Josh: Surprising Day

Josh:  Today was a pretty surprising day.  

First, I got up, ate breakfast, and got dressed in my swimsuit.  That wasn’t very surprising.  But then we went to the school nearby and asked to volunteer for something.  They gave us a job.  It was to pick up a lot of trash on the beach.  I thought it was going to be fun, but I got bored pretty fast.  Here is the first surprise.  I found half a wet, sandy vest and cigarettes in wrapping paper.  Isn’t that pretty weird?  After that, my dad and I went to the beach and played in the waves.  Here is the not-so-fun surprise. When we came back and I was about to cool off in the pool, I reached for the beach ball (which I got for 60 cents) and I slipped into the pool.  My left knee and my big toe on my left foot started bleeding like crazy.  It was not fun, but it was unexpected.  I ate dinner, but to my surprise, I didn’t have to eat the chili that my dad made.  He actually let me make my own dinner!  And I already had nachos for lunch!  Now I’m going to bed.  Surprise, surprise…  J

Chloe Surfs too!

Chloe:  Today I had my first surfing lesson!  I was so excited.  First my brother and I practiced catching waves by doing a little boogie boarding.  That used to seem exciting until we went surfing. To start off the lesson, we put the board on the ground and practiced getting up from your stomach on to your feet. You have to put your hands next to your chest, push up, and bring your feet up to the middle back of the board.  At first I was confused about why you don't stand at the middle of the board, until I actually tried it.  When we first got into the water, we just practiced catching waves and paddling to shore instead of standing up on the board.  Then once we got the hang of it, we tried standing up.  It was so difficult.  At first I was very discouraged that I couldn't stand up.  But once I stood up I was so proud.  Now that I had mastered standing up, I had to master keeping my balance on the board.  I stayed up once pretty easily, but then it took a long time to mater staying up.  I had a couple wipe-outs which made me somewhat sad, but then I realized it happens to everyone.  And, I had just started, so it was normal.  During the whole time our instructors had helped us start, chose our waves, and told us when to stand up.  Now my instructor told me to try it by myself.  I was so excited.  It was hard at first with no help, but I eventually got the hang of it.  In a little bit I realized I had gotten so tired.  Surfing is a very tiring sport, so I took a break.  While I was waiting to get my energy back, I thought how satisfied I felt.  I was very happy with myself. Overall, I was very happy I learned how to surf and I very much enjoyed it.

Steve: Just for the record, Carol and I had a lesson too.  But we didn't catch on nearly as quickly as the kids.  I, especially, seem to have no aptitude.  But we're going to keep at it!

Josh: My First Surfing Lesson

Josh:  My first surfing lesson.

My first surfing lesson was really cool. First, my surfing instructor showed us how to jump on your board without falling off. Next, I tried belly surfing. It was really easy. After that, we all tried surfing standing up back to the beach without falling. After a while, we all got the hang of it.  So we got to do it by ourselves, without any help. I did it perfectly the first time, but the next time my board flipped and hit me smack in the head. It really hurt. Besides that, I had a really fun time at my first surfing lesson.

Steve: Earthquakes and Tsunamis

Steve:  I really hadn't intended to add another blog entry so soon.  Ain't no way I'm gonna be able to keep up this pace.  But yesterday's events made this entry pretty much obligatory.  So here goes:

We started the morning readying ourselves for our first ever surfing lesson.  We were all pretty pumped up about the idea, though nervous as hell about whether any of us actually had the necessary skills. I was rising from the couch after e-mailing Molly about surfing when the earth started to shake.  Now I've lived in California for the vast majority of my life.  I survived a pretty big quake in L.A. as a kid and even the big one in '89 in the Bay Area.  I've seen my share of quakes.  But this one shook me up in more than one way.  It lasted somewhere between 30 and 45 seconds I think.  Chloe and Carol had scooted underneath the patio table.  Josh and I were inside and chose the closest doorway to stand under.  Now when I stay "stand," I really mean "brace myself against the door frame" because there is no way in the world that I could have remained standing unaided for five seconds of it, much less the whole duration.  The kids were "freaked out" as they put it.  Carol and I were freaked out for our kids.  Nine or ten significant aftershocks later, I think we are a bit more figuratively rattled than literally so.  The house fared remarkably well.  Nothing broken that we can tell.

But that was only the very beginning of the adventure.  The power went out immediately and was not to come back for about nine hours, so communication was impossible.  We figured all was well and decided to go on with our day.  So we walked to surf school.  The owner was there but the teacher we had reserved was not.  We hung out for a bit but realized that something fishy was going on as people were leaving the beach.  Apparently there was a tsunami warning issued.  The surf school owner and I tried to communicate about it but my Spanish is still pretty weak, so we didn't know quite what to make of the situation.  He didn't seem in a hurry to leave, but apparently it is not recommended to begin learning how to surf on an actual tidal-wave.  I guess hangin' ten on a tsunami comes in a later lesson...

So we walked all around town trying to get a grasp on what was happening.  We searched for a place to eat lunch (couldn't open the fridge not knowing when power would be restored and not wanting the food to go bad.)  Nobody was open.  We heard conflicting reports from other locals who were lurking about concerning evacuation and getting to high ground.  We started packing up to make the walk (we have no car like the locals) and then realized we really had no idea exactly where to head or how to get there.  With one final attempt at seeking help we went to the restaurant across the street from our house.  A man was kind enough to offer us a ride in his truck if a tsunami was spotted in the distance on the way in.  He was apparently in contact with people who were in the know and wasn't about to go anywhere without confirmation.  So we plopped down in the chairs in the restaurant and proceeded to try to make an afternoon of it in a constant state of powerlessness and apprehension.  The kids did their home-school work with me.  We pretended to be cool about the whole situation.

Finally, after about three hours in the restaurant, the power came back on and we celebrated with an actual meal.  From what I've read about the quake, there never really should have been an alert for a tsunami, because the epicenter was actually under land a few miles from us, not under the ocean as is required to create a wave (at least that is how I understand it).  And apparently the alert was lifted quite quickly, but nobody in Samara seems to have gotten the memo.  The quake occured at about 8:30 in the morning.  People were still leaving town in droves well after noon.  Granted a few of the aftershocks were big enough to warrant vigilance.  And for all we knew, the quake could have started hundreds of miles away out to sea and the big wave was still on its way.  I don't know how fast tsunami type waves travel or even if it always the same speed or if the velocity increases with decreasing depth.  Sounds like a good science project for the kids!

In any case we got our power back on not too long after the restaurant did, and immediately took out all of the electronic devices that we seem to be completely dependent on these days.  We were a bit shocked, though grateful, to discover that so many of our friends and family had heard about the quake and were concerned for our safety.  We knew it was big, we didn't know it was world-news big.  But in the end, all is well.  Nobody is hurt.  Nothing is lost or broken.  And we've got our first big story of the trip.

Chloe: The Beach

Tomorrow is our first day of Surf School!

Chloe:  Today we went to the beach. I love how warm the water is here. You can just walk right in. My favorite part of the ocean is the waves. We went in really deep and went over as many waves as possible. I love when the waves haven’t broken yet, so it’s much calmer.  Once we were out of the water we decided to play in the sand.  My brother completely buried me in sand. We decorated me with lots of coral.  Once we got home it was already 5:00 so we had been there for over 3 hours. Later tonight there was an enormous lightning storm. When the lightning struck the whole sky lit up bright white. When the thunder came it was so booming that it sounded like an earthquake. You could even feel the vibration of the sound. The rain sounded like a giant using our house as a drum. It was amazing. That was a fun night.

Josh's First Entry

Steve:  Here is Josh's first entry.  Obviously, he wrote it a few days ago, but we hadn't typed it up yet.

Josh:  Today is the day we leave for our trip.  This day came up really fast.  I'm really happy about the house choice.  There is an upstairs and a pool.  We saw a picture and it looked awesome.  It is really hot there even in the winter.  So, when we are at the beach in the winter it is about 70°.  Think about it. Here in San Rafael, it is like 55°.  That makes me happy.  I like it hot.  :)

What I'm most excited about is that it is going to be kind of like Mexican food kingdom.  I love Mexican food.  What I'm going to miss most is my kitty, named Alley.  She is 17 years old.  I hope she lives through our adventure so that she is still alive when we get back.

That is how I feel about the trip.

Steve: We're Here!

Steve:  Well.  We actually made it.  18 hours of traveling without a hitch and we are here.  Judging by the pictures I just took (3:30 p.m.) can you guess who was able to sleep on the plane and who wasn't?

Wrong.  Carol slept on the plane just fine.  She just didn't get any sleep for the week before we left.  I'm the one who got no sleep on the plane.  I had one kid on each side sleeping on me.  I did get a couple of hours in on the floor at JFK airport.  And yes, for those who are perplexed, we did go to Costa Rica via NYC.  It was far cheaper.  It was just also far...er...farther. You do what you gotta do.

Finding the town was hard enough.  Finding the place in the town was even more interesting.  They don't have addresses in Costa Rica.  So the GPS device was a big waste of money so far.

First thoughts?  It's freakin' hot!  I believe we are at around 430% humidity.  Seriously, the sand on the beach is actually perspiring.  The house is pretty sweet, though not exactly what you'd expect from the picture in my last post.  Much smaller than it appears.  But still pretty darn sweet.

Carol's first thoughts?    Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

J-Dawg and Coco?  Well, they are digging the pool.  Not sure they even made it inside the house yet.  I'm digging the restaurant/bar that is literally 2 meters away on the opposite side of the gate that you see in the picture behind our rent-a-car.  No we are not keeping the car.  We return that in town tomorrow.  We plan to grow roots in this cute little town, so no car necessary.

No cell phone yet.  Can't seem to find a place that will sell us a sim-card on a Sunday.

Well, I think I'll go take a dip in the Pacific.  That is just a few meters behind the bar I told you about.

Josh and Chloe are due to put up their first post tomorrow.  So stay tuned!

--  Esteban