“Leaving turtle country...”

Our stay here in Ostional has been very relaxing and enjoyable. Despite almost drowning last Saturday, and being attacked by a pack of dogs, things seemed to turn around as we got in the groove. I got back out into the water and caught some of the best waves of my life. Just now I have returned from a sunset session that ended with a really long ride with lots of turns as the sun started to dip into the ocean. The wind has been howling offshore all day, so I decided to sleep in a little bit and surf at sunset. We made the adventurous drive into Playa Guiones for a little yoga action. This was my second yoga class, the first being on Tuesday at the same place. Although I’m not one for all the inner-earth supporting your life spirit garbage, it has really improved my flexibility, and according to the yoga instructor, has really opened up my hips. Ladies beware of my open hips.

After yoga we had some delicious smoothies at some hippy raw food vegan cafe, then went and found an envelope and stamp to let our house insurance people know that we did in fact want to cancel our home renters insurance as we had said before we left. They’ll be receiving this written document on the backside of a flyer for a local restaurant, inside an envelope adorned with a green snake stamp. We rocketed back to Ostional, splashing through rivers and drifting around corners, so that Denielle could be home by 4 to talk to her sister Sarah in Australia. I had a couple pieces of toast, and made the short walk to check out the waves. Within one minute of standing on the beach I witnessed two surfers get barrelled. The howling offshore winds were holding the wave faces up until the last possible second, and then all the energy from the wave gets pitched far forward, opening up that holy grail of the barrel. I hurried back to the room and grabbed my board and my Imperial tank top and returned to the beach while Denielle chatted on the computer.

I performed a couple of quick stretches on the beach and warmed up my shoulders while looking out to the lineup. This was the busiest I had seen the waves here, counting 26 people in the water. That may not seem busy compared to the hundreds in the water at Tamarindo, but when you’re used to being the only one in the water, this becomes quite a change. Entering the water my heart jumped up into my throat. Not only was it very windy, but the water appeared to be at least ten degrees colder for some reason. Usually measuring in at a bath tub-esque 30 degrees, it now felt like a cold swimming pool. I quickly paddled out and began to shiver with everyone else in the lineup. Going for a couple of waves I soon realized that this would be a frustrating session. The wind was making it extremely difficult to catch waves as you had to catch them very late, as the wind was pushing you back and making the drop in very difficult. That, combined with the competition with all the others in the water for each and every wave meant that the pickings would be slim.

On a couple of the waves I was very close, but just as you approach dropping into the face, the wind would blow a fierce spray of water into your eyes, rendering you blind. You try to keep paddling forward, but it becomes very difficult to concentrate. You’re used to seeing the waves break at a certain point, but when the wind is this strong, they stay almost beyond vertical it seems for a very long time, breaking much later. You end up wasting a lot of energy trying to catch waves that won’t break for quite a while past you, and pulling up shy on ones that probably would be just right. Especially as the head high sets are looming quite large in your periphery, any hesitation spells certainty that you will not get that wave. After a long frustrating wait out in the cold, cold water, I begin to think that I may not get a wave before the sun sets. At least the view is nice, one of the nicest sunsets here yet as the strong wind is creating a layer of rippling clouds that have now turned different shades of pink, purple and orange as the sun rests precipitously on the edge of the water. And then it comes, a nice head high wave with a good shoulder. Now or never I tell myself and paddle hard. I surge forward, blinded by the spray as though some angry neighbour has turned the hose on me. My body naturally makes the stand up, and as I regain my vision through the watery blur, I turn into the face and ride the wave all the way towards shore, right in front of Denielle whom is diligently taking photos.

I’m not sure why the formerly deserted town is now so busy, it may have something to do with the upcoming soccer tournament and party on the weekend, but we’ll be glad to get out of here and leave the people behind. We’re heading south on the central coast to Playa Hermosa, which translates to beautiful beach. Hopefully the crowds will be thin there so we can enjoy the beach and the waves and prepare ourselves for company coming the following week. Skya and Nicole have rented a house in Santa Teresa, where we had stayed for two weeks prior to coming here, so we’re looking forward to hanging out with them and returning to the tranquil town. After that Nicole is taking some Spanish classes, so I think we’ll be heading towards Dominical, further south of Jaco and Playa Hermosa where we’re headed next.
Tyler.