Surf's Up?

Back in my punk rocker wannabe days there were many non-punk things I swore I would never do such as having a pony tail, listening to the Dead and surfing. Despite the whole surf punk thing, the sport seemed like a hippy activity to a boy from Philadelphia and thus I rejected it out of hand. Well, thirty years later I managed to relax my punk rock dogma and get onto a surf board. Much to my surprise I am now addicted to surfing -- the most difficult, graceful sport I have ever tried. 

It all started when an old friend came to Nicaragua with the expressed goal of becoming a proficient surfer. I was happy to spend some time with him and figured I would just hang out on the beach while he surfed. We had planned this trip months ago around the girls' school calendar and were planning to leave after their school started. However, the Nicaraguan government suddenly delayed the first day of school by two weeks. Although I was not surprised, I was still appalled by the reduction in the school year and the sloppy way it was handled by the Ministry of Education. We will bitch about the education system in our next blog.

Fortunately Aileen managed to make arrangements for someone to watch the girls during her workweek so I could still travel with my buddy. I took a bus to Managua on Super Bowl Sunday. On the ride down I met a twenty-something from Holland and we had an interesting talk about the book “The 4-Hour Workweek.” My new friend’s interest in having a career, making a positive difference in the world and maintaining a non-conventional lifestyle was refreshing. Hunter S. Thompson once called folks my age “The Generation of Swine” due to the rampant materialism of the eighties. This kid and others I met during my trip gave me hope that things are improving!

I made it to Managua in time to engage in some less intellectual entertainment – the Super Bowl. The hotel restaurant was packed with American football fans. I was not in the mood for a crowd so I went to a small bar nearby. I was the only patron and watched the game with two Nicaraguans employees who were excellent and very humorous company. They reminded me of how funny and warm most Nicaraguans are.

I was feeling very upbeat when I walked to the airport to meet my friend. His flight conveniently arrived after the game and as soon as he cleared customs we hit the bar and had a few beers before bed. We got up late the next morning and finally made our way to the bus station. It took some time to find a cab driver who was willing to charge a fair price. Normally, I just allow myself to get ripped off but my friend is an experienced traveler and likes to save money despite the fact he does not really need to. It actually felt good exerting my bargaining skills for a change. As part of our cheap travel mantra we took two “chicken buses” to get to San Juan del Sur, the center of surf tourism in Nicaragua. We spent an hour or so looking at youth hostels but all of the decent ones were full; instead we found a really nice, inexpensive hotel a few blocks from the beach. It was too late to go surfing so we had an early dinner and hit the bars. We ended up in an Irish pub with some folks from England and Ireland who currently live in Costa Rica. We drank Guinness and listened to the Pogues all night. I guess we got carried away with the expensive imported beer because our bar tab was more than we would spend on two nights lodging – so much for saving money.

The next day my friend signed up for a surf lesson and I decided to be a good sport and give it a try. By 10:30am were at Playa Hermosa getting some instructions from our 19 year old instructor Norwin. After a ten minute class on the beach we hit the waves and tried to stand up on our boards with Norwin’s help. After an hour of lame attempts I took a break. My friend was not doing much better but a young woman in our class of three quickly mastered the basics. During my respite I tried to convince myself that surfing was not for me. Much like skiing there are many things to remember about positioning your body when surfing; unlike skiing there is a giant wall of water threatening to pummel you from behind. It just seemed like too much for me to conquer but having paid for the lesson I decided to give it another go. While I was never able to stand up on the board, by the end of the day I knew I could eventually get it. At that point my determination was more rooted in stubbornness than actually liking the sport.

That evening we discussed what to do next over an excellent fish dinner. I wanted to stay in San Juan del Sur and go back to Playa Hermosa as it seemed perfect for beginners. However, my friend wanted to head to the beach where the woman in our class was staying so I reluctantly agreed to move to nearby Playa Maderas. We left the next morning but by the time we got there and found a place to stay it was too late to surf.

The place we were staying, Matilda’s, is awesome. It is situated right on a secluded part of the beach and the Nicaraguan family who runs it is great. We met some very cool travelers who were staying at or near Matilda’s and had a good time chatting. In the late afternoon we walked to the main surfing beach which was quite a scene. There were 50 people in the water fighting for waves and another 50 fighting for seats at the bar. Nicaragua sure has changed! While drinking some beers and enjoying the dance music we spotted our friend from the surfing class and had an enjoyable dinner with her and her travelling companion at a beachfront restaurant.

The next morning we meandered to the surfing beach. One of our new friends was already there and anxious to surf. However, my pal decided he needed to go back to San Juan del Sur on shopping run. I decided to rent a board and try some more surfing. It was way too crowded and after getting knocked of my board twice by other beginners I decided to call it a day. My pal came back at 2pm and decided to borrow my board while I had a few beers with the surfing crowd. About thirty minutes later he joined me at the bar and looked like he had seen a ghost. Actually, he had seen his life flash before his eyes. He had gotten pummeled by a set of waves and had to be rescued by four Nicaraguans, one of whom was Norwin, our instructor from a few days ago. Thanks to Norwin and his friends everything turned out okay.


Forgot my camera so here is a stock photo of surfing in Nicaragua

The next day we went back to the surfing beach near Matilda’s. We were supposed to travel north to a beach where Aileen and the girls would be meeting us. My pal decided he was going to stay put claiming he did not want to lose surfing time by travelling. Though I felt bad leaving, we already made reservations at another hotel and I really like this other beach much more than Maderas. The beach is practically empty and the hotels and restaurants are in a great little fishing village rather than a crowded tourist town. Besides, I think my buddy had a more “social” agenda related to our new friends!

Once we worked out our plans we surfed at Maderas for a few hours and I finally got to my feet for a few seconds at a time. Things were progressing. Around 1:00pm I said my goodbyes, caught a cab to the other beach and was surfing again by 2:30pm. The hotel we were staying at has excellent surf boards for rent and thanks to a giant beginner’s board and some persistence I could stand up fairly consistently (albeit for a few seconds). I was starting to learn more rapidly and eventually got the thrill of riding down the face of a wave (only to be pummeled by it). It is a pretty awesome feeling and was now really hooked on surfing (or at least the potential of really surfing sometime soon).

Aileen, Emma and Hannah met me at the hotel that evening. I heard them pull up when I was in the shower and was so excited that I ran out to meet them in a towel. Fortunately for the other guests our puppy Cuate was not able to pull the towel off despite his best efforts. The separation was really hard for our little tribe of Kositskys as we are not used to being apart. It was a happy reunion with the hotel staff as well as this is where the girls studied Spanish back in January. We had a great weekend hanging out at the beach, chatting with the friendly locals and just being together. I of course enjoyed the opportunity to do some more surfing on a beautiful beach with only a few other surfers in sight.

This was a really wonderful week for me. Discovering a new passion is always exciting and the bruises and muscle pulls felt like…victory. Moreover, this trip served as a reminder as to how enjoyable Nicaragua can be and how lucky we are to be having this experience. It is easy for me to forget my blessings while staying in our small and sometimes boring town. However, with a little effort there are so many great opportunities and interesting people to meet in Nicaragua. All of the travel and adventures during the past few months have been very uplifting. We have seen some cool stuff and more importantly have met many wonderful people. I have had some great encounters ranging from long discussions to very casual conversations with both travelers and Nicaraguans; all of them have been enriching. However, I think we are all ready for school to begin and I hope to remember that even though San Ramon is a tiny town, there is plenty to do just outside our front door. If that fails, the surf is just a few hours away.