Friday, July 22, 2011

Surf's Up

Waves. Love the sound. Love watching them crash against the shore with intent, draw away and come back to shore, again, with more purpose and drive, as to prove a point. The point is, to me, gorgeous. Calming and exhilarating all at the same time. Not to mention breathing in the salty air, smelling the ocean, toes in the sand...you get my drift.


Surf in Montanita - tide was out, small waves


A while back I had the pleasure of living in California, Moorpark/Thousand Oaks area in Ventura County. LOVED IT. My kids loved it. We loaded up the Jeep with our boards and set through the canyon road to Malibu, at least several times a week. My younger son Alec loves the water, but he was rather young when we left CA for Alabama, so he didn't get as much time "on the board." So this trip he had the opportunity to surf in Montanita - boy he was excited!



So while we were in Ecuador, we took a day trip to Montanita. What fun! Cows in the road (seriously, more on driving and roads in a later post), and those speed bumps. Freaking 2 stories high my husband says! Almost took out the undercarriage of our little egg car (Chevy Spark). But I digress....



We park the rental car, talk on the phone with Leigh from Olon, unfortunately they can't meet up with us, but she gives us great referrals in Montanita - where to eat, where to go for surf lessons, etc. We head over to Montani Tours and Leslie hooks up Alec with a 2 hour surf lesson for $20. Really? Sweet!! That includes board and a nice rash guard to use. 




Since we have several hours to kill, we roam the streets of Montanita and for those of you who enjoy people watching, this is manna. We hang out at the beach. More people watching!

Bought a few things - we communicated in what is called Spanglish, haha

Inexpensive jewelry, lots of um, herbal stuff and accessories to go with, yeah, that's a nice description, and they have public bathrooms and showers! THAT'S a rare sight! And they were decent, too!


 Time for the lesson - pics tell it all:




 His instructor is to the right. Nice guy. Didn't speak much English but Alec understood most of what he was saying.






Looks like a strategy session.






















Heading into the water....
That's a big board ya got there Alec!




Almost.....

And he's up!
 Needless to say, we enjoyed watching him tackle the waves, albeit from the comfort of our beach chairs. I remember my surfing days.....ahhh, to be young again. 

Tami












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