Mad Mexico

I think that Mexico is mad at me…I’m not sure why, but she’s let me know. Last night while walking back from Heather’s place my camera fell out of my bag {I only discovered the hole in my bag this morning}. I didn’t realize the camera was missing or discover the hole until about 6am today. As soon as the sun rose I began my walk down the beach, scanning the sand hoping to come across it. No camera, but I did come across my new friend Leslie who said that she’d found it last night and left it at the bar up the way- It was ruined by the ocean, but maybe I could salvage the memory card. Damnit. To cheer myself up I paddled out for some waves. The first wave I take off too deep, miss the section, abandon ship with my arms over my head, and underwater my board punches me in the face. I split my lip on the outside and my teeth went through my gums on the inside of my lip. I was just praising the higher power that my teeth were still there…I thought for sure I was going to look like a 7 year old, missing my front two teeth. I was on the brink of tears when a man paddled up to me a few minutes later, a good surfer who’s been in town for a few days with his wife. He said “Are you on the pro tour?”…I started to laugh, but my lip hurt too much so I just let out a giggle and said “No.” I thought he was just being polite…’oh, poor girl with a fat lip’, I guess I’ll say something nice. HA! Then he said “Well, who are your sponsors?” Again, I let out a little laugh and said “Just me.” And as soon as I thought he said all the nicest things possible, he says “Well, the only other person that I have seen look so beautiful and graceful on a longboard is Joel Tudor”. Well, G’DAMN! Despite the fat, split lip I was grinning from ear to ear. Surely an exaggeration on his part, but it filled me up with some good stuff none-the-less. Despite the nicest compliment I’ve ever heard my face was throbbing and I was just having a hard time shaking my funky mood. Cut my session short, only two hours today. Came in for some oatmeal and decided to sit down and come up with a PLAN…you all know how much I love a plan! Sat down at the internet and began looking up flights and sending out emails. I love surfing, but my FAVORITE reason for travel is meeting new people…and heavens almighty I have met some wonderful, outta-this-world people over the past few years. I’m pretty good at staying in some form of regular contact with my many newfound friends, and I try if at all possible to visit when I can. An easy place to visit is the West Coast, and I’ve met boatloads of people over time who reside there. So I decided…California it is. Now, where to stay? Earlier this year when I was in Costa my friend Brian Bouregious was up north in Samara. He is developing land in nearby town Camaronal and invited me up to his place. Brian told me that there would be several other people coming and going over the two weeks he was there, but that I was more than welcome to stay at the casa. So, I rented a car and drove four hours north for a visit. The house was absolutely stunning and I was instantly glad for taking him up on the offer. Also at the house was his cousin Ben Bourgeious {pro surfer}, Nate Lee {professional videographer and photographer}, Travis Deitz {comedian…}, and Lenny Jones. Lenny is Volcom’s #1 rep…he has been in the surf industry for a long time and is very involved with the surf community as well as his hometown community of Encinitas. For the week I was there I was cooking three delicious square meals a day…a treat for these boys who are accustomed to PB&J’s and spaghetti on surf trips. Lenny said that whenever I wanted to visit that he had a house on the beach with a spare bedroom in Encinitas. I shot him an email this morning on facebook and now I’m going to ENCINITAS!! I leave Mexico on April 23rd and I’ll be in California until May 6th. I cannot travel on the train with my 9’ longboard, so I plan on leaving that at Lenny’s and taking the train up the coast to visit some friends and family. Hopefully I’ll be able to meet up with new friends Zeuf and Heather in Santa Cruz for another premier of Heathers’ film The Women and the Waves. All in all, excited for a new adventure and looking forward to being home in three weeks. It’s been a great year, and I know that they will only get better. And as long as I don’t have a split lip, I won’t stop smiling!