Friday, March 09, 2007

Hazards of Surfing

Catching Rays
During our last beach days with the Loewen family, we saw some surfers catching some great waves and Steve and I were inspired to take a lesson or two. Without going too far off our south heading route, we found a laid back surf town on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica called Dominical. This town is known for its most consistent waves for surfing.
Every shop in town offered suring lessons so we set out to shop around for the best one. How do you choose a teacher? Best tan, longest hair...We went with a reputed surf school, despite an offer from some guy in a restaurant who offered to teach us right then and there. (He was probably a really good surfer, who knows?)
The next morning we were met by Ramon from the Costa Rica Surf School. He led us to the beach, drew a picture of a surfboard in the sand, and we practised ´standing up´ on it. We basically did push ups, jumping into the standing position, until he was satisfied that our technique was good enough. By this point, I was tired, and we hadn´t even hit the water yet!
We went out into the water, Ramon lined us up with the waves, telling us when to stand up on the boards after giving us a push. We had heard that we would be lucky to stand up on the first lesson, it was all about learning about the waves and balance. Steve stood up on his first (and second and third) attempts. I had a bit more difficulty, seeing as I lack the snowboarding balance experience. Eventually I was able to stand up and it was exhilirating even though the waves are really slow where we were.
The water is really powerful, and I came to appreciate that more, trying to control the board as I carried it out. Our instructor just finished explaining how to properly carry the board to prevent injury, and a big wave came and cracked the board into my head. It hurts. Other hazards of the day included bruises, scrapes from tipping off the board too close to shore (thankfully it was a sand bottom, not volcanic rock), board wax in the chest hair (Steves, not mine) and last but not least a stingray attack.
We were heading back to shore at the end of the lesson when I felt a sharp pain in my heel, and the instructor knew immediately that I had been struck by a stingray. Imagine a bee sting that hurts much more and the pain lasts much longer. I was rushed by a first aid quad across the beach to a treatment center (a chair behind the surf school office). The first aider, whose name I´m sure I heard to be Nacho, came quickly with plants called lengua suegra, or mother-in-law´s tongue. He proceeded to pulverize these plants with a boulder and squeeze the liquid into boiling water that I then had to plunge my foot into. Apparently the hot water deactivates the venom from the ray and the plant is like an aloe vera which soothes and prevents infection. A few hours later I was as good as new, with one more ´adventure´under our belts.
We decided that one lesson was sufficient, being quite sore from playing in the surf those two hours during the lesson, but we look forward to trying it again when we have the chance.

3 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Ouch, Mary- that has got to hurt. Was the boiling water at least cooled enough not to add a burn to the sting. (ha!)

    What adventures!! Where to next?
    It's a blustery day here in Edmonton and reading about your travels makes a nice escape.

    (Sorry had to delete the previous post due to flagrant spelling errors. It's late here and I am tired but just wanted to drop you a line.)
    Take Care.
    Donna

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  3. Thanks for the message Donna, glad to hear that you are keeping up with what we are up to.
    Mary

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