Laser Wolf: longest day ever...

so here was our plan...

Get up around 9, and have coffee and breakfast and wait for our amigo Jorvin, along with his wife, to pick us up in a truck we rented,then we would head north about and hour and a half to the Tola region to surf at Playa Colorado with Jeremy, a friend from the states. we would hang by the pool and have lunch then surf some nice head high barreling waves at high tide, then maybe have a drink and head home. Jorvin asked if his wife could come so they could enjoy a day at the beach since he was taking the day off from the taco stand. I thought it was the least we could do since he was to guide us to the beach and drive the mostly dirt roads, which many of were unmarked as well.

here is how it went down...

got up had coffee etc.. as planned. Jorvin was a little late but no big deal, we left about 11:45. his wife decided not to come for whatever reason, which was fine, we would do a guys trip. everything started fine, smooth driving (kind of) no cops, and a quick stop in Rivas for gas.

the drive through Rivas to Tola wasn't bad and we arrived as Hacienda Iguana as planned on time more or less. sweet, so we head to the gate and tell the guard that we were there to visit a friend who was expecting us. he checked the list and says, "no i cant let you in, you aren't on the list..." ok... can you please call the front office and contact Jeremy so that he knows we are here? no. can you let us in to the office? no. can you let us in to look at property? we are very interested in buying a condo.(for $600,000..ha!) no. ok... well, let me just call the office on my Nica cell phone and i will figure this out. check my bag... no phone. shit! i left it at home. Jorvin says, I have a phone, I will cal... wait, shit! no minutes left.

ok, so lets go down the road, and fill up the minutes at the Pulperia (which is like a corner store, which are everywhere and you can get lunch, sodas, snacks etc. and charge your phone card. everyone uses pre-paid phones here.)

we get to the store and ask to buy minutes, and the lady was like sure we can charge your "Claro" (a phone service) minutes, no problem... but, Jorvin has "Movistar" (another company) shit! ok, no phone. the lady let me make a call on her phone for 20 cordoba ($1). i call the desk and explain the situation and ask them to contact Jeremy and to have him call our phone, which still accepts incoming calls even though the minutes are up??!?

so we sit and wait... nothing. more waiting... nothing, no phone call. so another dollar, another call. they say they cant reach him. damnit. so we drive back to the gate to try and convince the guard to no avail. his favorite word was "no". I think he was jealous of my mustache, because his was weak and mine is fuerte!

ok... next idea, we go farther up the road to use the internet, I'll Skype jeremy and we will get it figured out. get to the internet place, people were very nice, but no voice chat on Skype. ok, I'll message him... done, no answer. so i leave a message and tell him to call us if he gets it.

at this point about 3 hours have gone by and we decide to try and find another place to surf. we check the lookout point and the waves look fun so we decide to surf "Santana"

we drive to the entrance, because we were told that you can pay to get in and it's no problem. we get there show ID to the guard and in we go... sweet! that was easy.

we drive down to the office to pay and the lady greets us with a smile and says " welcome. its $15 to get in but you can use the money toward drinks food, beach rentals etc." ok, sounds good $5 each? no problem... "oh, but you cant surf..." what! what the hell do 80% of the people come here to do? eat at your crappy restaurant?! bullshit! so.... on the road again.

we see a gate that was left unlocked, maybe on accident but fuck it, at this point what do we have to lose? we charge down the road, meet a guy working security on the land near the beach who is very nice and shows us a road that we can take to surf. we go, and it works! finally! waves! it's about chest to head high, offshore wind, and warm water. so fun! it reminded me of a secret spot at home that only breaks so often. i caught 15 or so waves in the hour of sunlight that we had left then got out to breathe a sigh of relief and start out trip back.

we watch the sunset and get in the truck to head out. vamos!... stuck in the sand.
shit! shit! what next! 20 minutes of digging and stacking rocks, we get unstuck and are on our way again.

after a 2 hour drive in the dark and rain dodging cows and people on bikes and chickens and horses and giant trucks that dont move over to let you pass, we arrive back in san juan at Jorvin's sisters pizza place and have an ice cold beer and some awesome pizza.

ok, whew! what a day, lets go to the house and call it a night. heading home, smooth sailing... get to the hill near the house and start to head up... start sliding...slide some more. brakes... more sliding..."uh we are going to hit that tree, or that house...." stop. didn't hit the tree or house but do get stuck in the mud again.... 15 minutes of stacking rocks and moving branched and small trees and we get up the hill.

3 beers later and I'm in bed.

...longest day ever for 1 hour of surfing. but, it was worth it.
(p.s. Jeremy did tell the place that we were coming and to make sure that we were let in... they didn't relay the message obviously)

I want one of these trucks...