Advertisement
Published: February 27th 2006
What a ridiculous adventure. I honestly thought it was going to be a fun day on the beach, just a simple 2 hour stroll to a great surf spot. Never have I been so wrong before.
We left the house around 10:45, wearing tons of sunscreen and pretty stoked to be out on a cool trip. It was about 90 degrees when we left, and extremely humid, so much so that we had to walk in the waves most of the way just to stay cool. We hiked along the beach, wearing backpacks full of water, snacks, and cameras, and obviously, carrying surfboards. We walked about 6 kilometers, past all of the houses and roads, past the airstrip, then along a coconut plantation. When we arrived at the end of the beach, we had to decide whether to swim out and around the rocky point or hike over the mountain that stood between us and the rivermouth where the surf breaks. We asked some local who gave us bad directions and sent us on a wild goose chase. It was me, Daniel, and Alexis to start off, but Alexis turned back and hiked home because she had to work, so it was just Daniel and I. Neither of us had shoes or sandals, because we thought we would be on the sand the whole time. We walked over sticks and leaves on an old path through the jungle, until it emptied into a wide open farm area with a small red dirt road bisecting it. We attempted to walk on the road, but it was so hot that it literally scalded the bottoms of our feet and immediately created blisters within five or ten minutes. A fence had been built where we needed to go, and was claimed as private property. A random sabanero warned us not to proceed, so we were forced to return to the beach. The pain of walking on the scalding surface was unbearable, so I fashioned footwear out of the leaves from almond trees and a few palm fronds. We finally got back to the beach, and decided that our only option was to hide our packs in the woods and get on our boards. The paddle around the point looked easy enough, but it proved to be nearly impossible. After fighting heavy currents, we finally made it to a group of rocks that protruded from the sea about 100 yards out. Large waves were coming between the rocks, creating a pretty violent landing zone. We got up on the rocks and realized after a few minutes that we were in over our heads. As the tide roared in, the waves and cross currents increased between the rocks, and it was far too dangerous to proceed around the point. It literally took us 15 minutes just to get 100 yards, and we knew there was no way we would make it another 1/2 mile to the rivermouth. I was busy plotting our route back when Daniel pointed out the shadows to me. My heart felt like it jumped into my throat when I looked down into the water around us. Large tuna and dorado were swimming very close to us, and large shadows darted around a few meters below them. It did not take long to realize that the fish were being hunted by bigger fish. If you know me, you know how I feel about sharks. I am terrified of them, I hate them, they hate me. None ever surfaced, so we were never able to get a great view and determine the species. After 5 more minutes, all of the fish had disappeared, assumingly gone out to sea to escape. We waited until we were convinced that we could make it to shore before the next big set of waves came in, then went for it. I have never paddled so hard in my entire life. By the time we made it to the beach, my entire upper body was completely spent. I could barely lift my arms above me to get my pack on, but I was so happy to be on shore, it didn't matter. We proceeded to hike back, then reward ourselves at the house by raiding the forest for fresh fruit. We snacked on fresh pipas, coconuts, mangos and guavas (a new favorite of mine). I was thoroughly exhausted, and after reading for a few minutes, passed out and took a long nap. I awoke to the sound of a scream, and jumped up in time to see the scorpion land on the floor that had been on Daniel's arm. He did not get stung, the scream was him seeing it and swatting it off of him. We chased the little devil around the house with a machete until Dan cornered it and got his revenge. After a long laugh and a few pictures, we walked into town and had dinner. I ended up having to work all night because we got packed, so dinner did not happen for me for quite a while. On a normal night, I shut the bar down at 9, but I was still making drinks at 1:00 this morning when the last of the tourists thankfully called it a night. What a ridiculous day...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.098s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0518s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
deleted_12102
deleted_12102
-------+++++-------
Damn dude that sounds like an awesome day. Keep up the wild adventures. I am living through your fun. Watch out for those sharks tho bro. And the jellies...I got hit by some little jellyfish in Manuel Antonio...it wasn't too bad but still had to go get a shot in the ass. LATE.