Parador

I took my chair out to the beach and sat a while watching the surf. Pretty decent swell, steady 4-5 foot sets rolled through at regular intervals. There was quite a crowd at the main peak, so I did little cleaning projects and writing until a few people went in. I took the second shift and paddled out and found a little zone between the two packs that worked for me. On the bigger sets, an odd wave would swing out to the south and I’d manage to get a nice right to myself. I caught five okay waves before heading in.

After drying off and munching a PBJ, I went over to the restaurant and did my best to get the internet that I’d already paid for to maybe function. No luck. I trudged into town and sat out in front of the Ticla market and was able to connect up with the code they’d given me the night before. I was able to FaceTime with PJ sitting on the porch in front of the store with a group of women whiling away the day sitting in the shade. A toddler in a colorful native dress took a liking to me and climbed up on the bench and leaned on my shoulder saying hi to PJ on the little screen. Her mama grabbed her and everybody laughed.

Face Timin’

A beautiful warm day. Luckily, the RV is parked under a tree and it doesn’t get too overly hot inside. Cali refuses to hang outside for any length of time preferring to spend her days sleeping in her bed. I even moved a bed outside but she’s a stubborn old mule. There are a few electrical outlets under my palapa so I checked them out. At a paltry 95 volts, there is no way they are going to push the A/C. It is enough to charge up the batteries so I plugged in and use my 12 volt Endless Breeze fan to keep things cool inside.

I did a lot of hammock time and finished off a mediocre Vietnam War novel I picked up at Los Arroyos’ library. I’d walk out to the shore and watch the waves and take a few photos and set a chair to be part of the action. Second real surf in several years. I’d paddled out a few times in little dribblers at Lo de Marcos and groveled to try and stay on the wave, but these were the first good, rideable waves since long before the new hip. I’m stoked. I’ve yet to fall off even with a few late drops and although it’s nothing like I used to surf, I can still pump it down the line. Way out of shape, though. So taking my time adjusting. Ticla’s the perfect gentle wave for beginners, International surfers and old guys.

I watched another red sunset over the surfing crew then wandered back up into town to sit on the porch bench in front of the store like a regular senior citizen of La Ticla. I bought another hour of internet and slowly, painfully sat through uploading pictures onto the blog. Each picture would fail three or four times before finally loading up. In the end, it took about an hour but I finally got posted. It’s fun just sitting on the sidewalk watching the town square. The old woman, Avela, who runs the store sat out with me and chatted a bit while watching an overly loud comedy program on the store TV. A religious procession marched past and stopped to pray at a neighbor’s house. Lots of the surf kids came up to town to drink beers and check out the small village on a Friday night.