The Life and Times of...Me

It's funny how recent experiences can seem so far away. No matter how arresting a sight, how pungent a smell, how exhausting a travel day, how exhilarating a first wave on a different continent when you realize "right, it still works the same way here", all those strong experiences still fade into the sights, sounds, and feelings right in front of you. I join Mr. Bojangles for my first Windansea surf check back in San Diego Sitting on the beach here in San Diego, it's almost like that first wave, that sailing trip, those meals, those three days in a campervan never happened. In that split second between the last night on this beach and this morning on this beach, all those memories had spontaneously appeared, simultaneously brought with an accompanying familiarity that gently reminds "yes, you were actually there." I'll put the brakes on the introspective mumbo jumbo before I get too mopey. Really just wanted to get across "I'm ...

The days are starting to feel long. I feel like I've done so much here already, and I'm only on my second full day. I really like being in one place for awhile, and getting to meet (and interact) with the people. Otherwise it feels superficial, going from POI to POI, feeling a bit like I'm just doing it so I can tell my friends at home that I did. Decided to take a day off of surfing. Instead of going out in the morning, I spent the time roaming the village with my camera. Gerupuk is a small fishing village, and most of the daily life I've seen is tied to that. Boats come into the beach in the morning, and meet the rest of the family to string out the nets and pick the day's catch from the webbing. Man, woman, child, and toddler is involved in bringing food to the table - makes me feel a little guilty when I remember how unfair I thought summer yard work was as a kid. However, I no...

Some pictures and a couple thoughts from the day. I woke up to harsh smell, and assumed it was a strong cigarette, maybe with clove or something. Woke up later than I wanted to, didn't sleep that well (lot of prayer calls, the blanket and hoodie I was using as a sheet weren't really cutting it). I'm hoping to start feeling like I wake up ready to go. Morning routine, had a turkish egg (omelette w/ veggies, but without being scrambled) and coffee. Stretched. Found a Takayama In the Pink (exactly what I have back home!), decided to paddle out to Don Don. Figured would be good exercise, and with the wind being pretty mild, might even get some waves. Ended up overshooting a bit, and by the time I figure out where I was, had to paddle in from the back rather than the side. Mojo surf camp was there, but I was able to sit in a good spot and catch the bigger ones when they came through. Size was small, but reminded me of Tourmo - work to get into wa...

It happened again. At the end of the day, after moving to a smaller village called Gerupuk to the west of Kuta to find better surf, I was up at the top of a hill overlooking the bay, enjoying the last bits of sunlight with a dog I found there. When I was about ready to go, a security guard for the house I was standing next to shows up on small dirtbike. As if he had heard about my day yesterday, he goes "you like coffee?". So I head down a wooden ladder (almost horizontal, with pretty irregularly spaced steps, but sturdy enough) to his guard shack on the side of the hill, and we have Lombok coffee while he taught me some Indonesian. The glasses were dirty even before he put coffee inside, but he had already made a good college try at cleaning them in the water spigot, so I figured I'd roll with it. The same process repeated with the spoon, there were then two scoops of fin coffee grounds and two large spoonfuls of sugar in each cup. I think they like it sweet here. ...

Waves. I’ve been bent on finding some good ones, because after surfing for 5 years, I feel like I've been on a plateau that it's time to overcome. Indonesia is known for good waves, and despite it being the windy season in Lombok, I found some good ones. It can be a rare occurrence to get waves with such good form in San Diego, but these waves had a different problem: they were too big, and this spot was too unfamiliar to me. So as has been a common occurrence over the past couple weeks, I got skunked - 0 waves. However, I did have a bit of an adventure finding the spot.   I'm getting back to a bit of a morning routine, which feels really nice after being so sporadic over the first month (I think I was probably trying to fit too much into every day). Realized I need to remind myself why I'm here/what I want to get out of this (so far: think more clearly, learn/practice new things, make my body feel good). Ordered breakf...

Expectations for today: have breakfast, rent a scooter, rent a surfboard, hang at the beach and read, sunset hike, and maybe explore at night and grab a drink at one of the many hipster sheik bars that seem to be popping up. Seems relatively simple, right? Some small tasks and a bit of adventure, mixed with a respectable amount of relaxation. Actual: Had breakfast Rented a scooter Aborted surf check (not worth it to pay entrance fee) Snuck into the big resort next door to see if I could see the wave from there (ended up talking with the guys working the scuba counter, two of whom ended up divulging that they had been to jail, and one of whom offered to sell me cocaine - I'll just take it as a sign that I make friends easily) Surf shop - selected a board, decided to go grab lunch while they figured out if they had any fins to give me with it Lunch (everything went smoothly) Surf shop to pick up board (realized at this point that my scooter didn't have a rack for the ...