BACK FROM COSTA RICA

well....its official. i am back from costa rica. i dont even know where to start telling about the trip. costa rica is an amazing country, with some of the warmest, friendliest, and most educated people i have ever met. it is my paradise. already i am feeling sick and longing for this place i have only spent 9 days in, a mere blink of my life i have spent here in the usa/texas. how can one miss a place he has just barely experienced so badly? how can i feel so welcome and at home in a country almost 2000 miles from my home? these are the questions that i keep running through my head. i cant stop thinking about it. looking around here, and just going through my day, im in a daze i cannot pull out of. everything seems so fast, fake, and unwelcoming. i can see right through the bullshit now of everything people try and chase in america, the money, the status, the big house, the nice and fancy thing. seeing costa rica, and seeing it for how the locals live, shows me that we need none of this crap in our lives. america is full of materialistic views and beliefs, and we will work and die chasing these things. when you are dead, and 6 feet under, your house and your mercedes are not with you. anyways, i guess ill let up on that rant. the trip was amazing. as soon as we landed, we knew this was costa rica. the airport was litteraly a huge hanger thing with a big ass fan to blow air. we went through customs, grabbed our bags and boards, and went through a check. when we got outside in the front, we did not see our rental car guy. some guy supposedly called them for us, but he did not. anyways, long story short, they never got our reservation, so they picked us up, only to find out that our credit card (charlies) did not have enough balance to cover the rent and the 1500 deposit on the car. we had a bad feeling about this, but charlies dad gave us his card and it didnt work either. so already first day and disaster is striking. but we got a ride on a taxi and started making our way towards nosara. man the drive in was soo beautiful, and amazing. the best way to describe it to you, is to say it looked like they filmed jurrasic park there, and that is the damn truth. mountains covered in jungle soared over 2000 feet around us, while we drove over a plain, and into the mountains. we went through a couple of small villages, and then into nicoya. the last big one before our town. after nicoya, it was all dirt roads with big ass holes from there. the last 30-40 miles were gruesome, but fun and awsome nonetheless. just how i like it, rough style!!!! it took us around 2 maybe 2.5 hours to cover those last miles, thats how slow the pace was. dodging holes, 1 lane bridges, other cars, pedestrians, bicycles. we get our first view of the beach at playa garza, just another 10km outside of nosara (gringo village). BEAUTIFUL. anyways we get to our little hotel at dark, so most of the view would not be seen until the following morning. it gets dark VERY early in costa rica, due to closeness of the equater (i guess) and no day light savings. the sun sets 5 maybe 5:30 ish, and it is dark at 6-6:20something. so it throws you off a good bit, and you cannot figure it out. we had an excellent dinner and got to know some of the people. we stayed up for a bit and then went to sleep. the best part of this trip was that NONE of us had any watches or clocks, i highly recomend this for any vacation, it is alot of fun. we woke up at sunrise, 5:30am. the sun rises very early too, hrmmmm. also the waking factor was..... monkeys. thats right, monkeys. howler monkeys are very loud little bastards, hahaha, and they wake you up when they decide it is time to get up. not to mention some very loud birds as well. we later found out that costa rica alone is home to over 200 different species of birds! anyways we get ready to paddle out and check the surf. when we walked out to playa guiones, the surf was pretty damn big and clean. it was around 6-9 feet, which is some of the biggest i have ever been in so i was a little nervous. only charlie and i made it out, kevin shane and matt just couldnt make it out at first past the 4 foot walls of white water, and i dont blame them, they were not missing much. so now we are on the outside, after duckdiving some of the biggest waves i have ever been in , and im a little nervous, and i know i cannot ride these massive beasts. then a set comes in from the outside, pushing 15 feet. shit. i paddle for the horizon(toward the wave) like a madman, so i can hope to duck dive underneath her, a stupid thought. it closed out maybe 30 feet in front of me, a massive roar and wall of white looming to destroy me. charlie jumps off his board and swims under, praying his leash would hold. i tried to duck dive. 20 seconds later or so, i surface again for a breath of air, only to be dragged under again for another 5 seconds it seemed. now terrified and officially shaking, i start telling charlie, screw this im headed for the shore. anyways, we finally make it back in, blah blah. through out the trip though i got used to waves that size, and it doesnt scare me much anymore. ill try and skip to some better parts now. we surfed and had a good time, but found out fast that 35 fuckers from south carolina, had booked a little surf camp thing, and were staying/crowding the local breaks. not keep in mind we dont have a car so we cannot travel to other spots. pelada was packed every day with these little fucks, and guiones was just not working out that well. guiones is like 3 mile beach, so plenty of room,but the swell was closing out much of the time. we partied and ate like kings ill tell you. i had snapper in avacado, BEST FISH OF MY LIFE, fresh catch, for like 6 bucks. now most people never believe fresh catch, well i saw it. i was asking for the specials, and the bartender (a coooooool guy named carlos) told me, "the truck has not arrived, we dont know what they caught yet". haha then i saw the truck pull out, they checked out the ice chest thing, and sure enough, tuna and snapper. wow. we met a girl from argentina, living and working there in nosara. she showed us around for the next couple of days, and we all hung out with her and partied with her. we rented bikes, and checked out some other villages, and went into nosara(tico village) where all the native costa ricans live (ticos). sooo beautiful, and lush, and the people are soo friendly. we had no worries. we were litteraly the only white people in town, that i could see on the streets, and we were talking with people, and checking the place out. skipping a couple of days because im getting tired of typing, we met a couple from florida, who were the coolest, craziest people that i have ever met. they were in the early 40's and the lady sharon, took us all into nosara tico village for breakfast. well it was sunday morning, and all the stores were closed, but we walked around and the church let out, and then there is gonn be a huge soccer game on the field. wooooooooooo yea a local game between the 2 local towns, and thier respective town teams. this is gonna be good! we ran into 2 girls, from toronto, backpacking through costa rica. niaomi (i think thats how you spell it) and her friend laura. there were cool, and my friends talked with them, while sharon and i went into a bar to get a beer. so i was telling her about the local tico custom to eat the turtle eggs, raw. its supposedly and aphrodesiac, they call it the costa rica viagra. she is a crazy woman, and shes like i want 2 for me and my husband hahaha. so she gets some and this tico guy and i ware discussing it at the bar. this other tico was taking shots of them (with salsa and the egg embreyo in a shot glass). so he buys another and calls me over, due to my interest in them. he bought one for me!!!!! now normally i dont do this shit, but a pure tico, bought a shot of this for me, and i was not going to dissapoint him, and be rude. i shot that bitch, and it was damn good! hahaha. no it didnt work, but it was a custom, and i had to do it. for all the animal rights people, the ticos are allowed to poach a certain amount, because, if they dont let them, they will anyway and create a much larger problem, and also when the second and much larger wave of turtles comes through, they destroy half the nests anyways, so CHILLL!!!!!!!!!! anyways we watch the game, and we decide to be nice and let the girls stay a night in our room (i decide to sleep outside again in the hammocks hahahaha) and we head back. that night we had a huge party( it was lauras bday the next day) and the couple came with us, and we all had a huge dinner at this cool surf bar/restaraunt called blewdogs(www.blewdogs.com). we all were having fun, drinking, the couple bought everyone shots, blah blah. charlie is like sucking back long island ice teas like they are going out of style. next thing i know, hes trashed, and i dunno. then hes throwing up for the net hour on the side of the bar. lol wow. i had a bit myself, but didnt get near that point. we got back to the hotel, kevin, matt, and i went skinny dipping with the toronto girls, and some german guy from the bar showed up and joined. what a fun night. netx day was pretty much the same pattern , just awsomeness hahahhaha. alot of surfing now that surf camp kids were gone, thank god. i got some badass rides, and one night, just before dark, i took a wave in because it was getting really dark fast and i was a wayyyyys out, i rode a good 10 foot wave in, a badass right, and i tore that bitch up for one of the best rides i have ever had. our lasy day came together like clockwork, we took a badass hike into these waterfalls with a guide (the co owner of our hotel). we jumped off it, and then charlie and i climbed it and followed the stream a bit to another bigger waterfall. on the way back im talking with joe(owner of hotel/guide) and hes selling the place and his house and moving to niccaragua. he asks me what my plans are for next year during like jan, feb, march, and april and says he needs a guide to help him in the busy season with his kayaking biz. WOW. so now my head is in tangles trying to figure out if i should quit my badass job and go work and live in paradise for 4 months. anyways, we had a badass lunch, and then went surfing for the best session i have EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. the swell direction changed and pelada was GOING OFF!! head high to 3 feet over head were coming through, perfect lefts, and an occasional right. damn what fun. shane was ripping shit up, and so was charlie. i got a few rights, mostly close outs, and some really fun lefts. charlie and kevin go in, shane, matt, and i stay out as the sun is setting. the most beautiful sunset i have ever seen is occuring, huge waves are still coming in, and i take off on a perfect 7-9 foot left, that almost killed me. i drop down the face so fast, and bottom turn, grab the rail, whoooooosh im gone. flyin down the line, i try and pump, and remember to turn a little, but im so exhilarated and amazed, i cant. i race the line and fly off the wave at the end, but stoked as hell. best left i ever caught. i watched the rest of the sunset, the whole sky turning an orange and pink,, litterally in 2 minutes, as the sun got closer to the water and the light bounced off. i caught a little 6 foot right into the shore, and ran through the trail in the woods over the point to catch a better view of the best sunset i have ever seen. i sat on a log on the beach watching it, and i think i almost cried. my last night in costa rica, and everything so beautiful and perfect. had a good dinner that night with the couple and all of us (the toronto girls left a day earlier for more backpacking) and then we drank a little. then off to the airport the next day, and then home. now here i am, another day later, still caught up in the mix, and just watching things unfold before me. its amazing how much 9 days can change a person, and even more amazing how it can influence them for the rest of thier life. i will never forget my costa rica experience, the people there, the friends we made, the locals we partied with, the things i saw, and the time and waves i had. i will miss you costa rica. te extrano por toda mi vida.