My time in the Italian/Argentinian/Israeli colony at the tip of the Nicoya peninsula (apparently Costa Rica) was pretty good. It started off with my beautiful 6'4 short board. The waves were amazing, the apartment was really nice and then I fell from a 4 foot wave onto my board, separated my cartilage from my rib, thought I was going to die, somehow got out of the water without being able to swim or breathe. Nico, the awesome owner of the awesome Rumbo Surf Lodge, my local digs, drove me to the emergency room where a 20something year old wearing a university of godknowswhere t-shirt declared that I would live, that I am a sissy,hypochondriac and that I should take some pain killers and rest. Ok, he did not say the sissy hypochondriac part out loud but I could see it in his eyes.
At first I felt sorry for myself, brand new board, perfect waves and me unable to get in and out of bed (being the sissy that I am). But then I realized that I was so lucky to be in this tropical paradise. What better place to meditate, read books about Cuban-Polish-American teenage girls and Indian boys stuck on rafts with Bengal tigers? What better place to annoy Bob the Iguana, the monkeys and my neighbors with my annoying attempt to learn how to play White Christmas on my 39€ ukulele. White Christmas? It is 28°C and the humidity has reached 200% and I am melting like apricot sorbet on a Sahara desert dune in the midday sun. White Christmas. Ah! After a couple of days of hardly moving out of bed, Anna arrived in Santa Teresa and helped me return to life. The time flew by drinking Ultra Violet juices (a delicious concoction of beetroot, ginger, green tea and carrot) at Ginger Café, eating tuna tartare, taking long walks on the beach, contemplating breath-taking sunsets, watching Anna learn how to surf, chatting with Nico, Mar, the upstairs neighbor Matthias, Pablo and Tom from the surf shops just across the road and the nice guys from Verona that run the Ginger. I'm sure Mel Gibson didn't enjoy his vacation as much as I did.
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| Tico sunset |
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| Future ASP surfing champion Anna |
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| Santa Teresa, Mal Pais |
Now, Christmas doesn't feel very christmassy in Costa Rica. Coconuts, palm trees and balmy weather are not Christmas to me. I was missing my family and wanted to be with them. Little did they know that I had already booked tickets to return home for Christmas. And it was a beautiful white Christmas in Arosa, a ski resort in the Swiss alps. The greatest gift was not the palm fringed tropical paradise of Costa Rica, nor the majestic snow-covered Alps with a backdrop of the bluest sky imaginable. No the real gift was to spend Christmas with my family. Thanks Mom, Dad. Nati and Tessa for spoiling me. I ate as much panforte as I could and went on numerous sleigh rides in the snow. I soaked it all in, and loved every last instant of it.
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| Christmas in the snow |
I have to apologize to all my friends back home for not calling them over the Christmas and New Year period. I don't know if any of you will read this, but I wish you a fabulous 2012.
As for me, there has been a sudden change of plans, I am no longer going to travel around our big blue planet, seeking for wisdom and waves, I am relocating to Mexico, where I will be joining a Mariachi band. So long everyone. See you at the next piñata party!
Just kidding. I have however changed my travel plans. I was supposed to be in Hawaii over the new year, but decided that 2 months on the North Shore of Oahu, surfing's Mecca, is probably a little heavy on the budget and on the recovering ribs. And since I am not inclined to drown at the ripe old age of 29 and I also don't intend to blow the budget away, I have decided that the Mexican banditos can have my money instead. Joking. I am currently sitting on flight 711 from Zurich to Philadelphia, en route to Los Angeles. I will spend one entire day walking in and out of the best stocked surf shops in the world like a heroin addict that hasn't had a fix in a while. I don't think my budget will make it to the end of this trip after all. And the following day I will be flying to Mexico to surf mellow waves, get food poisoning, sing “Cielito Lindo” and hopefully get back in shape for Surfing Mecca. Thanks Nico, Mar, Leo and everyone in Costa Rica for the great hospitality. Pura Vida!
Thank you lovely South African guests for the wonderful time between xmas and new year. Thanks Robin for driving up to Arosa to come and visit me. Don't forget snow chains the next time :)
Thank you Anna for nursing me back to life and being so cool.
Thank you Mom, Dad, Nati and Teddy-Tess for making Christmas special and being so great.
Wish all of you a glorious 2012. Hope the Maya's are wrong about that end of the world nonsense, there is still a lot of living to be done and it cannot all fit in just 12 months.
