Livin' In the Hills of Esterillos.

Jan 20th:

Adam left today. It is Wednesday January 20th. He will be returning around the first of March. He left his best friend in the whole world under my care, Newman….a decent sized golden retriever/Chesapeake bay retriever mix. Newman is smart as hell, loving, adorable and fierce. He doesn’t miss a beat, and that includes unwanted people walking down the street afterhours. I feel very safe in Adam’s beautiful home protected by his beautiful dog. As soon as he left I opened all the windows, cleaned the bathrooms, the kitchen, the floors, the fridge and the porch. Newman just followed me around, posting up wherever I was cleaning at the moment. Decided to take a break this morning from surfing, and just focus on some rest and putzing around the house. Shawn is leaving in one week to join Adam on a journey from Houston, Texas down through Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua all the way to Esterillos Oeste, Costa Rica. SO, Shawn had to get some ducks in order as well. It’s not ALL fun and games in Paradise….

Went to CrackHoe this afternoon. Oh, did I say “Crack Hoe”? I meant to say JACO. Anyways, did some food shopping and stopped for a treat at the Fish Taco bar. They have ginormous, delicious, refreshing Limonada’s and kickass hummus with fresh baked pitas. Came home just in time to unload the groceries, play with Newman and give Newman a bath. “A bath?” you ask…yes, well Newmans only bad habit is running away after monkeys that live in the backyard. Sure enough, Shawn let him out, he sees a monkey and off he went into the jungle. That friggin bastard, I was ready to kill em! He came back, with his favorite ball in his mouth, wagging his tail – completely out of breath and soaked…filthy from head to tail. Lucky me, my mother is a dog groomer – so I have some skills when it comes to cleaning a dirty dog. Now, not only was Newman happy because he had chased a monkey, but he still had his favorite ball in his mouth and he was nice and clean (this dog loves baths. I know, odd). Went for a sunset surf and was delighted with perfect waist high peelers…no one else out except for me, Les and Vago. We took turns in the lineup for a while before people caught onto our good time, 20 tico kids paddling out and some gringos too. An ice cold club soda (with a glass of ice and limes) and then Shawn and I hauled ass back to the house for SHRIMP FRA DIAVLO. I sautéed the shrimp in garlic, onions, olive oil, salt + pepp, and some cayenne and red pepper flakes. Some diced tomatoes and a dash of pasta sauce and we were ready to rumble. Shawn left shortly after for Poker (Wednesday nights are poker nights @ Mike & Marthas…5Mil buy in). I stayed at the house to hang with Newman and Shiva Rea. Shiva Rea is a GODDESS in the yoga world…basically trailblazing FLOW YOGA. I watched her DVD Lunar Flow Yoga and looked for some inspiration for tomorrows 10am class. I’m struggling a bit with the conflict of teaching to a very varied group of yogis. Some are VERY new beginners, others very experienced veterans. To flow or not to flow? This is the question…. I think that Shiva may be a bit too eccentric and flowy for the Soda Mary boys, but who knows, maybe with time they will grow to love it like I do. Wish me luck. Namaste.


Jan 21st:

Surfed this morning at a beach break close by that will remain unnamed. It was perfect, clean and shoulder high (this is measured by SHAWNS shoulders, not mine). There were 3 people in the lineup for as FAR as the eye could see. Literally. Cam, Shawn and Me...and no one else in either direction for miles and miles. Pura Vida. Came home, ate a shrimp taco for breakfast, played with Newman and then headed down to da ghetto to teach Yoga @ VAGOS. Had a huge crew come out and Susan and Iggy rolled up during class. Woohooo. Town is filling up, tourists are pouring in, and HIGH SEASON has begun!