I’m sensing a pattern to surfing: exciting … but exhausting. If you know me pretty well, then you’d know I bruise easily. So throw clumsy surfing to the list of activities? I basically look like a bruised peach. Super cute.
When you paddle to catch a wave, you’re supposed to arch your back and dig your arms deep into the water. But by doing this, your hip bones are taking the body’s weight for balance. So I now have bruises the size of my fist on each hip bone. I tried to take a nap on my side this afternoon and immediately started whimpering. Blue Crush did not prepare me for this.
I was upgraded to a hard board today. For the sake of being real – today was really hard. I ate it a lot. The board is smaller, which helps getting over the waves. But man — it took a while to get used to it. I was finally riding the waves by my last three runs.
I’ve also learned to time the sets. Waves come in packs (generally 3-5 in Tamarindo). If you wait out the set, then you can paddle out against smoother water.
I’ve met a lot of really awesome people while staying at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp, and we’ve created our own little community. We go surfing together in the morning, sit in the pool to discuss our runs, eat breakfast right after, play cards in the afternoon, and go out in the evenings. This afternoon, a few of us girls decided that our muscles could really use some deep yoga stretching. We found a yoga studio down the road called Mermaids and Sailors, and we instantly fell in love. Yoga will definitely be a repeat for our tired muscles.