The positive side of being in a tourist town is that you get to meet new people with all kinds of life stories that you would normally never get the chance to hear. The negative side is of course that these people are just passing through. Today is the day for leavings. Tony, who has been here for almost 2 weeks, is returning to New York. Even though he paddled out in 6 ft waves and to his horror realised there was no way to get back except to try and surf them (which resulted in a battle that the waves ultimately won..) he has fallen in love with surfing and since then won a fair few fights out there. I think he will probably be back... Bobo, a 50+ true Texan who has been coming here for 25 years is also going home today. As an old friend of Alvaro's, we have had the pleasure of his company in the water over the past 10 days and despite him forcing us to get up at dawn even though the tide is low and him stealing my waves I will greatly miss him. Fortunately he will be back in a few months and is bringing his 25-year old, 6'4'' handsome son along so I look forward to that... Finally, Corinne is heading back to Holland tomorrow. I have really enjoyed getting to know her over the past 3 weeks and hope she will be a friend for years to come. Corinne had a bit of an incident her second day surfing when her board hit her quite hard in the head, and she has been struggling with the fear caused by the accident ever since. Yesterday she decided to give it another go and she was catching wave after wave with a big smile on her face until a freak wave dragged her under and it all came back to her. When she popped up on the surface her eyes were like a deer's in headlights and both me and Alvaro knew it was over for her for now. I hope she finds her way back to surfing.
As for me, I just keep falling deeper and deeper in love with surfing and the life that comes with it. As soon as I hit the water everything else becomes irrelevant. I love sitting on my board bantering with the local surfers who have started to accept me as "one of their own" while waiting for a wave. I love the moment the wistling starts, which is the local way of telling the other surfers a great wave is coming their way, and I love the adrenaline and excitement that kicks in when Alvaro goes "Turn around - This could be the wave of your life".
Me, Tony and Corinne were sitting on my veranda yesterday evening after a delicious BBQ when Corinne looked at me and said "I don't know how you are ever going to be able to leave this place. You clearly belong here". I don't now either...
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