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Published: July 15th 2008
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The soothing sound of churning waves. The fresh smell of salty air carried by a cooling breeze. Powerful sunlight, filtered through leaves and tree branches warms as it's absorbed into my skin. Soft grains of sand between my toes. The flat line of the horizon formed over the distant ocean as the earth curves out of sight. Soft, billowing clouds float effortlessly in the blue sky, constantly shifting and morphing shape. I take a deep breath, simultaneously taking in the ambiance of the moment. The present, the now, the moment, that infinitely thin film between the limitless future and the endless past. If you try to grasp it, it's already gone. The present is the only unit of time that is real. The past is only real so far as it was once the present and the future only becomes real when the present passes over it. Pelicans glide over the water, effortlessly air surfing a rising wave. They gently lift up as the blue green water crashes and crumbles into a churning, advancing, erratic mixture of air and water. The moment is filtered through our senses and mind, turned into experiences which are strung together by our memory into what
we call our lives. Though two people can be in the same place at the same time, but each experiencer, experiences a different reality, affected by our preconceptions and dispositions. Bait fish jump out of the water, fleeing some larger predator under the waters surface, only to be confronted by swooping frigate birds, eager for a fresh meal. To live in the moment, to relax, calm the mind and appreciate these instances is sometimes very hard for people. Not worrying about the future, not preoccupied with the past, but experiencing what is happening right now. Experiencing the moment seems to be greatly facilitated by sitting on a beautiful beach in paradise.
For the last few days we've been staying in small gnome homes on a beautiful, golden sand beach in Madera Nicaragua. The soft, sandy beaches are separated by rocky tide pools composed of variously colored types of rocks; brown, black, gray, blue, green, red, orange, and pink, often mixed together at their edges like wet paint. Lush, green, tropical vegetation covers the surrounding hills, creeping up the the water's edge. You can see the silhouette of Coasta Ricas's coasta mountains far off over the distant water. Every night
we watch lightning over the ocean and the white wash of the waves slightly illuminated by a small amount of phosphorescence. There has been plenty of wood on the beach and surrounding forest for bonfires every night and the hotel has a community wood burning stove that we've been using to cook on. Watching the sporadic flow of fire dancing on glowing embers of driftwood, the night sky and clouds ocasionaly illuminated by flashes of lightning over an emense ocean and the constant crashing and churning of waves is highly enjoyable. The surf as been ok so we've been skim boarding a lot.
Almost everyday we've been eating an abundance of fresh fish for dinner. Yesterday I took Andy's spear gun, El Bandito, out for the first time and caught a large parrot fish and a trigger fish. The parrot fish was the largest fish we've caught so far by spear and I am a little embarrassed and concerned with how happy I was to kill such a large beautiful creature. There seems to be something primaly satisfying about hunting food with a spear, even in gun form. I gutted them, descaled them and then threw them on the
grill over some glowing orange coals. We ate the tender meat with some pasta one of the other guests had made. It's been nice to have community dinners with the other hostel guests, everybody pitching in something to have a delicious potluck contributes to the good atmosphere of our, small, ephemeral, beach front community. The day before Andy speared two parrot fish and two smaller fish for dinner that were all very tasty. The day before that we went deep sea fishing on a ponga and got two good sized dorado for dinner and a small tuna. The deep sea fishing trip was fun and we split the $35 cost of the boat with Tim, Gilbert and the children from two families staying at our hotel. The first hour, we didn't hook any fish, but our captain after getting the rotor caught in a long line, pulled it in and pirated two dorado and a needle fish. I was a little uncomfortable at first but thought the whole situation was funny and we were guaranteed fish for dinner. Soon after, Sam a six year old boy hooked and reeled in the largest dorado of the day with a Little help
from his dad. I was happy that we legitimately caught a fish and the little boy was really excited. Greg also caught a small tuna that was delicious. We let the captain have one of the stolen dorado and gave the needle fish to the hostal owners to make some soup out of.
The people we've met here have been great. Gilbert, a Dutchman we met in Granada hitched a ride out to the beach with us and has been fun to hang out with. We've befriended another nice Dutchman named Tim, who after traveling for several months, decided to stay in one place for a while. Playa Madera seemed like a good place to relax, learn to surf and hone his fishing skills. After seeing us spearfish he went out and bought a gun for himself. We've been playing chess and he's pretty evenly matched with us, but doesn't play with time which sometimes makes me a little impatient. He'll be here for another few months and if we weren't on a schedule we'd probably stick around for at least another week.
.................
The swell has picked up so we've been surfing twice a day: sunrise
until the midday sun gets too intense and then a few hours before and during sunset. sitting on my board, bobbing with the rising waves, I watch a flying fish skim over the water, a long needle fish skipping across the surface in pursuit. Our new friends Zack and Wane crack jokes as we wait for a set. They're two surfers on vacation from Marin County, Ca. Zack's helping his uncle exterminate the termites that have tormented the thick, beautiful hardwood beams that provide support to his picturesque mountainside vacation home overlooking the ocean. They invited us up for dinner the other night and we enjoyed a delicious vegetable pasta topped with marinated carne de res while enjoying 7 year Flor de Cana Rum mixed with various fruit juices. Great music, great company, great food, great beverages and a great view. Zach has some beach front property in southern, pacific Costa Rica. He offered to let us stay in his 11' by 11' beach shack and drew us a treasure map to the property. The area is still pretty undeveloped and has great waves near by but the shack has only one wall and the mosquitoes are intense. Still sounds
good to me.
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Mark
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Nice Blog I am living thru you
Your trip has looked like a once in a lifetime trip. I enjoy reading your blog, please keep them coming! Enjoy your adventure, I am working a little extra hard at my banks to save up for a adventure like yours. I want to do the same trip, and with the community banks in trouble I might get my wish sooner!