surfin...

---

So this weekend was a "puente" (long weekend). Antonette and I decided to go to the coast to learn how to surf. Yes! We left early Friday morning for the bus station. Then we took the bus to Conil de la frontera, which is a small coastal town in the province of Cadiz. We had Hostel reservations at a 13 euro per night British place. Before we could go to our room, we had to get to the beach to go to our first lesson. We had NO IDEA where to go to meet him, so we just picked a direction on the beach and hoped for the best. Finally, 30 minutes late, sweaty, and having peed my pants twice from laughing so hard, we made it to our instructor. And our bathing suits, you ask? Yes, we changed our clothes in the street. We are in Spain, after all. So we got surfing. It was pretty awesome. I had water pouring out of my nose for hours that night. I have never had so much salt water enter my body!! Nope, I did not stand up during the first lesson, just spent a lot of time under the water covering my head to avoid being killed by my own surfboard.

The next day, we were supposed to have a lesson, but the HUGE thunderstorm that occurred over night had left the beach in a huge mess. EEWW! Plus, it was so windy that there were no waves. There were trees knocked down everywhere. So we did not have a lesson. But, we spent the day on the beach and had a ton of fun. We also found this coffee place that had all these funky drinks, some with ice cream and coffee, some with alcohol. That was fun! Our hostel was really nice, like really nice. I have stayed in a lot of motels, inns, and hotels that were not as nice. So we had a lot of fun with that.

On the last day, we had our second lesson. Yay for us, we stood up a couple of times. I also fell way less, but still ended up with an ocean of water inside my throat. When we went to get the bus, it never came. We finally found a sign that said the bus to sevilla for sunday at ... time has been canceled, the next bus is on monday night. GREAT! So we figured out a new route, and went to have a coffee and pastries in a cute cafe. Then we took the bus to cadiz (the city) had chinese food there (I really wanted chicken noodle soup) and then caught the bus to Sevilla. So, we are back in our room, and ready for a free day tomorrow. Our coming weekends are pretty packed, not to mention the weekly schedule that flies by.

I hope to go back to conil to rent some surfboards foor a day and then have another lesson after I have worked on the things I have learned. Antonette and I are hooked. I also would really like to take my family down to try it out when they come down in January! Ahh... I just loved it. That is a good way to end a weekend, I think.

I could easily tell you that I hate Spain every once in a while, but only because it is keeping me away from Brendan. Ugh, my heart aches. But, I also love being here. Life can just not be simple, right...

---

Photos

last week
There is a "botellon" going on behind me... a street drinking party, but it was outside of MY favorite ice cream shop... how dare they

antonette
before the storm got to crazy... it was way windy and we were way hungry so we sat outside and held onto our food so it wouldn't blow away

HAHA
the scenery was not so good here, we were right outside of the grocery store, so hungry after surfing

in Conil
with my bag of apples. It was warm, but SO WINDY!

beach
what you do when your surf lesson is canceled

Pueblo Blanco
white town of the Mediterranean

we went for a walk to...
we were on the beach (as in previous pics), but then crossed the bridge into... Ireland (HUGE contrast)

Cold
the water was so refreshing when I took my wetsuit off. Surfing is hard, and I was sweating!

and this is my roommate
after surfing, you feel really buff/sore. She was trying to show off her buffness