San Jose, Costa Rica

Solo trips begin lonely, and so end... Usually sitting in some noisy, dirty city, waiting to get on the plane.

A big group of us left Puerto Viejo yesterday morning, and many goodbyes were made at the bus station. Certainly one of the worst parts about traveling. Achilles went on to the Pacific coast with his friends, where they will head south to Pavones (longest left hand break in America) and then Panama. We also spent several days hanging out with 2 germans who were off to Dominical.

But, to put some sweet in the bitter, I now have friends and a place to stay in Rome and in Berlin. I promised them I´d visit some time in the next 2 years, so a Euro trek needs to happen by then.


Some interesting background I forgot to mention. When I arrived in Costa Rica I was reading the Iliad, which seems coincidental after meeting a man named Achilles on the 3rd day. He´s a damn good guy and it´s too bad he lives on the side of the known world. His story is he grew up in Rome and was a professional soccer player in Italy´s notorious 2nd division. While the pay was great, he said wanted more out of life than just soccer, so he quit, moved to Australia, surfed every day for 1.5 years, and now he travels seasonally for surf. He manages food and beverage at a 4 star hotel during the summer.

Since my digital camara failed on this trip, I´m going to rely on my contacts to send me pictures. Eventually I´ll post some here.

Here´s to Costa Rica. I´ll be on a plane in 8 hours.

Best trip quotes:

"I think I've improved--I've gone from injured seal to shark bait."
-Guy who sold me the surfboard on his progress.

"Jaws is not a wave, jaws is a disaster."
-Achille, in the bar, watching a surf video about Jaws.