3-27-10

The photo above is sunrise just outside our room. Just the Nica's burning the fields!
Up at the crack as I have always described getting up early. The coffee was already made in the restaurant just 30-40 steps away for our room. Yes that small luxury is sure nice!! Surfed from 6:30 till 10 when the on-shores came and blew out the cracking beach-break. We have been taking some surf photos. Walking around outside during the middle of the day one feels like being a chicken on a rotisserie grill it is so hot. There is not much humidity just dry heat. This is the dry season and most “greenery” is brown and much of it burnt as they burn it due to lack of lawn mowers I guess. A lawn mower down here is a machete by the way, everyone carries one. Even bicycles have sheaths for them. Good for most anything tool and cheap!
Took a drive this afternoon just exploring the area. We did have our boards just in case! The drive was a view of what it is really like down here away from “civilization”. We ended up in some very off the beaten path areas. “Where ever you go there you are” is the cover on a Mexico travel book I have. That was never more apparent than this afternoon. Just looking around made you realize that having an indoor toilet, a floor that was not dirt, a roof that was not palm fronds, a kitchen that was inside and air conditioned at that, running water and not a well to haul your only water by the bucket full, a shower that was not at the well with the bucket, did I mention electricity!! , maybe a car, which we saw very few of, all of these places with people in the yards had a smile and a wave if offered the same, as we drove by slowly. The road was so bad one could not drive fast. Just idling in 2nd gear was about the right speed. I hope Jack and Dillon really remembered what they witnessed as everyday life down here. The scenes were normal for down here but unheard of for the most part in the good ole USA. The next time you complain about the modern conveniences we are use to having but not functioning just think of everyday life down here. It will make you feel very lucky!!!

Nicaragua 1st entry

3-26-10
First I will play like I am on twitter!! drive to rdu smooth -board checkin smooth until they pulled out out of the security line because we had more than one board per bag !! I thought we had made it !! but no way!! - flight to miami quick! - 45 min late leaving Mia but in rental car by 2:30 pm and on the road. 30 minute drive through Managua to get to the outskirts of town for our hwy “La Nueva Carretera Norte” where we quickly found a “Tip Top” and pulled in. This is the Nica version of Chick Filet except complete with parking lot attendant that happily watches your car and a rent a cop that opens the door for you to enter. Now being gringos we bellied up to place our order only to find out it is sit down service complete with a waitress!! All the above received a “propina” (tip) BTY. Just the regular chicken, fries,and a drink but it hit the spot and we were on the road again. Very interesting driving down here. To begin with the scenery is totally different than going south to the other place we had been before. A good road and not too much traffic but for the traffic that was there it consisted of everything you could think of including: big ass trucks and small ones, lots of bicycles, fast cars, slow cars, horse drawn carts, pedestrians , and the occasional loose horse or cow!! A fair number of cops. I like seeing these guys as it makes me feel safe as long as they do not stop me!! No we did not need to “offer cash “ to any of them like we did going south. I think the only reason we got stopped going south is because we had surfboards on the car. Maybe that means not many surfers go north! Stopped at a good grocery store again complete with armed personal in the parking lot (this is normal for countries like this BTY) and is expected. Stocked up on snacks, fruit, water, and peanut butter and jelly. We do not have a fridg! Made it to La Chancletas by dark and the cold beer tasted great. Dinner of stir fry chicken wasn’t bad either. The room has two queen beds and a single, AC, a nice bath, and very clean..We put Dillon and Jack in a queen together so we could sleep. Bed was even better by 9pm. It gets dark about 6:30.
Had coffee at 5:30am. We had arranged for a boat to pick us up at 6:30 am to carry us about 5-10 minutes offshore to a fun left point break while the tide was low. We surfed for 15 minutes before the boat (panga) arrived at the beach break just outside the peak. We just paddled out and climbed on board. Now the gas tank on this fine craft was a gallon plastic jug sitting on the back seat with a hose stuck in the top wedged tight with some rubber!! We felt like we had a good captain ! USCG approved I doubt it!! He surfed with us , he had (not with us bty) a 1.5 year old girl and a 4 year old boy. A fisherman when he has no surf charters. He knew how to make a buck. It was a good call to skip the beach at low tide. Surfed the point head high for an hour and a half then got dropped off at the beach break which is right out front of our place. The waves had improved and we found out why they call this beach break “BOOMS” !! Only about 10 of us surfing along this section of beach too! Brunch was good at the little Palapa restaurant here at Chancletas. Pronounced chan-klet-aas. Hotter than hell at the moment 2pm. Dillon and Jack just went swimming. Last time we were here down south we needed wetsuits. This am Dillon described the initial plunge into the waves as “there wasn’t even a slight chill, just warm” . Maybe a nap is in order? Thanks for reading! Jim, Jonathan, Dillon , and Jack

The Last day

I am sorry to report that this trip has just made me want to surf more!! It has done nothing to quench my thirst for waves. Yes I did have a number of good surf sessions but not enough. This is just the truth and nothing else. You are getting my opinion because I am the only one who will post to this blog so far! Yesterday Jonathan and I surfed Uluwatu 3 times on all tides and it never really started working like we had seen it. Dillon went to Blangan and found some longer lefts with some of the High School surf team staying here. This afternoon we had a fun session in shoulder to head high waves until dark. Then a major low tide reef walk which made you glad you had your reef booties on. Jonathan did not wear his and had a 15 minute paddle to a sandy get out spot so to avoid the reef dance.
Mary Anne and I went to town this morning for some shopping and just general dealing with the masses. Walking down the street the vendors spot us like we stick out and I am sure we do. The common phrases heard are: where you from, I give you cheep price, do you want ……, how much you pay? (After asking how much), transport (taxi), hey boss, what is your name? , are you on your honeymoon?, let me show you ….., and there are plenty of others. One just has to keep walking and say no thank you or you are sucked into their shop to have a look at their goods. They are more persistent than tele marketers. Any way we found our own little goodies and had fun for a few hours. The prices are just plain dirt cheap. It is amazing how they can stay alive when you compare it to what we pay in the US. One thing I will say is the service received is the best I have seen anywhere in the world as far as my travels go. An example was this one guy talked us into his custom made leather clothing store. All the product was very nice looking with great feeling soft leather in many colors. This was about 10 am and he would make anything you wanted and deliver it to your hotel later that evening. At prices that would blow your mind also. We are not into leather, but this is the kind of service, competition, sincerity, or just the normal way of doing things here. I dinged my board coming in on a rock and it was fixed in 1 hour while I had a cup of coffee. The guys sit and watch for dings on your board while you get out of the water. At least three people wanted the business too. All the people (Indo and travelers) we have come in contact with have been some of the nicest people I have ever met. I am not kidding! I do not feel as though anyone has tried to take advantage of us either. Yes they are trying to make a living but in a good way. I did see a guy with a bathtub on his bicycle today!! Where there is a will there is a way!
As I write this we are all packed up ready for a trip to the airport July 4th at 7 in the morning and everyone else is sleeping. The trip home will be long but doable. We should see the sunset and a sunrise on the leg from Singapore to LA. All the while loosing 9 hours on that flight segment. Arriving in ILM 9am July 5th.
Thanks for reading I have enjoyed doing the posts. If the picture loading was not so slow I would have inserted more. With digital pictures I took plenty! The sights are numerous. Good night, jim

Singapore airport 4 hour layover

I typed a blog last nite and before I could post it my internet connection timed out! I will post it ,probably once I am at home though. I doubt I will find a way to post it between now and then. This computer has no usb port. I wrote a page to post which took me an hour, so log back to read it please. See you at home. jim

Back in Bali

Back in Bali for the first full day. It feels like home almost. We have come and gone from this place 3 times now. This time we returned to find the place filled with surfers which was fun. J, D, and myself went to Uluwatu for the morning session and saw it go through major transformations as the tide dropped out during the 3 hours we were in the water. Paddled out at high tide and came back across a low tide exposed reef. The cave is very intimating at high tide as the waves wash in but it is just rough water that does not have any current so it is just a washing machine. That is a term I learned as a teenager. You need to paddle between these knarley rocks through rough water but it is really a piece of cake until you get to the impact zone. There is no timing the sets on this paddle out as you can not even see the waves when you start the paddle. I actually anticipated the worst but never even got my hair wet on the way out. The surf was 5-6 feet which is decent size! Of course Dillon wanted to drive the motor scooter everywhere. I had dropped off my surfboard to have a ding in the nose repaired. I hope it hit the reef and my head because the ding was not minor! The guy “Jocky” had told me (Rupia) RP 300,000 which is 30 dollars for the repair which would have been a deal back home. When I went to pick it up the repair was first class. Jocky has 3 kids that I could see plus a wife and numerous other folks,2 dogs, and 3 birds around the house. This was the second time we have had him do board repair for us so we felt like locals! Haha! Any way I gave him the 30 dollars plus an extra 10 dollars for doing such a good job in less than 12 hours! He immediately gave me a hug and said he was so appreciative that it would help his family. This is the sincerity we have received from most of the people we have encountered on our trip here in Bali! It gives you a very warm feeling about these folks.
After lunch Dillon just wanted to go ridding/driving ( he is a good scooter driver) so we made the rounds then went surfing at Padang/ Impossibles till the sun set. Impossibles is just as the name says, you can make it for awhile but almost never all the way. It is the ‘almost’ part that keeps you coming back for more! Joanthan paddled the 15 minutes to Padang and on his first wave broke his Merrick again! He said retrieving the other half off the rocks was a little on the tough side as in sharp rocks!
Sat around talking to the Surf club guys from Calif. They have competitions between the different high schools depending on how far they are away from the beach. The surf class goes to the beach for practice 3 times a week. In there school they can choose between the normal sports and surfing ! How cool is that!!
OK I just ran out of things to say so good night, jim

Our captain and crew

Underwater shot to the right. I took my waterproof camera surfing twice then shorkling and it worked great. I took it surfing again and it filled up with water!! I will check to see if my extended warrenty works at Best Buy when I get home!! jim