ondas e vales

jericoacoara


hard to think of a better place to end one's travels than jeri. rolling sand dunes, soaring palms, cheap caipirinhas, and, of course, mother ocean. this is definitely one of those places where your stay often exceeds its anticipated duration and you seriously consider contacting that black market kidney dealer to see if it would be enough to let you stay for six more months. but, alas, the bus ticket to fortaleza has been purchased and 2 pm tomorrow we'll be bidding adeus to the praia. at least we will have been well acquainted.


i met zio [sic] on monday and arranged for our first surf lesson that afternoon. i first tried it last year in mancora, peru, and was able to get up after my second day with help from victor, my teacher then (sorry, victor, i'm seeing someone new and he treats me well). however, the ondas were smaller and i was greatly assisted by pushes before each attempt (see, victor, i still remember the good times). this time has been a different story.


both days of lessons have consisted of one hour of in-water instruction and a second hour where he would watch me from the shore (or chat up chics in bikinis). he gave me a quick dry land run-through: chest lifted, hands gripping the sides, push up and have your legs planted slightly more than shoulder length apart. fácil? não. measuring close to two meters affords many opportunities for changing light bulbs and grabbing rebounds, but is not very advantageous when it comes to trying to prop oneself onto a plank being propelled by aquatic fury.


então, my days in the ocean have more or less consisted of seeing an onda and having to decide between 1) face the wave and let it smack me in the face or 2) attempt to surf the wave and let it throw me to the sea floor. i feel like i've managed a healthy balance between the two, though i have not been my only victim.


met a fellow american in the water today. happened when i attempted a wave, saw the fellow traveler ten feet away, tried to stand up anyway, fell back, and finally sent the board directly into his stomach. pretty sure he was american, at least he definitely spoke english, it's just hard to decipher accents when the person is keeled over grimacing. minha culpa.

still, i will categorize the entire experience as a success. i rode a couple waves and even turned the board on one of them (big deal for yours truly). but the biggest may be that zio took a liking to me for some reason and offered me a free hour amanhã de manhã. he said that the waves are just as good and that the wind doesn't have as much a presence (which i will hereafter blame everything on).

9 am never looked so good.