We are all faced with making multiple decisions everyday, most are small and have very little impact on our lives, but occasionally we have the opportunity to make big decisions that may seem a little impetuous. Making the decision to go to Nicaragua is definitely ranked up there as being the best spontaneous decision I’ve ever made! Nicaragua has been on my travel list for a few years, but other trips had come up and it had never quite been the right time. Then an old friend contacted me through Facebook and was telling me its an amazing country with consistently good waves for surfing. I checked with Alex to see if she could take some time off this summer and suddenly we were booking our trip. I researched surf camps and then more specifically all women surf camps. Chicabrava consistently ranked at the top and the reviews were all glowing, that is how I ultimately made my decision. We were really lucky in timing, because due to a big storm off of South America, the previous three weeks of waves had been huge!! Also, the tides worked out that we were surfing early afternoon and not having to get up super early to surf…which as many of you know is not my thing! The first two days were still a bit rough as the normally sandy beaches had been covered with rocks from the huge swells and the surf was still about 3-6 feet. We surfed those two days at Playa Remanso and spent a good deal of time “turtling” under the waves and practicing our “popups”. The first day, coming back to shore, I was coming in a bit fast and did a 20 foot slide across those rocks, had some really pretty bruises for the rest of the week! The third day, after a fabulous yoga class in the morning, we went to my favorite beach, Playa Hermosa. It’s really its own little resort area, it was stunningly beautiful and everything you expect the tropics to be. The waves were much more friendly and I even got a few longer rides!! Playa Maderas was our spot for the next two days. With all of the rock formations jutting out, it reminded me of many of the beaches on the Oregon Coast. It was definitely a little more crowded. Also, by this point it was becoming clear that I had pulled/ strained something in my right shoulder and my time in the water was limited. I could feel myself improving, even with the injury, just wish I’d been able to practice more. However, Alex was kicking ass!! Being so naturally athletic and probably all her time on her long board, she was popping up great and getting some nice long rides! Our last day we went back to my favorite, Playa Hermosa! It was a beautiful day with some lovely mellow waves. Also, because it was “rainy” season, everything was super lush and there were butterflies everywhere!! There were even butterflies occasionally out flying with you in the surf…so beautiful. Aside from the surfing, the women who were part of this experience were all amazing!! There were two other “campers” besides Alex and me. We had Gina, who was on her third week of camp and is close to retiring from teaching in LA. She had such a great attitude and work ethic; it was awesome to see how much she improved just in the short time we were there. Our other camper was Michelle from Reno, who was on her second week of camp. If ever there were someone who embodied sunshine, it would be Michelle. She has an incredible positive attitude, and is not afraid to try anything! We were so lucky to have these two ladies with us on our journey. Lastly, the Gals that make up the Heart of Chicabrava were beyond amazing! They never stopped encouraging us, giving us pointers and just generally always making sure we were having fun. Angie and Marie-Soleil were in the water with us everyday, giving us that extra turbo boost to make sure we caught the waves. Elsi gave us great direction and advice, filming us everyday so we could actually see what we were doing. And then there was Anna, our concierge extraordinaire, who met us when we arrived gave us the tour of the best places to go, set up anything extra we wanted to do and just generally kept us laughing the whole week. As I write this blog, I’m reminded that it’s because of experiences like this that I created the 50 b4 50 blog. If “take surfing lessons somewhere tropical” had not been on my list, I’m not sure I would have done this. I can’t wait to see what other experiences I have on the list turn out to be as outstanding and life changing as Chicabrava was!
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