Popoyo Day 3 May 7, 2012
Another day on the boat!
Boot camp started at 0500, before the sunrise again. Slammed a quick breakfast, and busted over to
the tiny villa to the North, called Asterillo.
That is where the Popoyo Super Pangas are moored in a small protected
bay. When we arrive, one of our guides
must paddle out to the mooring on a surfboard to bring the boat to shore. We quickly load all of our gear, and embark
for a morning of surf.
We are the first boat, and first in the water at a surf
break called Lance’s Left. There is a
bit of morning sickness, affecting the consistency of the set arrival, but
overall, the waves are bigger than yesterday.
The bomb sets are well overhead, and a take off from the peak yields at
least a 100 yard shreddable left. All
are satisfied with the wave quality and have a great morning of surf. The crowd was quite manageable, and stayed so
even after a couple of boats showed up.
The other group of surfers staying at the Lodge are a group
of guys from Mal Pais, Costa Rica. A
good bunch of dudes, who are very considerate in the line up, and good
surfers. It has been fun hanging out
with them, and getting to know them. An
interesting group of dudes, the MalPaisians!! They usually end up at the same
breaks we do.
Today is the 3rd day of hard driving surf, and a
day when one must “embrace the pain”
Waking up is painful before sunrise, and a muscle fatigued body climbs
forth for another day of punishment.
Embrace the pain of muscle fatigue, sun and skin pain, rashes from all
the contact points on the surfboard: underarm rash, tummy rash, inner thigh
rash. That first entry into the salt
water, and simultaneously applying pressure to those contact points means you
must embrace the pain. Embrace the pain
of age. It’s all there, but for
desperate Florida surfers, we power through the pain to enjoy the offshore Nica
surf. Until…….
At about 10, the wind shifted from calm to offshore to
onshore. So, what does that mean? The swell is still there, but the surface of
the water gets a choppy texture. That
chop tends roughen the face of the waves, making for a rough take off, and
ride.
At that point, we had surfed for 3 hours, so we headed to
the boat. A yummy lunch of burritos and
fruit awaited us while we waited for the winds to subside. Unfortunately they never did, and we ended up
heading back to the boat mooring bay, and retiring to the surf lodge for the
rest of the afternoon.
Dave Cornell and I both fell asleep while sitting up in the
casita’s sitting area. A lunch of
quesoburgresas followed. For a day that
we should be embracing the pain, the afternoon was a godsend to rejuvenate the
muscles, heal the rash pain, and quell some fatigue.
Just before dinner time, it appeared that the wind may have
dropped off, and shifted to a more favorable direction. We loaded the guys and boards up in the
Landcruiser, and made our way through the dusty town of Las Salinas; dodging
pigs crossing the road, goats and cows meandering along the right of way,
bicyclists and uniformed school children making their way home. The evening Central American street parade in
a 3rd world nation.
After passing through Las Salinas, we made a right turn onto
another dusty dirt road that traverses past the salt drying ponds, and passed
up the hill to Popoyo surf break. We
still haven’t determined what the word Popoyo means, were still working on
that.
A new palapa hut has been set up at the parking area at
Popoyo, and there were a lot of surfers out in the still powerful line up. The variable which was still not working for
us was the wind. Some of the side shore
chop was sizeable, and it looked like a lot of work for a little bit of
reward. No paddle out, but plenty of
camaraderie with our own little group of surfers, as well as the MalPaisians,
and the other surfers who were chilling at the bohio waiting for the sunrise.
After another dinner of fresh fish with a great garlic
sauce, we had a lot more conversation, watched some surf videos, and worked our
way through the aches and pains. Tomorrow
morning is the day, offshore winds, an early wake up, and rejuvenated (yet
aged) bodies ready to charge the surf.
We are at 13.5 hours in 2 ½ days of surfing as registered on
the “Drazich meter
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