I made a good choice. Being in Mancora has been so fantastic for me. The first day, I woke up and went for a swim, in my good ole buddy: The Ocean. We had a nice time, and as i stood on the shore, i watched a surf instructor and his student warming up for their lesson. He sends her off to the water and asks me if i wouldnt mind, minding his flippers while he runs back to his shop for a moment. When he returns he makes me an offer i couldnt refuse. One hour of one on one surf lessons for 35 soles, thats like...12 dollars. Okay! I come back for my lesson in an hour and we review what i had learned from my last instructor. We do some fun stretches and hit the water. I like it better already than my last lesson,. He wears flippers and that means i have to paddle less, cool. I catch my first wave and fall pretty quickly, but the second wave, oh the second wave....it was soo good. I rode that pony all the way to shore! It was quite windy which made things a bit more difficult but it was wonderful out on that deep blue water. After our lesson Carlos takes me over to the restuarant on the corner for a wonderfully giant plate of ceviche, man its soooo good! I spent the rest of the day in a malaise poolside at my hostel, napping and trip planning. Its a hard life. I am so glad that i came. I tend to be a vacationer who does so much on vacation that i need a vacation from my vacation when i return home. I went out at sunset to play my ukelele to the waves. There i met young Julio caesar. We walked a bit and drank a nice dark beer by the ocean, and he took me to dinner...wait did i just involuntarily go on a date? woops...i am naive. I easily slip away from that situation once i realized it was a situation. I stay up late texting people that i love and then run away to the beach with the sweet german sisters that are in my room. We have some nice beer on the beach and i play them ukelele songs. All in all, a lovely mellow first day.
The following day I took my complimentary poolside breakfast of cheap bread and jelly while listening to them play random beatles tunes that made me grin ear to ear. I ran down to the beach past the pee smelling alleyway, the electric colored sunbrellas, men selling me sunglasses, and brazilian bikini bottoms, straight into that shiny miracle; The Ocean. I am a mermaid. Floating in that magic water, my skin alight with electric sensations. It is a joy to be alive and in a human body, thats for darn sure. After my morning dip I cracked open my guidebook and dug into the internet, working out a two week schedule of bus hopping and tourist attractions for the latter part of my trip. I cant wait for all that to come, but dang, its gonna be alotta running around the south of peru,lucky me.And Lucky you, because you can do it too. Later in the evening i sat people watching, and waiting for my dinner at a restaurant. A mototaxi is driving by and a little girl of about 4 falls out of it. Luckily the taxi stopped in time he didnt run over her, and there was nothing broken, but possible concussion. I will never know how that turned out but i hope she was okay. Who was in the taxi as well? Carlos my surf intructor, who after tending to the tender situation, invites me out to surf at sunset.
This my friends...this is something special, this is why people surf i get it now. This was a magical experience. To hell with the actual surfing. Sitting on that board with the soft glow of evening buzzing all around you. Tiny silver flashes of fish jump all around as you paddle out. The clouds are laying out a display of replicated waves as best they can. Children, surfer dudes and girls smile all around you. Youre feeling it, this is great. The smell of Palo Santo wafts by in the fading light. This is real life. This is real life. This is real life. Yep, still is real. As for the actual surfing i caught two waves and got pummeled a bit, but i have a real life (though small) surf wound on my foot now. FABULOUS. I love that i have a body that works well enough that i can decide to climb a mountain, learn to surf, or force myself into a bus seat for 20 hours. It is a gift that i am grateful for everyday. If you also have this gift, I encourage you, use it. See what you can do, still, while you still can. It is a gift and not a guarantee.
Today i woke the germans up early for surf lessons, but alas Carlos had lost his phone and had gone to town to buy a new one, Flaky Bohemians! Ha ha ha! I did have alovely breakfast with the Germans of tasty juice, egg tomato and cheese sandy and travel conversations. I walked the beach alone far out past the people, towards the bobbing boats anchored offshore. I suddenly feel so overwhelmed by my wonderful life, by this view, this adventure that i nearly burst into tears of wonder. Instead, I pull up a flat spot of beach and practice yoga, saluting the sun and sea, and keeping this body of mine functioning. A dip into that wonderful wonder;The Ocean. And wander slowly back, stepping on rocks to observe tidepools, crabs scuttle with my clumsy steps (why do crabs always scuttle, they could scurry, does anything else scuttle?) A change of clothes and i wander the streets of town, purchasing my bus ticket to meet Michael in Lima and a bag of tasty fresh Peruvian churros. One of them is gigantic and stuffed with dulce de leche, just what a sugared deep fried piece of bread needs, to be stuffed with more sugar. Then i came home and wrote a well worded, descriptive blog about my travels. The End.<3
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