Buenos Dias,
We’ve got exciting times ahead of us with an early morning start tomorrow for our trip down to Pavones, renowned as one of the world’s best left-hang pointbreaks. For you who don’t know what that means, it means that we are going to stay right on the beach at an incredible wave. The build up to this has been a really busy one though with lots of surfing, Spanish and Yoga.
I hope you enjoyed the video blog giving you a better idea of who we have got with us and what the area looks like. The last few days have been absolutely action-packed with loads of surfing. With the road trip drawing near everyone has really been working hard at improving their surfing to be ready for the waves at Pavones. When I say ready I mean both in their surfing getting better and just getting stronger arms and more endurance. Surfing is no easy sport, and has a balance of both being the most amazing time ever when on a good wave (and the hours after) and being very frustrating when you paddle a lot and then struggle to get many waves. As they say, no pain no gain! Before every surf we have been doing a really good warm-up too, led by George (there are three George’s so lets call him George Coach).
And… to do with surfing… everyone has got his or her new board. The day you get your first surfboard is right up there with the day you first try surfing, and its really exciting for them knowing the enjoyment that these boards will bring. Many a surfer has been caught sharing the bed with a new surfboard for at least the first night if not the first week that they have it. All the boards look really good and Kina surf shop helped out tremendously selling them at a really good price to the group. Going onto the new boards has been quite a jump down in size for everyone, but they all did really well from the first surf so I am sure that the time spent choosing them was worthwhile.
Aside from the surfing we have been doing lots of yoga and Spanish, and hopefully the group will take this with them down to Pavones, it is always easier when you are doing it in a class! There is a lot less English spoken in Pavones so we will need to start using the Spanish that we have learnt. The teacher we have is really good and has been teaching us just the right sorts of things to help us do the basics like ordering food, knowing the numbers and improving our vocabulary as well as then understanding how the tenses work and that everything is masculine or feminine. We have also been worked hard with the yoga which is really beneficial when surfing this much to keep loose and stay fresh as well as helping with balance and concentration/focus.
Last night we had a really great meal at an Argentinian restaurant owned by a local surfer and he is also the chef. It was really great having the whole group together with Will (co-founder of Ticket to Ride) and his wife Lottiet too. The food was exquisite with amazing tuna and beef steaks at very reasonable prices as well as many other great dishes. To cap it off the owner Rafa brought out his guitar and sung some songs whilst George showed us his hidden talent on the drums. George L-J also got involved playing guitar and Aimee sang one of the songs. It was a really great evening all-round.
We are heading down to Pavones for a week, which is all the way down South almost to the border of Panama. It will be really interesting seeing a different part of the country and exploring new areas as well as surfing new waves. Its going to be an early start so I better go and start packing.
Until next time, have a good week.
Chris