Surfs Up!

First – what a gorgeous country Costa Rica turned out to be.

Not that I didn’t think it wouldn’t be gorgeous – but being there in person – it takes your breath away. I’m constantly amazed on how God creates so many beautiful landscapes.

My time in Costa Rica with my two girlfriends was absolutely amazing and we all had a blast. But how could we not have a blast when we were in such an amazing country?

Costa Rica is pretty well known for its beaches and being a well-known destination for surfers. And what better way to enjoy our time down there then to learn how to surf?

One -  I love the ocean and water. I LOVE it. But of course I’ve always been a bit intimated by it. How can you not when you know how dangerous it can be? These are not lapping waves that come up to the shore gently, but waves that can easily knock you back and churn you around in the surf.

Two – While I’m not an incredibly strong swimmer, my swimming has given me the ability to last long in the water and be a bit more confident.

But regardless of these two factors – I WAS TERRIFIED!

ME! Who is generally pretty fearless on most occasions – WAS TERRIFIED!

We had some young guys teaching us how to surf on foam boards. And after a quick 15 minute lesson on the sand – they led us into the water.

The lesson by the way was showing us how to pop-up onto the board into a standing position. And also basically telling us not to put the board in front of us while heading into the water, lest a wave hit the board which then can smack into our face, thus breaking our nose. Though that would make a funny story (I broke my nose surfing) – I’d rather that not happen!

So – after the quick lesson – we headed into the water with our boards in tow – into the strong (somewhat) waves and headed to our deaths.

Okay, apparently I’m not dead, and neither are Jess or Linda – but the 3 hour lesson was pretty brutal.

I will say that after the lesson, I’m not too scared of the ocean or swimming in it and I don’t have too big of a fear of drowning. Because after all the wipe outs I had in attempting to surf – and churning into the water and not knowing which way was up or down – but still surviving – I became much more confident.

All three of us… Linda, Jess and I – can say that we stood up and surfed! WE SURFED!!! How awesome and amazing is that? Not that we will be going to Hawaii (though I’d love to go there) and surfing their giant kahuna waves or anything.

3 hours of surfing, with a ton of paddling and pushing yourself up is very very tiring. You’re out in the bright sun, paddling and fighting the waves, listening to the instructors as they watch for waves for you to catch and they yell “Up” so you can push yourself up to ride the wave.

Sometimes I was up for one or two seconds before I tumbled into the water. Other times I was up for 10-15 seconds as I rode the wave to shore.

Either way, it was an incredible experience and one I’d love to do again. I think I’ve found another extreme sport to enjoy.

I wish I was able to get pictures of us actually surfing, but that wasn’t possible. But here are a few of the surfboards and us holding our boards. So funny how Jess’s board is sooo much taller than Linda and I’s board… but it might be from perspective.

Wonder when I’ll be able to go surfing again…

Gorgeous Costa Rica Beaches

Surf shirts...

Linda with the surfing school Shirt

Ready to surf?

Surf boards lined up in a row...

Jess, Me and Linda

The Adventure Begins…

Tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow at this time, I’ll be in Guatemala. I’m so excited!

I’ll be heading to my friend’s place first and be there through Saturday afternoon. And then from there heading into the jungles of Guatemala and other cool places.

Wow – my first solo trip. It is sooo surreal.

I’ll be bringing my camera with me and my laptop – so I’ll try to blog while I’m there as long as I have internet access, which might be unlikely – but at a few hostels I’m staying at should have internet access.

I’m nearly finished packing, just a few more things to do and then I’m off at 6AM in the morning to make a connection in Houston and from there flying into Guatemala City.

Wish me luck!!!!!

Now, if I can only get through the last hours of work…
Enjoy some fun quotes I found on Adventure:

Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting. – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

There are two kinds of adventurers; those who go truly hoping to find adventure and those who go secretly hoping they won’t. – Rabindranath Tagore

Adventure is not outside man; it is within. – David Grayson

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears. – Glenn Clark

It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves – in finding themselves. – André Gide

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. – T. S. Eliot: Quotes

Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag. – Alexander Solzhenitsyn

It’s All Just a Circus Act…

I think I’m ready to join the circus… maybe… or maybe not.

Why do I say this? Because I took a Trapeze Class!! You read that right, a TRAPEZE CLASS! I, along with my friend Jess, decided it would be fun to do a trapeze class.

Any boy, was it fun, as well as scary.

We learned how to hang from the trapeze from our knees as it swung back and forth… and then to dismount from the trapeze bar by doing a back flip. Sounds pretty impressive, right?

Let’s start from the beginning first, shall we?

Jess and I arrive at the Trapeze School at the Navy Yard in Washington DC, right next to the Washington Nationals Baseball Stadium. It is in an indoor location and looks kind of a like a tent. Right down the street, they’ll be building an outdoor location.

So, once we arrive, we sign the waiver forms which basically say, if we die, maim ourselves or anything of that kind – they are not responsible. So, we initialed our way through the form and then signed our lives away. Shouldn’t be too bad right?

It’s basically one huge room, and on the left you see these amazingly flexible, strong women, doing awesome tricks and acrobatics on this ropes/curtains that hang from the ceiling. On the right is a giant trampoline. And right in the middle which basically takes up the entire room is a huge net – with two trapeze bars hanging and one small platform.

Oh crap, that is what we’re going to do.

We sit on some plastic chairs as we wait for the class to start – and at 1:15 sharp we start. We had about 9 people in the class * 5 of us beginners they others have done it before. Us 5 beginners (3 girls, 2 guys) get whisked away to the side to get a beginners lesson.

The lesson, basically takes about 10 minutes. 10 minutes!!!!! They put on this tight belt around our waist – super tight that you can’t breathe. They tell us that they will teach us how to do a knee hang from the trapeze, let go of our hands and then at the end we’ll do a back flip off the trapeze into the net. Sounds easy enough right?

They let us do one practice run on the one trapeze that is hanging about 6 feet above the ground. And we do one practice knee hang. Like the picture below…

I'm practicing my knee hang with arms out...

Jess practicing her knee hang...

Once we do that – the lesson is basically over. They give us so more safety instructions, saying how we’ll constantly be hooked into safety lines. And what the commands will be… “HEP!” means to jump off the platform… then once we hop, they’ll yell “Legs UP!” which we then proceed to the knee hang… once we get our legs up, they’ll yell “Hands Down” which we then we’ll let go of our hands and then proceed to hang upside down, swinging back and forth. Then they’ll yell, “Hands up”, we’ll get our hands back on the bar, “Legs down” bring our legs down from the bar, “forward, back, forward” we kick our legs back and forth and then we let go of our hands and then back flip off the bar into the net…

Again, sounds easy enough right??