“Ode to a helmet cam...”

Helmet cam, oh helmet cam, so tiny and compact

You followed me near and far and kept on coming back

You came with me down mountains, swift and in control

Rose up every rise and followed every hole

A new adventure called you in, though wet you were prepared

You dunked under the water and tasted salty air

You rode the waves ashore, however only brief

And now that you’re gone, you leave a sense of grief

You’ll miss many new adventures on which I’ll often dote,

If only those Japanese engineers had taught you how to float.


Seeing as the last two days were so windy, I woke up rather early to head out to the surf with hopes of capturing my mediocrity upon the waves. A new all-night disco opened up the last few days and we have been treated to the bass thumping beats until sunrise. I don’t mind the roosters so much anymore. Denielle opted to sleep in on account of Christmas, so this was a solo mission, asides from the large gaggle of tourists with the same idea festering like annoying slivers in my wave. I caught a few waves, but they were few and far between, so I went over to the closeout breakers to at least have some solitude. It was at this point I went over onto my board, underwater with the falls of the wave, and came up paddling back out to avoid the next. When I turned shoreward once more to attempt another brief ride I noticed the lack of the camera on the front of the board.
Don’t fret thought I, surely something that is made to be waterproof would also be designed to float and I could just go to shore and find the camera on the beach. But our reunion was not written in the stars, so alas the rest of the journey will not be accompanied by our water going friend.
Aside from that mishap and the throngs of people in the water, the rest of our Christmas is going quite well. On Christmas Eve, Denielle cut my hair with the tiny scissors from the first aid kit, and I’m quite happy with how it turned out. We went on a nice walk along the beach, made a few phone calls to relatives, and had some smoothies and fruit by the beach. Tonight we will go eat out for our last night in Puerto, and then on to the south and east. I think we can both use a few days out of the sun and may seek the refuge of the cooler highlands towards the Guatemalan border.

Tyler.