Wet and Wild in the forest
Trip Start
Oct 10, 2006
1
20
Trip End
Oct 10, 2007
Playa Carmen,
Costa Rica
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Well, as you can guess, after a week in, life here is great. Knowing that its not a holiday that will shortly end really means you take things at a slower pace, taking each hour as it comes and doing exactly what you are in mood for at that time. Whether it be surfing, eating, ping-pong, chess, reading.....
The surf hasnt been great yet, and I am slowly getting fitter and stronger in the water. Johnboy(jb) (my travel and surf buddy) is like a fish, he glides out through those waves like they arent even there, leaving me for dust (or spray might be more accurate). You can see he has improved a lot over the summer and the fact that he still grooms his body hair for a cleaner glide thru the water helps.....
I had almost forgot what it is like living with jb (a fairly hairy lad who has a penchant for shaving body hair), but once again I have to put up with entering a bathroom which looks like the scene of a full on battle between Chewbacca and a gang of Ewoks.(ED - Both hairy creatures from Star Wars)
A real mix of people staying here, Germans, Canadians, Yanks, Spanish, Swiss, Israel. Me and jb went for a meal and a game of pool with two Germans the other night at a nearby Mexican (gargantuan Burritos). The German guy, Andreas, is out in the surf a lot and the girl, Daniella, is friendly and likes to play chess and ping-pong. They both look typically German but are more fun than most of the Germans I have met. Anyway, after the meal we head over to the pool table.
Andreas instantly suggests we play Germany v England with a broad smile across his face. I agree and off we go...
The first game didnt go our way, me and jb were still getting our eye in and were making a few mistakes and missing easy pots. Germany 1 England 0. The second game, I pulled of a few neat shots and started to get into my stride, jb however was potting everything but our balls, including the white a number of times. Andreas cheekily says "England are being very kind to Germany!! hehe", I grimace in return, then he says "its because ve lose yes, so you being kind now yes! hehe", I realise he means the war and that makes me split my sides. He obviously didnt see it as taboo, so I returned "I think jb has defected and become a double agent! He he". I was wondering how long before it turned into a scene from Harry Enfield "der ist no order!, ve moost hav ordaa!", when jb's defection became even more spectacularly obvious, needless to say we lost again, despite some wondrous play from myself I must add...
Third game, jb starts well and lulls me into false hope, then confirms his German allegiance with more venom to ensure Germany 3 England 0. I think Andreas and Daniella took pity on me then and we won the last game to make it 3-1. A shocking situation to be in!
We are having a rematch tonight and I am hoping some other English person turns up to partner me at some point today, if not I may convert one of the Costa Ricans to English by giving him a St Georges cross tattoo and forcing him to have Gravy all over his Burrito..
Making friends and enemies amongst the wildlife here, Arch Enemy being the Mosquito, and hidden but perhaps more dangerous henchman Scorpion and Snake. Friends being the squirrel, frog, iguana, giant Sea turtle (that was a surprise appearance only a couple of meters away in the waves on my second day) and local beach dogs. One of these dogs wanted to play yesterday, I was sitting on a log away from the water, watchin jb attempt to surf some real sloppy choppy waves, i had given up. First off, the dog comes up and puts his forelegs on my kness, looking strtaight at me, I shake his paw then he jumps down and begans to dig super fast in front off me. I presume he has a gift for me, maybe a crab or some buried treasure, he digs away for at least 15 minutes....nothing appears. I motion for him to dig in a good spot I found and he just looks at me with a look of disdain, he is obviously experienced at this. After more digging, jumping and some kind of wierd snorting behaviour I decide to head for more crap waves. The tiny foot tall dog starts jumping at my heals and getting my leash between his teeth and pulling me back from the waves, I am thinking he is either trying to warn me (perhaps a highly developed shark sense, maybe he was a trained lifeguard dog..) or he wants to surf with me. He runs out into the surf and the first little bubbly line wipes him out, I pick him out and sit him on my board. He chills there, squinting out at the ocean for just a few seconds then decides its not big enough for him and does one back to the beach...
If you didn't know, jb has a bit of as phobia for frogs...which is great value for me in the edges of a rainforest! The first one I caught for him on the third night was about twice the size of my fist, I unleashed it into the bathroom whilst jb was preening himself post shower. The frog took a small hop and just went to the right of jb's foot missing by a fraction. I curse and try to contain my childish giggles.... No reaction from jb, he is far too interested in his reflection to notice the giant slimy green fella. I realise my time is running out and shout to jb if he has made any friends in there, he turns and spots his worst fears, lets out a squeal and legs it from the bathroom. Unfortunately the frog was facing away in the corner, probably a little shook up after my stalking and capturing. The reaction should have been a lot stronger and more satisfying.....still I have another 7 or so months to help my close friend conquer this terrible affliction and face down his fears. He will thank me later...
So we have basically arrived on the coast from San Jose at a very nice hostel and not moved, chilling to the core and just enjoying the new environment. Things I could get used to about this place: squelching mud between your toes on each walk to and from the beach....an exquisite feeling after walking over rocks and dirt, very cheap beer, torrential rainfalls followed by blistering heat and only ever wearing shorts...Things that I cant get used to: American football on the TV (although today we have enforced some Champs league action), losing to a girl continuously at ping-pong and pancakes every day for breakfast.
Other highlights or lows include: watching England lose to Croatia on a tiny TV aboard a fishing boat taking us across to the west coast peninsula; drinking too much seawater on occasion; acrobatic wipeouts (high and a low)and being attacked by a rowdy gang of ants.
I think we will move further north on the coast for a few days soon in search of better surf and then possibly all the way south past Playa Jaco (previous trip) until we leave Costa.
I hope everyone who knows me and is reading this is well.
If you don't know me but are going to be in Ecuador, Peru, Rio, NZ, Oz, Thailand, Indonesia or Africa in the next 12 months and fancy a few beers with two young English lads having the trip of a lifetime, get in touch!
Until later, I am off to hunt for bigger nastier frogs..
Pete
p.s photos are on the way, just need to work out how to get the filesize down, any techno savvy dudes out there give advice?
p.p.s I think I will leave the front page mysterious shadow figure saying No Photo for a while longer, perhaps the intrigue will draw people in..
