Wed. March 1^st

Hey fellow surf fans! Today was slow getting out of bed, a bit sore from yesterdays fun! Guess I will be visiting Belkis the masseuse real soon!

The weather was the same as every day, nice clear sky, plenty of sun, and the palms were swaying to the dance of the wind on the leaves, looks like another beautiful day in paradise!

I worked on my internet connection for most of the morning, having trouble connecting to my server! I was able to post the photos to the site, but then couldn’t make connection to update the daily blog with the links to the pics! I tried the office here at Casa Rita, but the new office layout has no extra connections, and I was unable to hook up.

I tried the new internet café of Tito and Mary Luz, but it’s still new, and they haven’t got the external connections working yet, security passwords and such. But while there I met Bernie, and we sat down for lunch. The Sub sandwich shop is totally awesome! I really dig the ‘Subway’ style layout! Very nice grilled sandwich of turkey w/ all the fixins! Gotta like the new option for lunch! The coffee is super as well! And good prices too!

After a tasty lunch, I strolled down to the center, and got ready for another photo session. The wind was up and folks were out on 5’s or less! Plenty of subjects for capture, and had 600+ photos in an hour or so! Did notice a problem with fogging today, not sure why, but towards the end of the session, I started to fog up. I will have to try a few more vacuum/purge cycles next time to assure the proper humidity in the case. Pretty sure I messed up, and only did a couple vs. the 3-5 I like to do. I’ll find out on Thursday’s session. Still got plenty of shots, and was able to reduce the 600+ to a manageable 49 photos for posting. Now If I can just get them uploaded! (See the photo gallery.)

After the photo fun, it was my turn to ride! I consulted with the guys at the desk, and chose an 80lt Maui Project with the 5.2M sail. What a great couple of runs! That combo loves to jump! Yet after a few rounds out and back, I hit some holes, and soon found myself downwind past the pier! Plenty of swearing and discouraging words, before I gave up, and did the walk of shame back up the beach to Vela! (OK, still a better day than shoveling snow!)

The clock was near 5pm, and I hastily cleaned up and gather my stuff for a couple beers at the bar and some chat. Met up with Roger, and he and I talked techno stuff about WiFi available in the beach hotel, and the options in town for card purchase. I may need to get a taxi to Los Roubles for some techy purchasing, if I can’t get my phone connection to work again.

It was now time to make ready for supper, and I was off to the room for a shower. Ahhhh! Feels so good! Cleaned and ready, I made my way down to Mobu for pizza with the Vela staff. We had a great time at the table telling stories, and I worked on my Spanish listening skills, good thing there is plenty of hand gestures, and I think they even slowed down the speech rate to a more understandable slower pace, such that I could understand much more than previously! Finally my Spanish is improving after 10 years of visits!! We had a great time, and stuffed ourselves on tasty tropico Latina pizzas! Great food, great people, good beer, life is good!

After a few hugs goodbye, it was off to the bed. Wicho was kind enough to haul my stuffed gut up the hill in his car to Casa Rita, with some Eagles music for the short 300yd trip. Very cool Wicho! Nice CD player, and a cool car! Thanks Man!

I got to the room and spent a few minutes in the wonderful hammock on my terrace, watching the stars and just relaxing in the wonder of the night sky. So many more stars to see! The sky was super clear, and the hammock ride nearly put me to sleep! But off to the bed, for more fun mannana!

Luego….

Timo