Small Swell Blues

Yesterday I moved locations again! I am now living with 2 guys from Oregon that we met about a week ago. Pat and John are from Seaside, Oregon, and are kind enough to let me sleep on their couch for the next 4 nights. For the past 2 weeks I have been living with Matt and his parents in different places in Hacienda Iguana. First we were in a house that was right on the main break of Colorados. While we were staying there, the waves were epic! The picture posts before this were from when we were staying there. It was amazing to be able to look out the window, see perfect peaks, and then run out and get 2 or 3 waves then come back in for lunch, see some more perfect peaks, and run back out there!

After staying in luxury for a week, we moved into the condos at the end of the beach. While they are still amazing and beachfront, they are not on a perfect beachbreak like Colorados. But the sunsets have been amazing! Every night the clouds get lit up by the departing sun, and the sky flashes reds, yellows, oranges, pinks, blues, purples, and eventually darkness.

Sunset is my favorite time here. I usually am either enjoying a day ending beer on the patio, or out in the water trying to catch waves with the last few rays of light, but as the sun goes down, everything grows quiet, and you can feel that everyone around you knows that they are watching something beautiful. Yesterday while Pat and I were enjoying the color changing clouds, we noticed a Nicaraguan security guard sitting on a log not far from us, mesmerized at the same view we were taking in. He has been living around here all his life, and has probably seen tens of thousands of these beautiful sunsets, and yet he still takes 5 minuets at the end of the day to enjoy the natural beauty.

 

The sun sets so early here, and with such little human light around, darkness falls quick. Around 6:45, it is pitch black, and bedtime is around 9 pm. But as the saying goes, early to bed, early to rise! Wakeup time is around 5:30-6 am, and out to the surf we go! Tomorrow there is supposed to finally be some more swell pushing in. The past 3 days have been brutal. Perfectly sunny days, offshore winds, 1-2 feet. Perfect shape, still barreling waves, but when a wave is 1/6^th your size, it is a little hard to ride.

Trying to enjoy the small swell with a tropical getup!

The next week or so is looking pretty solid on swell. Everyday is 3+ feet of swell, which translates to head-high waves, and clean off-shores all day, everyday. So tonight is an early night sleep to get the upcoming tide, and hopefully a little smaller crowd!

UPCOMING SWELL 

The Waves are Still Pumping!

Not a bad sight to wake up to this morning

Matt with a super deep one, if you look close you can see him in the barrel!

Me, racing down the line

Sliding through a little one

Dan Malloy was out today absolutely killing it!

The evening high tide made it a little fat, but still really rippable 

Beautiful ending to an amazing day. More swell on tap for tomorrow too, so time to rest up and get ready!

Barrels for Days!

The bridge to cross into Gigante

Los Perros, at the north end of Playa Colorados

Little barrel at Colorados

The ride down to the beach

This was on the most perfect day ever, it was like this for 2 hours with only 2 other people!

But you can't make them all!

Matt getting a sick one!

One of Nica Times customers, Luke, getting slotted! He was making pretty much every barrel out there!

Some long exposure fun!

I'm Famous!

They have a website here called Nicaragua Surf Report, and I made the daily report!

Today was amazing! Perfect barrels, and only me, Matt, and one other guy just trading off waves. I think it was the best day we have had by far!

July 7th-9th: Uh Oh!

BLOG:

July 7^th:

Today I had my first real customer interaction of my internship. I was the leader of my first boat trip! We picked up the 9 surfers, and then headed up the coast on  2 pangas. The coastline here is amazing! So green, abandoned beaches, cliffs that drop straight into the water, just breathtaking! We went north for about an hour, to a spot called Playgrounds. I have been told it is kind of a Trestles like wave, but the only real resemblance I saw to Trestles was the crowd. Our group of 10, another boat of 8, then a couple more boats of like 4 or 5 people. It was pretty crowded out there, and making sure my group got waves before me was a little bit of a challenge when the other guides were doing the same thing. There were some fun waves to be had, and it seemed like it could be a good wave, but the size of the swell and the tide were just a little bit wrong. But I still got a $20 tip at the end of the trip!

I always thought that it was the right thing to do at the end of a surf trip. Tip the guide and boat driver, for getting you into good waves. But really, I just went along with them, and surfed. The only difference between the paying customers and me was that I had to get on the boat a little earlier, and get off a little later. I tried to answer their questions, but it was my first time going north of Colorados, so I didn’t know anything about the coastline or what beaches we were passing.

When I finally got back to my cabina, I noticed something was wrong. My backpack was closer to the kitchen door than when I had left, and there was stuff scattered all around. I quickly unlocked the door and checked out the damage. It seems that someone was able to get a stick into the gaps in the gate, and move my backpack to the door, and was able to go through it. My iPhone, iTouch, headphones, camera cord, battery charger, and flashlight were all missing. Luckily, my passport was tossed aside, and they didn’t seem to find my wallet, but still, I am pretty bummed. I'm not so much mad that my stuff is gone, I'm just disappointed that the people that I have been so nice to, would come in and take things from me. I haven’t done anything to anyone here, and I don’t think I deserved this.

I told Matt about it, and he was pretty pissed. He said he is going to spread the word with all his friends, and see if anyone has heard about anyone stealing from this place and try to get my stuff back. Also tonight at one of the restaurants, we were talking to some of the locals, and they all had a suspicion on who it was. I don’t know if they were all thinking of the same person, but if one of them was right, I would be pretty happy to get that stuff back.

But the day ended on a happier note with our evening surf session. I finally got to experience the epicness of the wave of Colorados. On one of my first waves, I took off pretty deep, got a big pump in, and it the lip threw right over me. I was cruising through the barrel for a good while, and came out perfectly to a really rippable section of the wave. First barrel of Nicaragua… CHECK!

July 8^th

Another day, another robbery. This time, none of my stuff got touched, but I have 2 new roommates, some of Matt’s friends from home, and one of them got $280 stolen out of his wallet that he had hidden. This time, before leaving the house, we made extra sure that everything was properly locked up, and hidden, but little did we know that the bars over the bathroom window were loose. Those were ripped out of the wall, the screen was punched through, and it was obvious where they got in. We now have a 24 hour security guard on the property, which is reassuring, but still disappointing that we have to go to such extremes to keep our valuables safe.

In more positive news, there has been word about my iPhone trying to be sold in Playa Gigante. One of Matt’s friends was asked if he wanted to buy and iPhone, with cords and all. Matt knew who the kid was, and we are going to bring in the police to see if they can catch him. We are pretty sure that the same people stole both today as yesterday, so we are hoping to get everything back!

On an even more positive note, the waves were super fun today! The first session was at Colorados on the outgoing tide, and it just kept getting hollower and hollower! On almost every wave I caught, I was able to pull in. Although I only made it out of a few of them, it was a really fun, and tiring, 3-hour session.

After the long walk home, and refilling on some fish tacos, it was back to Colorados we went. The waves weren’t as good as the morning session, and I only got one good wave, but damn, it was amazing. This 5-foot double up slipped past everyone else, and peaked up perfectly for me. One big bottom turn and I was already perfectly in the barrel, I thought I was going to come out after that first section, but the lip threw again ahead of me, then again, and again! After a solid 3 seconds in there, I came flying out of the barrel with so much speed, it was amazing! It was a perfect ending to the day.

July 9^th:

Today, we moved into a new place. We moved into Hacienda Iguana, and I would say it is the polar opposite of my cabina. Super nice condo, right on the beach, internet, pillows, and no one coming in to steal our stuff!

We have the police working on getting our stuff back, and they already found my iPod, and they know who is the guy who stole all the stuff, so they are going to get him on Monday!

July 1st-3rd: Getting Settled In

July 1^st

When it rains here, it’s like standing in a shower. Everything becomes muddy, wet, and best of all, green. The trees, the grass, the plants, all brighten up the second the rains start to come down. The daily rainstorms can either be a few minuets, or become a lightning and thunder show for hours. The metal roofs shake with each clap of thunder, and in-between, the rain pounds on it constantly.

It’s my first day in Playa Gigante, and since my place isn’t completely set up, so while Matt and his wife are in Managua for the night, I’m crashing at their place. I was relaxing in the front reading a book for most the afternoon, and when I decided to get ready to head into town to get dinner and some grocery shopping done, the show began.

It started with chickens and pigs running from the yard, to under the roof of the front patio where I had been reading. Thunder sounded in the distance, and I could hear light drops of rain sprinkling on the roof. Quickly those sprinkles turned into a faucet! The sky became darker except for the occasional bolt of lightning. I started to count between light and sound. First a consistent 4 or 5 seconds between them, and then as I turned around to grab something from the house, I saw nothing but white, immediately followed by the sound of a gun being shot right next to my ear. The pigs, chickens and dog (which had hidden itself under my chair) all jumped and looked around franticly. I turned around to see another flash of light followed by an even bigger shot of thunder. As I sat back down, the storm began to move further and further away, but the rolling thunder could still be heard in the background. The show is over. Just the rain stayed around, keeping things wet and green.

Looks like I might have energy bars for dinner, that walk to the restaurant is looking pretty long now.

July 3^rd

“Roughing it” seems too harsh; I have a bathroom and shower. “Simple” sounds too simple for a 4-burner stove and a sink with running water. “In nature” doesn’t seem to work because I have a roof, doors and a patio. I’m going to go with rustic.

The metal roof is held up by the exposed wooden rafters, and the bamboo railing around the patio is more like a window that has some sticks in front of it. The mosquito netting have a few holes in it, but I don’t think too many found their way through last night. The wasps circle around the patio, only to return to their hive that is hanging in a corner. The electricity works about 50% of the time, so the fan sits around not really being used too much. This is my “rustic” new cabina. 1 bedroom, 1 bath, full kitchen, hammock on the patio, and pulled back from the road. It’s perfect!

Birds fly from tree to tree, snagging bugs from mid-air. The howler monkeys were in the trees last night having a voice contest with the cows. I’m not sure if the chickens running through the front yard are considered mine, or the neighbors down the road. Butterflies fly from flower to flower, and sometimes landing on my colorful boardshorts that are hanging over the railing. A massive spider connected its web to my towel hanging right next to the boardshorts. Last night it caught a massive fly, and this morning it has picked up and moved onto a new location. A scorpion was able to navigate the bug netting, and made his way to the inside, right above my head. It’s nothing scary, just makes you get out of bed pretty quick in the mornings!

I am about a 5 min walk to the center square of Playa Gigante, a 3 min walk to go surfing at the beautiful Playa Amarillo, and a 20 min walk to the perfect waves of Playa Colorado. There are also the boat trips. Matt said that he would like to have me going on most of the boat trips with the customers. Either up north to surf Playgrounds and other spots, or down south to surf the perfect left point Manzanillo.

Well today is a lazy Sunday, so time to lotion up, and head down to the surf to see how it looks! I wonder if I can train one of the resident howler monkeys to put sunscreen on my back?

July 3^rd, Night:

Today was a chill day. Went to go look at the waves in the mid-morning, but no waves. I didn’t know what to do with all my excess energy I was having, and since I was already sun screened up, I decided to put it to good use, and do something I don’t think I have done in 5 years. I went for a run. I can imagine the thoughts going through the minds of the Nicaraguans as they saw a 6’6” white boy running through town in the middle of the day. I ran down to Playa Amarillo, and then climbed around the rocks to check out the route to Playa Colorados. Even though the wind was a slight onshore, and the waves were only 2-3 feet, it was packed. About 10 guys on the main peak, with another 7 or so scattered around on other little peaks.

After the run, and a quick dip in the ocean to cool off, it was naptime. I put on some on the computer, and laid down in the hammock and passed out. It’s so perfect here. The patio is never in direct sun, so I never have to worry about getting too hot just hanging out in front of the house. The quick nap turned into a 2-hour slumber, and then I guess it was time to check the surf again. Nothing special at Playa Amarillo, but the tide was too high to get to Colorados, so I just paddled out to mess around. More and more Nicaraguan kids paddled out while I was out there, and one of the standout locals and I were splitting the wedge coming off the cliff.

After a nice 2-hour session, I was starving. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. I heard about a restaurant that was on the top of the point between Gigante and Amarillo. I grabbed my flashlight, and ventured up there. When I got there, it was empty except for the woman who ran it, and her daughter. I asked if she was serving dinner, and she said that there were tamales, and then rambled on with a bunch of things that I had no idea what they were. I guess tamales were the call. It was EPIC! Best food I have had down here yet. And the setting was amazing. Right on the edge of the cliff facing west, staring straight at the sun dodging the clouds to drop below the horizon. After the dinner, the guy who owned the place came up to me with a menu. Although I loved my meal, I wish I had been able to get everything else on the menu. Fresh snapper, mahi mahi, whole grilled fish, and the best looking item, lobster. Best part of it, the prices were so cheap. A full “big ass” lobster (their words, not mine), $12. And my meal, which was a tamale and a beer… $2.25. I think I found my new dinner spot. Well back at the cabina, and at 7:30 I’m getting ready to hit the sack! It is amazing how dark it gets here so quickly. Makes it nice to be early to bed, and early to rise. There were some waves starting to push through after sunset, so I’m hoping I can see the full potential of Amarillo that I have been hearing about.