21/02/10 Funky Monkey - Pool side

We stayed in Tamarindo for a few more days before heading back. Surfing wise we did very little other than going to playa Avellanas, the reef break. On one of the days we were messing around in the sea on a cloudy day. when we had to head back to the car we had to walk along the beach. By the time we got there I had severely burnt shoulders! I had put on waterproof 60 yet I managed to burn myself so that it ended up blistered. =[

Other than that it been pretty uneventful. In our surfing lesson George wanted us to start using cutbacks! Not the roundhouse kind but all the same! To me I've always thought of the cutback as a high profile move yet he wants us to start using them! WOW!

Yesterday we went to a Rodeo. The drinking had begun before we got there but none of us were drunk, tipsy yes, drunk no. At 8 we entered the stadium and got very good seats. We quickly realised you could enter the ring which Alex, Priddy, Franky, Sam and I all did. Obviously flip-flops removed! After the rider has got off his bull everyone in the ring tries to tease it and get close. Not long later two cowboys enter the ring to lasso the bull, which will normally calmly leave the ring. The bulls vary how aggressive they are; one started eating after he threw his rider off and as he walked beneath me (I was on the wall.) I could put my feet on him, the other side of things was one attacking someone standing next to the wall, which the others hadn't done.

At one point they released a bull with no rider and no warning. Alex got chased by it twice only narrowly missing it!

Right now your probably amazed that I'd managed to be in a ring with 7 bulls and not get hurt. Well think again! With 15 minutes till our taxi was coming to pick us up we were out of the ring when the 8th bull was released. All of us clambered to get back in for one last go! By this time he had rid himself of his rider and made his way to our side of the ring. I was hanging ready to drop when he moved off. In my peripheral vision I saw this fast moving 4 legged beast running away from me so jumped down.

It was a horse.

I had turned to listen to a Costa Rican.

The bull had turned around and was coming towards me with 2 tonnes of muscle.

Naturally I jumped for the wall but only made it half way before it hit me picking up my legs. It head butted me off the wall and bounced me on his head a few times before I hit the floor. At which point I scrambled underneath the bottom rung in the fence. Honestly that's the fastest I've ever moved!

Fortunately I got lucky, my left hand fingers got cut from holding onto the wall and I've got a bruise on my left thigh from the bull. All superficial damage, mainly because it happened so quickly I was relaxed which limits damage.

None of that is a joke, it honestly happened. Ask my Dad I think its taken quite a few years off him!

13/02/10 Hostel Chocolate - Tamarindo

On the ninth we left the funky monkey for our road trip. Dad and Jackie have stayed in Sante Teresa. Which after last night I'm glad.

After taking a wrong turn into the mountains we pulled over for lunch. During lunch the conversation rolled onto our porn names. This is where you take your first pets name and your Mum's maiden name and put them together. Most of them are quite strange; Frankie was Doubles Hamilton for example. I'm Splash Miles. I only remember the ones we're still using. As there are three Sam's it seems I'm now Splash!

After a bit longer on the road we got to our first stop, Nosara. Its slightly more americanised then Sante Teresa. Everyone here speaks English and Reggae is hardly ever played, we get a load of American rubbish. We got shown to our rooms, removed the boards from the van, attached the fins and leashes and hit the beach. I decided not to wear a rashy and now have a lovely rash on my stomach and chest from the wax.

The wave there is a really mellow one although during our two 6am surfs the wind was offshore and turned them into large rollers, peeling off. As the road trip motto is to never drive away from a good surf we delayed our departure until midday on the eleventh and got in an extra two sessions.

Both of our lessons were drill based; 5 waves in 15 minutes, 5 lefts in 15, 5 rights and 5 changes of direction. If you didn't succeed then punishments are delt out. Pressups, Squatthrusts, Crunches Vertical Jumps and much more. They were evil lessons but good fun!

After leaving Nosara we headed to Tamarindo. This is the place they surf in Endless Summer II. I've now seen the place where the plane gets crashed! Tamarindo is quite built up. So far I've seen a HSBC, Pizza Hut and a Subway. To americanised for my liking.

However, this did prove to be a good thing! Yesterday was Priddy's 22nd birthday. This is why I was glad Dad isn't here. Unlike any normal team leaders Linely and Sam planned on getting us wasted!

From 9-11 we had a video anaylsis session which is where we watched footage of us surfing and corrected mistakes. I've got this annoying habbit of ending my front arm into my body.

During and after this I cooked everyone birthday banana pancakes which seemed to go down well. At 12 we loaded up the van and headed to a beach called Playa Avellanes, its 45 minutes away as there are no direct routes there. It was incredibly gentle reef break over rocks. Do you hear the sound of inevitability? I do! The take off point is really small so it was a battle to get a wave. Despite this I got some lovely lefts and rights. My last wave was great. The wave totally cleaned up and no-one else went for it. I rode it left saw it was breaking ahead so turned right, saw it was reforming behind me so turned back. Only then did I notice the rocks a foot beneath the wave. Gently getting off the board I slipped up and cut my leg. Choosing to walk to shore over the rocks, rather than paddle back out over them, I got to the shore with a nice selection of cuts and grazes on my legs and feet.

When we got back we set up for a birthday BBQ which again was delishious food! Everyone there had beers and a few bottles of vodka had been brought earlier. After the BBQ we filled our cups and on our team leaders decision played Have you ever I have never, with international drinking rules.

7 or 8 shots later we'd left for the monkey club. After getting there I realised Erin wasn't with us. She'd dropper her camera case which had money and her drivers licence in it, but fortunatly no camera. Its highly unadvisable for a girl to on their own out at night here so I lef to find her. We never did find the case. I don't know what time I got back to bed mainly becasue I lost my watch in Nosara but I know it well past midnight.

Today is a rest day, mainly so that Sam and Linely can get over their hangovers!