazing epiphanies and life lessons to talk about, when really I was just procrastinating because of fear. Fear of looking stupid, of freezing up, of not knowing what to say, and then putting it out there for the world to see and judge. Fear wants to keep us right where were at, right in our little comfort zone. It doesn't want us to expand into awesomeness. I've had to push through this many many times and I'm always glad I did, so without further adieu:

And there you have it! It's funny to watch myself in this video knowing exactly what was going on in my head at the time. Like in the beginning when I'm all smiley with this look of "uhh am I really doing this right now" plastered on my face lol. But after a minute or two I fell into a nice rhythm, stopped thinking about what I was doing and just started doing what I was doing. Accepting and rolling with it. While I was hoping to go for 3 - 5 minutes, I was interrupted towards the end by the camera shutting off and was later shocked to find out that it did so after 10 minutes! While I hope to become more concise and grounded in what I am doing in the future, I am very pleased with how the first one came out and am excited to continue and improve. 

I hope that you can sense some renewed excitement in regard to my blog. For the last several weeks I had been resisting it as an obligation, and just wanted to get away from all that and do my own thing. Maybe that will happen again on this trip but for now I am excited to get this thing rolling again. Finding that balance. Later this week I'll put out the long awaited Santa Maria Volcano Hike video from Guatemala which is totally kickass and I am finishing up editing a video I put together from my time in Antigua which I should have ready early next week. In addition I've got tons of raw footage from my surf trip, hike through Corcovado national park, as well as some other cool clips that I'll start piecing together. 

Well that's it for now. Gonna chill out and go surfing for the rest of the day. These videos are a pain to upload as I need to trek an hour into town to get on a decent wifi connection which even then the above video took 3 hours to load while I sat posted up in a little cafe watching spanish soap operas. Ended up missing my return shuttle back and only had enough money with me for a cheap dorm bed. Went to bed hungry and annoyed with the load music playing but alas I accomplished what I set out to do - upload the video and update the blog. 

Victory!

Ross

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Surf Camp

Hola Amigos! 

Well...I just finished up 4 days of surf camp in the remote western coast of Guatemala. And frankly, I feel like I got run over by a bus. Every part of my body aches, none more so than my lower back which I can hardly even bend. I am ok when I am laying down flat or standing up straight, but anytime I need to get up, unless there is something I can reach up for and literally pull myself up with, it is a slow and arduous process. It's like I went from 30 to 90 years old overnight. Pass the ibuprofen!

So why surf camp? Well I am actually on a bus right now headed down to Costa Rica to meet up with my buddy Raff and his friends, who do an annual surf trip around this time. I've never surfed before, but since I'm gonna be in the general vicinity and it's something I've always wanted to take a crack at, I figured I'd meet up and tag along. And as far as the whole surfing part, no problem. I've got nearly a decade of skateboarding under my belt so I'll pretty much be shredding out of the gate. Or so I thought at first - before I had some candid conversations with Raff and some other surfers I met along my travels, which gave me a more realistic picture of what learning to surf is like. I was still pretty confident, but the idea of sitting on the beach for the whole week watching everyone surf and not being able to do so myself was enough to take things a bit more seriously. In doing so, I had a tough decision to make - the week before I was to meet up in Costa Rica, I had plans to get my open water scuba certification in the Bay Islands of Honduras. I had made arrangements with a dive school and was all set to go. Decisions, decisions. A week of partying and scuba diving in the beautiful Bay Islands, or surf camp in the black sand beaches of western Guatemala? I chose surf camp. And I'm glad I did. 

After some email correspondence with Rafa, the owner of the camp, I arranged to be picked up in Antigua last Saturday.  Also along for the ride were two guys from Australia (Aussies) and a girl from New Zealand (Kiwi) who were really cool and equally as excited about getting to the ocean. We hit it off immediately, sharing stories of our lives and travels, and a general excitement about what was to come. They were experienced surfers and were excited for me and my first delve into the sport. It was going to be a great group spend the next few days with. After a three hour ride to the pacific coast, an hour of which was spent traversing a dirt path to the ocean, we finally made it to camp.

 http://www.surf-guatemala.com/

What a gem. Very rustic, but what it lacked in modern facilities, it more than made up for in charm. The grounds were nothing more than a few thatch roof bungalows, a dining hut, and lots of hammocks. I opened the door of my bungalow to find bats swirling around the ceiling and the others reported crabs crawling around in theirs. Welcome guests as far as I'm concerned. 

Very relaxing setup. But I wasn't here to relax! Eager to get started, I asked Rafa when my first lesson would be. "En la manana", he replied. "No es possible ahora. Las olas son mas fuerte." I was a little dissapointed but I trusted his assessment that the waves were too strong. He explained that we needed to wait until the tides changed in the morning at which time things would mellow out, giving us a window of an hour or two for lessons before picking back up. On the other hand, the other guys wasted little time in suiting up and hitting the waves. Before long, the locals joined in and there were about a dozen people out there. It was a lot of fun to watch. I sat with Rafa as I looked on, and peppered him with questions about the tides, how waves are formed, how they break, and what he sees when he scans the ocean's topography. It was a nice little lesson in itself. 

Soon it was time for lunch. Not having very much fish since arriving in Guatemala I was rooting for just that and I was not dissapointed. Fresh catch! Very quickly there was nothing more than a head and vertebrae remaining on my plate. This would be our staple lunch for the next several days. Glorious!

Here at surf camp, the honestly policy ruled. There was a small binder where each of us had our own running tab and anytime we had a meal, spent the night, took a surf lesson, etc, we put a tick mark next to that item on our page. Same went for the fridge stocked full of beverages. That night, with a bonfire on the beach and a lightning storm playing out in the distance, many a tickmark went into the beer column. 

I slept like a rock, and as I opened my eyes around 7am, the excitement started to creep in - it was time for my first lesson! I found Juan Carlos, who was one of the local guys working at the camp who would be giving me my lesson and we wasted little time in getting started. Instead of one of the slick shortboards which lined the racks, I was fixed up with the massive 9' bright blue foam board. About as uncool as you could get in terms of surfboards, but apparently the best one to learn on. Surfs up!

After a brief lesson on the sand, we hit the waves. Or rather, the waves hit me - over and over again. I consider myself to be in fairly good shape, but I was frustratingly weak when it came to paddling out past the breakers. I paddled furiously, taking one step forward, but then two steps back every time I got plastered by a wave. I withstood the first few, holding on for dear life but the onslaught was relentless, and soon I was knocked clear off my board, choking up saltwater and trying to collect my board before being pounded by the next wave. Not a promising start, but I was determined, and Juan Carlos was there helping me out every step of the way. Over the coarse of the next hour, I pushed myself to the point of exhaustion, paddling out past the breakers, and with the help of Juan Carlos propelling me forward at the right moment, I caught my first wave. As I popped up to my feet and gained my balance, time seemed to slow down - I was doing it. It may have only lasted a few seconds, but I erupted out of the water screaming with both arms high in the air and looked back to see Juan Carlos celebrating just as enthusiastically. Victory!!! I caught a few more waves that morning, but it was clear that learning this sport was going to be a lot harder than I had ever anticipated. Starving and exhausted, I trudged back up to camp to a round of high fives and a chorus of encouragement from the others who were sitting down to breakfast. Despite the long road that I knew I had ahead of me, I was absolutely stoked. And that was before this was put out in front of me:

I earned this one!

One of the things I enjoyed most about camp was the synergy with the locals. Rafa created a welcoming environment for the local surfers, many of which were teenagers, to hang out, borrow boards, and interact with the people staying at the camp. It was a great way to help facilitate the progress of the sport within the village. Also, those same kids tearing it up on the waves were the ones giving the surf lessons, which I found very cool. Especially because they were all incredibly nice, welcoming, and encouraging. They seemed to really enjoy sharing their beach with us, which is different from what I've heard about other locations in Central America. 

In between surf sessions, we enjoyed exploring the little town of El Paredon. It was a really really small fishing village with sand streets, a few tiendas, random animals running around, and not much else. 

As we passed by one of the tiendas, there was an oldschool Tony Hawk arcade game out front with two kids furiously mashing down buttons and wrenching the joystick back and forth. They were fighting over the game, trying to outposition one another on the little stool in order to assume full control. Fully engagaed. But as we walked up closer, we noticed the "Please Insert Coin" text flashing across the screen, with just generic video clips playing in the background. They were having a heck of a time for not even playing! Luckily Sebastion, one of the Aussie guys, had a few coins in his pocket which he pumped into the machine to the absolute delight of the two kids. Very cool.

Over the next three days, my strength and confidence increased, as did my timeline for how long it would realistically take to get good at this. Long gone was the notion that I could become proficient in a matter of days or even weeks. There is definitely a barrier to entry as the initial pain period of learning and building up the requisite muscles and confidence is pretty rough. Forget standing up, the amount of fortitude it takes to fight your way out there, just to put yourself in position to have a chance is the most challenging part, at least at first. Even just balancing yourself on the board while trying to paddle out - stuff that you would think would be really easy was surprisingly difficult.  It didnt help that this was a very difficult place to learn. Overall the waves were strong, fast, messy and unpredictable. 

Still, wanting to get the most practice possible, in addition to my morning lesson I ventured out each afternoon at high tide for what turned out to be my daily ass whooping. Despite my determination, I never made it past the breakers at high tide. Constant sets of waves would batter and wear me down until finally the big one came and delivered the knockout blow, crashing down and violently spinning me along the ocean floor like a rag-doll (they call it the spin cycle). But despite the challenges, I had an absolute blast. There is something amazing about learning to first understand and then eventually harness the raw power of Mother Nature in the form of these waves. Even taking a massive tumble is exhillarating in a sense. It's all part of the process which must be embraced as a whole. 

For now, I need to continue fighting through the intitial sucking period in order to really experience what it's all about. I've got a few weeks in Costa Rica to practice, after which time I think I'll know whether this is something I want to continue on with because as of right now I'm really not sure. I have no idea how my surfing career will pan out or even if it will last much longer, but what I do know is that it could not have kicked off in a better way!