On our third day of surfing I was ready to pack it in and move on. It wasn’t so much that I couldn’t do it – I’d stood up several times already and even had one or two really nice rides – but the effort was simply too much. The energy needed to paddle out again after having caught a wave was so great that my body was screaming for me to stop. My arms were beyond pain, they simply went limp. My head was roaring with pain from the sun, exhaustion and frustration and my hip bones were black and blue from lying on the surf board. It was only my stubbornness that kept me going back until my head and the board had a little unfortunate meeting and I decided to call it a day. That night, I pretty much resolved for myself that I was going to finish the course, there were only two more days left after all, and then I’d never have to look at a surfboard again. Thank you very much but surfing is not my sport.

The next day was our day off and Edwin, the driver, took us to the Manuel Antonio national park for a beautiful walk. We saw sloths hanging out, frisky capuchin monkeys playing in the trees right above us and a white-nosed coati on his lunch run.

The views from the top of the park were breath-taking.

There were quite a few tourists but because Edwin does this trip every Wednesday he knew exactly which spots to check for wildlife and how to get away from the crowds. We took a quick dip in the ocean, had lunch and then headed back home. It was wonderful to spend a day doing something completely different, clear the mind and leave all thoughts of surfing far far behind.

And wouldn’t you know it – that’s exactly what the head and body needed. The next day we were back on the boards and I couldn’t wait to get out there. I rode every wave the teachers put me on and each time I paddled back out grinning from ear to ear, ready for the next ride. Mind you, my body was still in pain and after the 7th ride or so, I was ready to curse some more but that was all secondary to getting out there and catching a wave. That had become the objective and the fun and I finally got what all the fuzz was about.

PS: Regarding photos – the only way we could get the pictures of us surfing was to buy a CD each for US $25. That seemed a bit excessive so we don’t have any professional pictures of our antics in the waves. But one of our surfing buddies, Lynn, took some pictures on our last day so at least we have something… Thanks Lynn!