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Published: July 26th 2014
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The last entry ended with us leaving Playa Gigante to walk to a spot called Colorados. Of course, he explained the directions as "yeah pretty much follow the path there's a Y at some point, stay left." After an hour walk and a few U turns from misunderstanding, we had made it to Colorados. After seeing such dismal surf, we were relatively accepting of the fact there wouldn't be surf. Our low expectations were met with way better than expected surf.
We scored surf on that day and the next. We also ran into Erwin, a guy who it went to elementary school with. The surf continued to drop, but we found ourselves enjoying parts of playa gigante a little more. It was interesting how everyone migrated from place to place. One day there was pizza night, the next one was fundraiser for taco stand to get a bathroom and finally live music at our place the last night. A bunch of covers from you name it: Rolling Stones, Tom Petty and even Deathcab for Cutie. We were maxing out a little bit and ended up emailing our next place and asked if we could move our whole
reservation up a day early. He said no problem.
The place we were going to stay included free transport to and from the airport. We, however, were very far from the airport(you may be able to check map in blog). He told us he could pick us up at "the entrance to Santa Teresa by the k52 sign." We had heard of a school bus that comes to gigante which would save us at least 20$. We got up at 5am and caught the 6am school bus. The bus was not a normal school bus. It was more of a military style bus with just 2 long benches going along the sides of the bus. The cost per person is 20 Cordobas (25 Cordobas is 1$), yet they ask for 50 to donate to the schools. It seemed legit so we ponied up the extra $1.20.
The bus ride was hilarious. Our big surfboard bag, another surfers board bag, and upwards of 50 kids at one point all squished in the bus. After about an hour and a half we arrived to the first major city Tola. We caught a taxi and 2 hours
later were dropped off on the side of the road by a sign that said k52. There were no stores or anything, just a little bus stop. We were 2-3 hours early(due to the only bus owing to gigante), so we had some sitting to do. Fortunately, Dave with his driver and young wife showed up 20 minutes early.
With a 2 hour drive ahead of us and just a snickers bar for breakfast, we were salivating over the all inclusivity of the place. After 2 hours of the gnarliest roads I have ever been on, we arrived. I couldn't point to where we are on a map, but we are just about an hour-hour and a half boat ride from where we were originally. Dave has the only place to stay in the area. He bought the land 4 years ago, and built a big house with 2 floors. The roofs are made of straw and the whole place is run off of a well and solar panels. He has to purchase wifi by the gigabytes (it's run our twice since we've been here for 2 days and it's currently out as I write this).
This place is by far the best place we've been to. It is like living on pasta and quesadillas in college and coming home to a bomb cooked meal (thanks mom). Or maybe going to big sur for a week and coming home and remembering what it's like to take a shower. It is all that and more. We have been enjoying roughing it so far, but it's nice to have this place. To surf the wave here you either have to pay a bunch of money to get a boat (2 kids told us they paid 240) or stay where we are. There are currently 6 other people here which is pretty much the max. The place includes 3 amazing meals a day plus fruit on the table at 445 am. There is a pool table, as well as a full bar that's included. They have a camera guy that takes photos all day as well. For us it's free, but he will take pictures of everyone in the water. Donnie, the Aussie surf guide, will then take out some waterproof business cards and offer to email them all the photos for 40$. Sean, Dave's son Sean,
about our age, moved here with his dad and takes care of that whole side of the business.
The surf has been steadily picking up since we got here. It's a playful left, that is a lot like lower trestles. Yesterday morning I had easily one of the top 5 sessions of my life and Matt had one of his best on higher sunset session. We get up super early (430 am today), and surf until more than a couple boats show up. We then hang out on the beach. Dave and Donnie set up a tarp and 3 hammocks to rest in. They bring an ice chest for beers, sodas juice and snacks. Still can't do here 730 am beers like the playa gigante guys. If we want, they will bring down breakfast or lunch to beach. It's a little hard for us to take it that far so we usually go back and eat. Then after a little nap maybe surf a little during the day. Later, a couple hours before sunset, all the boats are gone and we get it to ourselves. The wind usually stops later and it gets really fun. Fortunately the
tides have been conducive to surfing in the morning and afternoon as well.
We both can agree that we will make it out here again. It has been a nice change. We will continue our northern route in 4 days from here. We will have a couple days in a hostel, then another surf camp. Our next surf camp is super cheap since there are dorms there, so we are stoked. That's about it from here. We are about 3 weeks in with 6 weeks to go. I am finding that I cannot completely detach myself from society as I continue to watch the market everyday. This lifestyle is conducive to a lot of reading as well. It hasn't been too hard to make a dent in the 600 page biography of Warren Buffett.
Since wifi is limited here I'll post some photos next time around.
Cheers,
Ben
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Cale Reid
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Miss you dude
DUDE. Sounds epic. Enjoy your time and keep reading so when you come back you can make me a boat load of money. Thanks.