Interesting Experiences and Surfboard Repair - Day 4

I've had some interesting experiences in Costa Rica so far:

1) Meeting a surf instructor from Nicaragua, who was cool as shit and told me repeatedly to buy the surfboard from my roommate: "Buen precio. $85 es un buen precio. Comprala! Si no comprala, voy a comprarla." It was hilarious.

2) Acquiring a 3rd generation hostel surfboard (it's been handed down from roommate to roommate).

3) Meeting an Italian named Achilles, who is also cool as shit and who thought it was hilarious that Americans drink drip coffee. I've also been hanging out with people from Vancouver, Washington, Oregon (Portland), and California - so almost the whole west coast is covered. We just need the Yukon and Alaska.

I've spent the last 3 days surfing all day. Today I went out 3 times and it was the best so far - decent sized waves that held their shape well (a lack of witch is a most consistent problem). After paddling today until my arms felt like they were going to fall off, I'm absolutely wrecked, bruised, beat up and tired, but having fun.

The whole summer I've been surfing on a longboard (9'2"), so getting to know a 6'6" is fun but difficult. It took me all of 10 minutes to figure out how to duck dive under waves, but I'm having a hell of a time surfing them. I had some good rides today, but nothing spectacular.

I did learn to patch surfboards after noticing several dings in the tail and a few elsewhere. Based on past experience, I was worried my board would have to sit in a repair shop for several days. Turns out there's this stuff called 'Sun Resin' or something like that - epoxy that dries in 5 minutes. So I just plugged the holes and got back in the water.

It's Friday in Jaco, so things are getting busy. There's a surf competition tomorrow. I'm getting the hell out of here. Time to go South.