Who's Counting Anyway?: Costa Rica: Day 7

Friday. Day 7. Debbie had scheduled a spa day for everyone, but I was not really interested in doing that, so I took the opportunity to go surfing. The concierge set up a lesson for me, and a guy named Allan came and picked me up at about 10am. He was from Texas with a Mexican mother and a Dutch father. He was gorgeous...dark skin and hair but piercing green eyes. He travels on a Dutch passport and has a permanent resident visa for CR, so he doesn't have to leave. I enjoyed talking to him. We drove maybe 15 minutes to Jaco.

My instructor was Alex, and he was bangin' hot. Native CR, but he had highlights in his hair from all the salt and sand. He surfed all the time and his physique showed it.

We spent the first ten minutes on land, going over the three steps to stand up on the board. Then we went out into the water. We were in a little cove area again, so the surf wasn't as big as Hermosa, but I still thought it was pretty big as I was a first-timer.

We paddled out to the third line of waves. It was about as rough getting out as I thought it would be. Whenever the whitecap comes, you just brace yourself on the board and it pops you up over the wave, then drops you back down on the other side. You have to turn your head to the side so you don't get the wave right in the face. Then you start paddling again. The current was strong....every waved sucked me back toward shore a little, but I made it. More than anything, my hipbones/pubic bone were sore from being popped up against the board so much.

OK......so we are chilling out between the third and fourth lines and he tells me to turn around and start paddling. When I feel the wave pick me up and push me, then stand up. I had never ridden waves properly before. It was definitely obvious when the wave picked me up and pushed me. I tried to quickly stand up, and I ate it hard. Paddled back out, tried to stand up, ate it again. Paddled back out, tried to stand up, ate it again.

Alex gave me pointers each time, and even though I had only tried three times, I was a bit discouraged. Fourth time turned out to be a charm for me. I took it slower. And I STOOD UP!! It was awesome!! I was smiling so big, I could hardly believe it!

I stood up the next ten times in a row and rode most of the waves all the way into shore. It was awesome!

After 45 minutes, we took a ten minute break and went back out. I crashed a few times, stood up a few times, and on my last attempt, rode it all the way in. I'm glad I finished on a high note.

Surfing was awesome. And I had almost canceled the lesson. I am actually quite terrified of open water, especially when I can't see the bottom or touch the bottom. But he assured me there were no sharks since the water is so warm. Alex also told me that he would never teach a lesson in shark-infested waters because he would be sitting duck out there on his board with his feet dangling in the water. Also, we never went out past chest-deep. To be honest, though, once I got the hang of it and was having so much fun, I forgot all about my prior fear!

It was definitely a positive experience, and I wish there was time to go again. If I had done this earlier in the week, I guarantee I would have been out there everyday!

Allan drove me back home, and I was smiling the rest of the day.

Then, this happened:

So, there was all kinds of small to medium sized mutts running around. They all had collars and seemed well-fed. They were just so chill....hanging out on the beach, being awesome, etc. Well, there was a black-and-tan wiener dog that came around the house! I was so excited! He was so friendly and let me pet him. Then I went for a walk on the beach and I turned around to see the dog tearing ass down the sand after me! All four legs off the ground at the same time, ears flopping, tongue hanging to the side. It was so awesome! The dog went into the water with me, too. It was so awesome. It just trotted along next to me. I was so happy.