Saint John of the Surf

Wednesday 27 May 2009

Saint John of the Surf

Martha likes to gossip in her pink satin nightgown, exchanging stories about the neighbours or giving her friends the low-down about each of the people staying at her guesthouse. She is obsessed with cleaning, frequently re-cleaning in the footsteps of her hired-help. She mentions the weather in every conversation. It is nice to have her around, she has the qualities of a big-hearted aunt. We rent a room from her for five nights.

San Juan del Sur is a coastal town on the Pacific side of Nicaragua. The town has been gringofied, this is not a place to seek culture. It is not unpleasant, with bright-coloured buildings and a number of good cafes and restaurants.

Main street, San Juan del Sur

El Gato Negro - a place of hummus, books & world-weary owners

Saturday market, San Juan del Sur

The most important thing to mention about our stay here is that Irina and I discover our love of surfing! I have found previous surfing expeditions in the Atlantic ocean to be less than enthralling, but here in the Pacific ocean is another ballgame! Once in the water, we stay for up to 5 hours at a time - feeling so all-consumed with the waves that we forget hunger-rumbles and jellyfish stings! A Peruvian chap with atrocious English and straw-like blond hair gives us some coaching. Together we stay in the water (laughing and laughing) until the final moments of daylight. Back to town and Martha is always waiting to give us a warm welcome and beaming smile.

All pictures of me surfing have been stolen along with Helene's camera. I do have a picture of a wave.

Wave at Playa Remanso

When not surfing we spend time at the beach, reading and avoiding crabs/hawkers/men/ thieves.

Irina, Irina's guardian angel, Elaine & Helene

Local beach at San Juan del Sur (not for surfing)

Same beach as above

I practice yoga every day at the local health centre and read a book called Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

In The Jungle Room we dance salsa. Marie dances with a gangster boy who says ´24 years I half´ when asked.

Watching an electrical storm on the seafront

Iguana, where the gangstas hang out

We watch some sunsets and incredible thunderstorms that last for hours. Then, we leave.

There are lots of frogs and toads

1 comment:

Ana28 May 2009 at 14:23
I would love to meet Martha. We all need a Martha in our lives.
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Pearls of Wisdom

Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.

- James Bryant Conant

Say what you want and be who you are because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

-Dr. Seuss

You cannot stop the birds of sorrow from landing on your shoulder, but you can prevent them nesting in your hair.

-Chinese proverb

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.

-Winston Churchill

The discipline of writing something down is the first step towards making it happen.

-Lee Iacocca

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer someone else up.

-Mark Twain

Our prime purpose in life is to help others. And if your can't help them, at least don't hurt them.

-Dalai Lama

It is better to have lived one day as a tiger than 1,000 years as a sheep.

-Tibetan proverb

If you want to be happy for a short time, get drunk; happy for a long time, fall in love; happy forever, take up gardening.

-Arthur Smith

DESIDERATA

GO placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with other, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.

IF you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about, don't deal in lies, or being hated, don't give way to hating, and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, and lose, and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on when there is nothing in you except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run, yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, and - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son! -Rudyard Kipling

Elaine's Trail of Thoughts — Travel Memoirs

Wednesday 27 May 2009