I SNAPPED MY NEW SURFBOARD :(

• Muzz_travelling's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Puerto Viejo

Trip Start Aug 26, 2005 Previous
Entry Trip End May 26, 2008 Next
Entry

  Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Its a good life out here. I would never have thought that 19 months into this journey, id still be enjoying the little things. There is no end in sight. With every passing day, my love for travelling grows and i cant imagine a life without it. The people, the places, the trees, the animals the experiences and the good times ive had out here have exceeded anything i ever imagined.

So I left Bocas del Toro with an Aussie guy called Che. A bit of an older surfer bum and good fun guy. We caught a boat off the island towards the mainland. It was a scenic ride, passing through all the old banana channels where they used to ship the bananas before a new port was built. The narrow channels were made narrower by many fallen trees that our 200HP boat only just missed providing for a thrilling 45 minute ride.

Salsa Brava - Impressive hey

A van was waiting for us when we arrived on the mainland and now, with my massive backpack, daybag and surfboard, im having a little trouble getting around. We caught this taxi to the Panama/Costa Rica boarder, passing more banana plants than I knew existed. The plantations went as far as you could see in every direction. Huge bananas too!
The border was interesting. Its a narrow, rickety old bridge, one way and shared by incoming trucks, cars and people heading both directions, taking it in turns. We got our exit stamp for Panama and waitied for a big banana hauling semi trailer to pass then ran behind it, watching out for the rickety fence pailings that were acting as a road and our only safety from falling into the slow flowing muddy river below.
We made it across and stepped inline for our entry stamp to Costa Rica. The guy was a complete tool and told us we couldnt enter costa rica without an onward ticket. Meaning a plane ticket or something proving we will leave costa rica. Telling them that we didnt want to stay in their expensive, american filled country didnt seem to be enough so hows this for corruption:
Next door to the immigations office, is a pharmacy that sells fake bus tickets. The  immigarations guy hinted that we go there and see what they can do for us. So we wandered next door and sure enough they had a book of fake bus tickets that we had to buy for $6 which would take us back into panama from anywhere in costa rica. We paid up for the ticket, returned to the immigrations idiot and with our fake bus ticket, we were stamped into Costa Rica.
Across the border a handful of locals came running up to us, taxi taxi, taxi, where you go amigo? cheap taxi? no thanks, im waiting for the bus. They tried to carry our bags and snatch our surfboards off us, but we held tight and found a rundown old restaurant and drank cold coca and played chess to the amazement of the locals and finally caught our bus to Puerto Viejo.

1.5 hours north of the border, on the Caribean coast is this sleepy little fishing village called Puerto Viejo - Old Port.
 Palm trees line the shores and banana plants grow like crazy. 1.5 hours north of the border, on the Caribean coast is this sleepy little fishing village. Banana plants take over in this one street little town, which because of its surf break it now 100% tourist destination and full of backpackers and vacationers. There are 2 great surf breaks. One is a beach break called Cockles, with loads of big powerful sucking waves, churning up the sand as the pale english and canadians watch on in horror. The other break, the most famous in Costa Rica is a big hollow reef break called Salsa Brava. I havent hit it yet, ive been watching from the shore, its crowded and it seems that my steadily improving surfing skills will take a fair bit of improvement before i mess with the super talented locals carving it up out there. They are throwing down all kids of aerial stuff and 360s and the stuff you see on surfing videos. Its a heavy wave on a shallow reef, so ive updated my insurance and ill give it a shot in the next day or 2.
wish me luck.
 
this is what a costa rica surf site says about Salsa Brava
A thick Hawaiian style wave that builds in deep water and breaks over a shallow reef. Offers both lefts and rights, however the right is generally faster, with a steep entry. This is most powerful wave in Costa Rica and the best conditions with an easterly swell which can produce up to triple overhead surf.


AAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHH !
I SNAPPED BY SURFBOARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DAMN !
My new board. My lovely 6ft 4 inch board that i preciously lugged from Bocas Del Toro in Panama all the way here. I only had 6 surfs on it and went out at the beach break here called Cockles. It was a pretty heavy day, but I made it out easily and sat out the back so i didnt get pounded by the huge sets. A nice wave came along, and i paddled in, dropped down and got in a nice little barrel. It closed out on me and i popped up thinking, sweet, that was a great ride. I pulled my leash to get my board closer and noticed it was  little light. I looked back and had halve a  surfboard attached. Damn! The other halve was floating around out the back. A set came through and took it in. I was pretty upset at my bad luck and had split the thing square down  the centre. Even the stringer, the wooden strip was badly split which i knew would make it expensive to repair. I had cuts all  up my shin, from the wood or figbreglass. So with a piece fo board under  each arm and blood dribbling down my leg, i did the walk of shame, to the group from the hostel, waiting on the sand, looking on in horror.
How upsetting. So i took it to the surfboard repair place, which had so many split boards.  Seems like this was his lucky day. Sebastian said it would be hard to repair and require alot of resin, meaning the board will be super heavy, and he would charge me 70 bucks.  Damn, A new board would set me back 150 bucks. eeeek, its a lot of cash in the budget of a backpacker. He also offered to pay me 30 dollars to take the broken board off my hands, which after a day or 2 of consideration and speaking with all the pros back at the hostel, was the best option. bummer eh!
Anyone in Costa Rica or Nicaragua got a board for me?????


Without a surfboard I was stuck with bodysurfing and loundging around on the beach. It was a good life. Just what you would expect from the Caribean. Up at 8am or earlier every morning. Our little group would gather by the waters edge, on a washed up log, with our feet in the warm water. Every morning, we would take it in turns to buy the fruit. We had a delightful caribean selection of cantelope, watermelon, mangos and bananas. We all sat and slurped out fresh fruit every morning while watching the steadily rising troipcal sun flicker off the postcard waves and the palm trees swayed around in the gentle breeze. It was paradise! A few minutes go by in silence as we suck it in then someone would come out with a comment like, wow, im sitting on a beach in the caribean eating mangoes! It never ceased to amaze us. How can you get tired of this?
Before the intense midday sun would set, we headed to the beach break and got in some bodysurfing - nobody was game to takeout any surfboards now as a growing pile of snapped boards grew on the board graveyard site at the hostel. Every day someone would snap their board, almost in the exact spot I snapped mine. They need to put up a sign or something. So we watched from the beach and when the midday sun belted down, we would take shelter in the shade, playing cards and chess and swapping travel advise while eating fresh avocados.

7 hot lazy days by the beach, and 6 insane nights in Puerto Viejo and it was time for me to leave. I travelled with a girl from California to San Jose - the capitol of Costa Rica.

Slideshow Print this entry Share Puerto Viejo hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry