TR: Nicaragua/Costa Rica Surf, Rum, Chill trip

[comish]

Been gone for a while with finals, full court job search, epic 2 week trip to Central Am., and starting my final term of grad school!

Finished last final with enough time to pack and get to LAX. hmm, packing for surf trip = much easier than skiing. boardshorts, board, passport, cash, listo=ready!

Get to LAX with plenty of time only to be informed there was no way any surfboards were going to Nicaragua because of an Embargo Period After significant negotiating, ass kissing, point out I only had a single board with no other luggage to check seeing as all I needed was flip flops and shorts for 2 weeks, they finally let mine go after fucking me in the ass for $100. The poor bastard next to me wasn't so lucky. He had an enormous board bag and was apparently bringing 3 boards for himself, bro, and cousin. They weren't letting that bag on. DOH! (Moral of story: Don't fly Continental to Cen. Am. or at least read every bit of fine print on every inch of website)

Get to Managua and negotiate a taxi to the hotel to wait for my buddies with our pretty stylin Toyota Prado (basically Landcruiser) 4x4 rig for surf exploration. So I do what one does in Nicaragua and start into a nice bottle of Flor de Cana rum that goes for a whopping $6 and is gooooood.

Driving to the beach the next day I was pretty amazed at the changes to Managua in the 8 years since I had been there.

The next week was a blur of waves, blazing sun, rum, sweat, and more waves. I unfortunately tweaked my bad shoulder and I think that put me one step closer to eventual surgery so I missed what could have been the best session of the week. We didn't score huge surf, but had waves the whole week in the shoulder to 1 foot overhead range. Surfed a variety of fun beach breaks and one shallow rocky reef/point break that is pretty much unexplored. Almost no one out at most the breaks on what was supposed to be the most crowded week of the year. It helps to have someone that spent a few years in the country in the peace corps as the tour guide who knew the breaks, what tides they like, how to navigate the millions of random dirt roads leading to the beach. Much reading and napping in between sessions under the tarp. Great to read for fun rather than for school for a change.

We were in San Juan del Sur there during the annual party called Semana Santa. Basically all of Managua closes and all Nicaraguans go to the beach for a week. San Juan del Sur is the major Pacific beach town and it was raging. The streets were packed, girls dancing on top of platforms at the entrance to bars, my budy almost had his wallet pickpocketed. A good time with much rum.

After the first week this group of friends had to return to Managua for a school project with a local bank so I hoped the international bus to Tamarindo, Costa Rica for another week of surf, pina coladas, sand, and chillin. I spent a fair bit of time in Guanacaste 8 years ago scoring double overhead surf 2 minutes south of Tamarindo with 4 people out (including Mrs. Comish, my dad, and I). Unfortunately there now sits a Barcelo hotel even though this was supposedly a Protected Nature Reserve. As a Tico and I talked in the lineup he commented that someone had been paid off with a lot of $$$ to get this hotel built. Where there used to be 4 surfers, now has 25 in the early morning lineup. Kinda a bummer, but the waters still warm, the girls cute, and the waves fun.

Took a boat trip to Roca Bruja or Witch's Rock for you gringos and Ollie's Point. It was amazing how many people were on boats looking for waves. There were a total of 6 boats at Witch's which is crazy! I went 8 years ago and camped there for a few days and we hardly saw anyone... Ollie's is a really fun right point break, but at one point we had 22 guys out. This is on a boat trip!?!?! I timed my sessions ok and seemed to catch a fair few waves with more like 7-10 guys. Definitely a fun point!

Much rum was consumed in tamarindo, hotties oggled, and a generally very relaxing time. To prove its a really small world, I'm at the bar in our hotel ordering a drink and look to my right and see the husband to my next door neighbor growing up and one of our best family friends!?!? Crazy. Ended up surfing with he and his Bro inlaw for 3 days which was awesome because my crew in Tamarindo were not surfers and mostly into drinking and lazing on the beach or pool (not that there is anything wrong with this, but its fun to combine drinking, lazing, with some waves.)

A great two weeks of adventure, waves, sun, and rum. Have I mentioned I like the Nico Rum!

Anyways, back to Mammoth this weekend for some spring skiing. Bummed I'm gonna miss the Mammoth mini because I fucked up. I'm in NYC seeing my sister perform in a new Broadway production. That will be amazing, but I'm bummed after skiing with so many mag's this year in Mammoth, JH, and Utah to miss the local mini. ARGH.

Picts to come after I do my taxes. Doh!

[Superstar Punani]

Good shit man! Nicaragua's on my hit list. but the Oz trip came up so I'm gonna save it for another time.

Since there's a huge lake in Nic does it mean that you get offshores all day since the "land" never heats up?

Fuck- Never EVER fly Cuntinental. You're lucky you got the board on. You must have pleasured the ticket agent chick good

[tuffy109]

don't you own a camera?

[mattitude]

Thanks for the trail report Comish! I am headed to Costa Rica next Friday for ten days of what you had. I can't wait to see the pics.

[TheDingleberry]

Did I mention you suck...No?... Oh... you suck.

[reidando]

"Since there's a huge lake in Nic does it mean that you get offshores all day since the "land" never heats up?"

yes, this is correct. the lake creates a microclimate where the predominant trade winds from the carribean continue across the lake all the way to the atlantic. i only know of one other place in the world where the wind is almost always offshore. there is a 40 mile stretch of coast that has offshore wind about 300 days a year. i live in nicaragua for 6 months a year, in the popoyo area.

[reidando]

oops i meant all the way to the pacific.

[pollard]

sounds sick, I'm spending the summer based out of tamarindo and this is getting me even more stoked