After immense pressure from my family and friends (I count at least 2 people strongly encouraging me to blog) I have decided to keep a record of my adventures as I "live the dream" in Costa Rica.
Firstly, let me introduce you to some characters who will frequently feature in my stories; Juanita is my beloved 8'2'' yellow surfboard and possibly the love of my life. Alvaro is my mentor and trainer, who is either a 6 or 7 time Costa Rican surf champion (he is modest so I have never managed to figure out the exact number of times he won..). Leo is my "training mate", 12 years old and a gromit champion (apparently what you call the league for under 14s)
And so the story begins... after family quality time in Sweden and fun times in New York, I touched down in San Jose late last night. It all got off to a great start when the cute rental car guy recognised me from last time. It quickly turned south however when he showed me where the spare tire was but told me never to stop and change it if I got a puncture..."don't ask anyone for help, just keep driving. Sometimes they will put a whole in the tire and follow you until you stop to fix it" was his exact words. Needless to say I was nervously checking my rear view mirror as I drove off into the dark.... My strategy was to follow the car in front of me closely to avoid being alone on the road. I wonder what the driver ahead was thinking as he looked in his rear view mirror praying his tires would stay intact so that the cazy person behind him wouldn't rob him...
After two hours of winding roads and several bottle of diet coke I finally arrived at my new home around midnight. As I pulled up to my bungalow I saw Jesus for the first time...... Jesus is the night guard and he only speaks Spanish so that is about as much as I know about him... I foresee him becoming a victim of my attempts to practise Spanish however and hope to learn a lot more about him over the next three months!
With anticipation keeping me awake for most of the night, I rose out of bed at 5.30 am, loaded up on caffeine and headed out to my first training session to become the oldest Billabong sponsored female surfer on the circuit.... Alvaro doesn't seam to be convinced but he did ask for a cut so that must mean he believes I have a shot - right? As I pulled out from the driveway the waves were crashing down on the beach, the sun was rising over the horizon and I stopped for a second in pure amazement. This place is really one of mother natures finest works! After my moment of reflection reality hit as I realised that the waves where rising 5-6 feet tall, and I had to surf the darn things....oh well. As I am sure there will be many descriptions of my surfing bravados over the next few months I'll just say that it was a joy to be reunited with Juanita again and after getting a rude reminder of how challenging it is to paddle out through the surf, catching that first wave was like falling in love again....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment