Surf, surf, and turf!

So the new house has no Internet, so blogging is not as easy. The whole fam rolled in for a couple also so we have been a bit busier. Grandma Yettie leaves today, and she will be missed. Not only has she helped with everything that mothers do, but it has just been awesome to have family here. Lee and her girls leave in 4 more days, and then back to basics. Watching 10 week old Baby Virginia double in size has been awesome, and Stella has had a lot of wrecking time with her lil homie Leila. Lee, Shelly, and I have been addicted to Banangrams, so that must end.

Most of the past 2 weeks have been filled with Surf, and Tacos. The Peso went from 12-14 per dollar. So 2 awesome grilled shrimp tacos, cost a whopping $2.10! Unbelievable! We had an amazing day a an all inclusive tourist filled beach front resort. In order to get my money's worth,I took a hobie cat ride, I played bingo, partook in some beer chugging, swimming, balloon popping race, which I totally blew out the whole field and won, ate way, too much from the buffet,and I also drank about 76 piña coladas whit out really feeling drunk. It was an odd day, but it was fun, and the girls had a blast in the large pools all day. The hotel was in front of a nice break named Burros, but it was a bummer that day and super small.

We have gone to La Lancha a bunch, which is a short drive away, but a nice mushy wave that everyone has enjoyed. We all agreed, that yesterday was one the best days in the water. We picked up our friends that are here on a sailing adventure with their 2 kids, and made a day of it. 2 babies, two 4 year olds, a 3 year old, and six big kids. 5 boards, bags, coolers.........Shit show, but awesome. We are a bit of a production when we arrive, but with all the kiddos, you gotta come prepared or you won't last 10 minutes in the heat. I officially caught some waves on my short board yesterday, and it was a lot of fun. Stella even decided she wanted to stand up on her own and gave it a shot. She's not even four and she paddles out with me, duck dives, and let's me push heron her wave. I like where this going.

Today I am taking Peter ( dad of the sailors) to Puerto Vallarta to move his boat to a new slip. Looking forward to it, since have been a little stir crazy. Pictures coming soon. Enjoy the chilly nights in Bend, my bare feet and tank top are thinking of you.

Location:Av Revolución,Sayulita,Mexico

FOOD CART, SHMOOD CART, STREET FOOD, SHMEET FOOD!

After putting together my own food cart,( the artist formally known as PŪPŪS), and working for dear friends over at SPORK, I have a liking for Street Food. I nice looking, well crafted little businesses, serving tasty eats. Well after being a Mexico for 1 month, I am reminded of how awesome it is to use all your resources in order to best suit your situation. The have been selling street food, street drinks, street whatever you can imagine for as long as you can imagine. And they are doing this in amazing fashion. Whatever, whenever, however. Every kind of bicycle, tri-cycle, scooter, wagon, shack, ice chest, baking pan on head, you name it. The one similarity.....TASTY! Everything has been sooooooo good. The crazier looking the vendor, and the wackier looking the contraption they are selling out of, the better is has been. I understand it's 2 different places, 2 different economies, to different cultures, but it makes me wish we could just slang home made treats in any fashion we wanted. I bought a donut off a lady on the beach last night that cruising with a baking sheet on her head full of them. That lady has ZERO OVERHEAD, except the donuts on her head! HA! We put a lot of work into PŪPŪS, and sold it fornanchange of lifestyle. But if I was to do it all over again, I think I would have done it different. It cost roughly $10,000 from start to finish. With less than $1,000 being permitting and fees, it was all equipment and product. Instead, 5 bad ass tricycle, wagon, trailer, contraptions. Put $2,000 into each one, and have a miny franchise right off the bat. I know it's not just that easy, but a thought. It would be amazing to give one ofbtheses street vendors $9,000 to open a new concession stand, and see what they came up with? I have been meaning to get a bunch of photos of these creations, so stay tuned for those. My mind is definitely thinking a lot more simple, which is why I took this journey. Adapting so far is not tough, its the part where I think about all the crap I stored back home that I don't need. I live in swimtrunks, rotate through 4-5 shirts and tank tops, and have worn shoes only to go for a run. It stills feels like vacation a little bit, because I haven't workednin over a month. We should both be starting work November 1, in Mal Pais, so that will feel good. The Welsh clan and Grandma Yettie Monster arrive tomorrow morning. Can't wait to see them!

Friends, Scorpions and Burros

Stella has a new boyfriend named Teddy. Teddy is a 5 yr old, tan, little boat monkey that speaks English, Spanish and Swedish. He has helped Stella gain the courage to surf by herself and has thrown sand and water in her face, knocked her off a tractor tire and is all around toughening her up. He totally gets away with it though because he is a doll, and Stella loves him.  Stella is in need of mas ninos. Leila is coming in a few days, and I cannot wait until she can play her games with someone. She is in major need of some cousin love. I am in major need of some family time as well. Not to mention the new baby Bird-ginia.  I cannot wait to get some baby squeezin' up in here.

We were all sitting at the table the other night and Stella was playing with the light switch. She went to turn the light on and jumped. She said there was a scary lizard that moved. It was a scorpion. I almost shit myself. I don't think there is a creature on this planet that i dislike more than a scorpion. They are stupid and there is no reason they are in existence. If you have another thought on the matter i would love to hear it cause they are haunting me now.
When I was a kid and we would visit my Grandma Annice on Maui, she would put any strange bug we found in a book. I thought it was crazy, until I took a look in the book. (yeah) It is fascinating. I have heard too many stories of centipedes crawling into bed with people, and venomous spiders finding homes in the towels hanging in the bathroom. urgh... Now when I close my eyes to sleep i am envisioning armies of scorpions coming at me. Under the mattress, under my pillow, on the ceiling. It gets so bad I start to feel them on me. I opened the cabinet and a piece of trash whirled out on the floor and I screamed and jumped back. I know I am going to have to get used to them, but scorpions? really? F that.

We went to Burro's today. Parked at the wrong hotel and hiked a mile in on soft sand. Good for the ass and the patience. Burrows is, for the most part, a right. Lots of rocks surrounding the area, but there is a nice channel to paddle out in. Nolan yet again didn't make it in time and got a pounding. I went out for 2 hours and caught two waves, then decided to reconstruct a surf shack on the beach. A woman asked me if it was my new home and said I was coming up in the world. Thanks, bitch. At least it has a ocean view.


 There was a hotel there that had some Hobbie Cats they where gearing up. Game on when Lee and Mark get here. I think we will have to find a sitter for a day of sailing. Racing perhaps.
Nolan and I have been talking about buying a spear for fishing. Apparently, Sayulita is a world wide destination for spear fishing, and there where guys catching 90 lb. fish out there. They said you spear them and then tie it to a rock and wait for it to die while you go up and down for air. Could you imagine spearing a 6 ft tuna under water and then wrestling it to a rock? Talk about fishing.

Birthday trip of amazingness

Yelapa is like no place I have been. From what I understand, the Spaniards put aside land for the indigenous people, similar to American Indian reservations, and they aren't under Mexico law. There were four main families that own claim on the land in Yelapa, and if any outsiders wish to build there, they must make a deal with the families. But the person cannot actually own the property, and can have it taken by anyone in the family and if they leave, the house becomes the families again. The town is separated by the families land. So when you walk through the town you will see signs for the Garcia's businesses and then you may walk into the "Carlos" business section, for instance.









So we went to Puerto Vallarta to catch and early boat over. We saw another one of the amazing canoes that are carved out of a single piece of wood.





On the way over we happened to meet one of the only gringos that lives there. Brad, has lived there for 20 years, marrying and then divorcing from the Garcia family. He still has property with the family and gave us a grand tour on the way in and a free small apartment to stay in. Score!








So we decided to check out a restaurant that a guy told us about a week prior. We couldn't remember the name of the place, so luckily we ran into a guy we met in Sayulita in front of the hospital (as he found out he had chicken pox) and he just so happened to own the place! We had to take a boat across the mouth of the river to get to it, which an old man walks back and forth. The restaurant is called Angelina's Garden and it is so good!











She has a garden in the back that she makes her food with and the son catches all the fish.
We ate, drank, swam in an awesome pool at the hotel next door and then ate, drank some more. They came in with their catch from fishing that day, 12 enormous fish.



























The family, along with Nolan and Stella, found some hostess treats, a shot of the local booze, a candle and the uncle with a guitar and they serenaded me with a birthday song. It was hilarious! We all stayed up drinking for a bit and managed to miss the last boat across the river back to our casita.








They offered us the hammocks at Angelina's so Stella and I shared a hammock and Nolan took the other one. We had a long night of crazy jungle noises making us uneasy. Dogs were barking all over the place. The old drunk man was near us somewhere snoring and talking in his sleep and I am not sure if anyone has tried to sleep 2 in a net hammock, but it is a really uncomfortable and awkward situation. The sunrise made up for it though.









In the morning we slowly meandered to the waterfall for breakfast and the caught the water taxi back to Boca, and took a bus to PV.

























Vallarta.











The pace of life in Yelapa is so slow, and I could have used a week there.

If you want to know more about the history of Yelapa, Brad (the gringo we met on the taxi) has a great blog called pelapainyelapa.com

Now we are back in the AC resting and catching up on some sleep. We are waiting for a swell that should be here on Monday. Then right after the swell Lee, Mark, the girls and my Mom fly in.... Bad timing for them....

Location:Yelapa

Sand creations

La Serena. She was swept to sea right after she was finished.

Location:Playa de Los muertos

Whoops!

Woke up in a foul mood. I don't know why, but i was not a pleasure to be around this morning. We drove into Puerto Vallarta today. Dropped Nolan off at the dentist and went to park on the other side of the street in the shade to wait for him. Pulled under a tree and.... CRUNCH!!! The tree took out the whole Yakima system on our roof, Thule box was smashed and the cage was drooping down and hitting the roof of the canopy. The whole thing shifted and the clamps were bent down blocking the doors.
After two lovely gents bent the bars back so I could open my doors, I rustled around the truck looking for the key to the racks and couldn't find it anywhere. My face was bright red and I was sweating from the heat... So embarrassed of my bonehead maneuver. All i can think is, i know Nolan told me where the key was and i wasn't listening, as usual, he is going to kill me! The men where trying everything they could to help me, but nothing was going to happen until I found the damn key. Yo no se donde es la llave! Ahhh! I have such broken, horrible Spanish.
So I grab Stella and run into the dentist office to fess up to Nolan and ask where he put the key. The receptionist called the dentist and hands me the phone. I tell him I need to speak with Nolan, and he says no problem and hangs up. So I figure he is going to send him out.
Nolan is in the chair when the dentist tells him I need to talk to him and he starts thinking something horrible has happened. So as quickly as he can, he rushes out and I tell him what happened. He didn't say much for the next hour as we unloaded the water and gas from the cage, and bent the metal pieces back and Jimmy rigged it enough to get home. Turns out he was in much better spirits than I, thank god. I couldn't feel much worse at this point. It was so hot, that we went to get smoothies around the corner, and as I am waiting in line a huge painting fell on my head.... Again causing my to blush like crazy. I think the universe was telling me to snap out of my little pity party today.
Nolan is now fixing it. I am going to go bring him a cervesa, or perhaps one of these.....
Whoops!

Location:Puerto Vallarta

Day of rest, healing and Jedi

We have some sore muscles and battle wounds from yesterday. Decided to stay in and watch all of the star wars episodes... why not?



We have already met a little boy who had a staff infection in his nose and began spreading into his sinuses. Poor baby!! He is good now, but it put some fear into us about open wounds in the rain water, polluted ocean.

Location:La casita

I'm rolling thunder, fire and rain....

Yesterday the largest waves coming in where easily 10ft and the left held true and long. All the locals were lining the beach and few were paddling out. If you paddled out at the wrong time, the river entering the ocean from the south would push you a quarter mile up the beach. Nolan was unfortunately one of the many causalities, losing the strength to make it out; also, shredding his foot apart on the rocks. (thank goodness for the super glue... The super-est of all the glues!) but totally redeemed himself on the third try.
There is a rock point south of the bay, and when the waves start to barrel out there you know the set is about to come in, so it is a good idea to sit on the beach and wait for the opportune moment to paddle like hell. I was lucky and made it out easily, paddled straight past the line up to the long boarders (for fear of getting a pounding) and thank the lord I did cause a huge set came in and wiped out everyone on the inside.
It really made me realize yesterday that when there is no fear there is no glory. I really wish Lee and Curtis were there with me. Soon!
Today I was sitting inn the line up and saw the barrels come over the rocks and started paddling my heart out. I was the only one who made it past out the set, and it was most definitely bigger that the day before. I was in perfect position for the huge set, but I couldn't bring myself to commit. Looking down a wave that big is so humbling. Especially when everyone on the inside is looking at me wishing they where in my position. To much pressure!!! One of the locals later came out and told me I needed to stop being lame and just go for it. So I did, and easily can say best wave of my life, thus far. The left here just keeps sectioning. It is the longest wave I have yet experienced.

Location:Sayulita