Tuesday was the kid's birthday. Cakes and gifts were brought over by workers at the resort. He is a rock star here. Whenever we take him to the pool or restaurant, all the staff and residents stop and say "hola" to him, and if he responds by calling them by name, they go crazy. The Nino is a bit of a chica magnet.
As my compadre wrote about in the previous post, we are trying to become decent surfers. Thursday we headed to the beach again, hoping to build on what seemed like great accomplishments last time. Unfortunately, we were doomed from the start. It was low tide and although there were some crashing waves, they were in very shallow water. Now, it should be noted as I continue that I know basically nothing about surfing, but these conditions made me nervous. I cautiously walked out into the ocean, examining each break and trying to learn something while watching Osman ride. The water was only up to my waist and I faintly attempted to lay on the board and ride, never really giving serious thought to standing up. The thought of crashing into the sandy floor and breaking my neck seemed like a real possibility.
After a brief period of calm water, Osman whistled and pointed at an incoming wave. It looked big, but I consider myself a man and thus had to go. I laid down and paddled my heart out. The wave picked me up and started to break over the top of me. Then the nose of the board went under and I fell over the front of it. I felt the board go behind me and in this shallow water, knew it would come right back over me. I raised my right arm to protect my moneymaker, but it was too late. The fin grazed the back of my well sculpted head before running across my right forearm. No blood was shed, but pain and bruising followed. I later felt a sense of pride in my first surfing wound. As I glanced at the swelling, I was happy with it's location and hoped that a permanent scar would be left behind. Just a little something I could show off at parties with the line "I got this while surfing in Nicaragua".
But alas, as you can see from the photo above, the colors are already fading after 2 days. I was beginning to wonder if the whole reason I wanted to surf was just for the scars or because I think I will actually enjoy it. It appears I will have to get back in the water and give it another try, but next time it will during high tide.
Speed round:
-- It is the windy season down here. It keeps it fairly cool and the bugs away.
-- There is a small skunk that wanders around at night. We hear it fighting with cats and then the smell comes into the room.
-- I shaved off my beard on Tuesday. It was weird at first, but now I like it.
-- When we played golf on Friday, Julia hit a hybrid from 140 yards out to within 3 ft of the hole. And... she made the putt for par. It was one of my prouder moments.
We plan a little more each day. The timeline is mostly set and we are getting a little anxious. Tonight there is a Super Bowl party by the pool, and we will continue to enjoy these luxuries while we can.
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