Travels of a surfer

My wife and I have been doing some traveling through the wilder places of Brazil lately. We had a work/research week in Itu, Sao Paulo, then we left to see some of the natural beauty that this great country has to offer.

We weren't near any beaches, but most places we went, we were surrounded by water, which is a driving force in my love of surfing. We started off flying to Foz de Iguacu. From our base camp just outside the park on the Brazil side we spent two days exploring the national parks around the waterfalls (three Portuguese words: cataratas, cascatas, cachoeiras). These falls are the largest in the world in the aspect of water volume. They are beautiful. Our day in the Brazilian park was sunny, and Mary Virginia was in heaven with all of the rainbows we saw. That day we slept in and left for lunch inside the park at noon. We ate, and then walked off our buffet lunch on the trails leading us to the most spectacular panoramic view of the falls you can find. From there we left the park and went to an aviary that is very close to the entrance to the park. It was fun seeing many species of birds found all over the world. We also saw reptiles and butterflies.

The second day at the falls we spent an overcast day in the Argentina park. We rode a train from the park entrance to the trail center. From there we hiked the lower two of the three trail systems, and made our way to a motor boat launch. We took the boat right up to the waterfalls and got drenched. Then we went on a great ride down the river over some rapids and disembarked to hike up a hill trail. We had to eat our nice lunch that day drenched, but it tasted great. It was a buffet as well, but different from any buffet we had had for a long time. I couldn't believe how different it was from the Brazilian one we had the day before. Almost all buffets are exactly the same in Brazil. We then hiked the upper trail in the park with takes hikers right up to the edge of the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat). It is amaizing being right over the fall and seeing thousands of gallons of water going over every minute.

We slept well that night, and the next morning left early to catch our flight to Cuiaba, our gateway to the Pantanal, the largest wetland in the world, roughly the size of France. Our first night there was spent in Chapada dos Guimaraes, a place that looks like Arizona. That night we borrowed a car from one of the employees of the pousada where we were staying and drove to the Bride's Veil waterfall in the national park there. It was pretty and tall. The next morning we left early to rapel down another waterfall. We each descended twice, and then to get it all in we left for the City of Rocks, a place that has been through a lot of wind corrosion. It was pretty, but what I was excited about that day was seeing the Red and Blue macaws flying around the valley there. They always fly in couples because they partner for life. We saw quite a few, and the only thing that would make it better would be to have been there at sunset.

We then left the chapada for Pocone by bus and ended up at a fazenda, or ranch, right in the Pantanal. I did a few things there I have never done before. I rode a horse, for example, right up to a river full of alligators. We hiked one afternoon and saw lots of wildlife. We went on a night safari and saw nocturnal mammals. Then, on our last day there, we went fishing. I have been fishing before, but not in a river full of piranha. I have never fished with steak to catch fish. And, yes, we were catching the piranha, and keeping them. We didn't get to eat our catch, but we did have some the night before in a stew. On the way back, we fed a couple of friendly alligators from the boat.

That night, we took a bus back to Cuiaba and caught our flight back to Salvador. It was nice to be home, but we enjoyed every minute of our time together on our vacation, and it was a little hard to come back.

Surfing in my bedroom

I have been surfing the web a lot more than usual lately. It has been rainy and cold (well, all things relative) in Salvador lately, so we have been indoors for the weekend. Mary watches Alias while I look at things on our computer. Not as interesting as actually surfing. Why do they call it "surfing the web?" That doesn't make much sense to me. I've never seen a fly surf in a spider's web. I've never seen a fish surf in a fishing net. So, why, pray tell, did someone come up with such an active phrase for such an inactive thing to be doing.

Speaking of activity, I have been running, outside, even when it has been chilly. I feel better already, even though it still hurts after about 15 minutes and I have to push myself to keep going. I do keep going. I also do push-ups and pull-ups. I am getting in shape, or at least I am starting to. I think this will help with my attempt to become a surfer. I am also considering training to be able to participate in a triathlon, which would probably take me about 10 years to do. As far as I know, there are no competitions in Salvador, but I am sure there are in other parts of Brazil. I know that Florionopolis has an ironman, which is probably longer than I will ever want to swim, bike, and run all at once, but a short one could be fun.

I learned a new surf term the other day. An ax is a wave that crashes right on top of the surfboard causing a wipeout. I learned this playing a board game called "Huggermugger." I have played this game maybe once or twice before, though I am sure I have had it for at least 10 years. It is fun if you are a real language nerd, or like to play the word scrambles in your daily newspaper. We had fun playing it with Thomas while he was staying with us, although we have been so immersed in Portuguese that our English knowledge was very much not available.

Gripe (gree-pee)

La gripa, or a gripe, or the flu, or whatever language you want to say it in, I have it right now. Lots of sinus junk and a really sore throat. I can't talk without pain right now. So, I'm writing.

I have been to the beach twice in the past couple of weeks. Neither time was with my board. I was there Friday night, with some youth guys from our church, playing futebol. I played for about 10 minutes until one of them kicke me in the shin, and man it hurt. They are good at kicking these guys, been doing it all their lives. Anyway, I was out for the rest of the game. It still hurts to walk a bit, not that I'm complaining. After that, we sat around a while and sange along with one of the guys playing guitar. He played some Beatles, Queen, Extreme, and some other stuff that you may be familiar with. It was a fun time, and guitars on the beach are staple of the surf scene. So, I still feel like I was in the right mode.

The second was with my wife and our friend Thomas, visiting from Greenville, AL. He has been in South America for a couple of months now. He was here for about two weeks with us. We got to take him to the Ilha de Itaparica in the Bay of All Saints on Monday. We rode a Catamaran over to the Island and took a short taxi ride to what they said was the prettiest beach on the island. It was really pretty, and we pretty much just relaxed on the beach. I went in the water about knee deep. I was already sick, so I didn't feel like going out and swimming, although the water was really calm. There is a beach on the island that has waves and is good for surfing; big surprise to me since I didn't think there was any good place to surf in the bay. Although, now I think I will find there are good places on a few of the islands out there. I'm going to have to try them out eventually.

Religion surfing

I went to sleep last night thinking about the many waves of religion in my city and wondering how people get along in this religious consumer society. Consumerism is a way of life in so many world locals today, but is probably at its height in the U.S. Americans have choices about everything from the type of cotton swabs they buy, their particular brand of toothpast (or whether to brush their teeth at all) and even what specific type of that brand from tarter control to whitening, to their particular brand of religion and type of that religion. The choices run the spectrum, and I won't delegate what that spectrum is. To aid in this is the marketing and advertising that is a given with so many choices, enticing us to choose this product over that one.

In Brazil we don't have as many choices for consumer goods, although it seems every day those choices increase, but the religious scene is way different, with as many and probably more all grouped into almost every bairro in Salvador. To go along with that is the mentality that you should try what works for you for now, and if it stops working for you, go on to something else. So, today if Spiritism works for you, maybe tomorrow Catholocism will. Or, maybe on the way home from mass you get the idea that a Condomble practitioner could help you cure that gripe that so many people get when the weather changes. Advertising takes a bit of a different form here, and much of it is aimed at not the specific brand, but at the overall concept. "Go to the nearest evangelical church to your home." "Don't forget your Catholic roots." These are just a couple of the flyers one may receive while walking to the beach or the shopping [center] to help guide you through this miriad of choices. I think most leaders are hoping people will just catch one of the waves and ride it for a while, so that they can receive as much of the surfers time and money as possible, realizing that is won't last long before they move on to the next option. We have had some pop into our Sunday morning worship saying that they just like to go to the new churches and learn what they are all about.

So, this is the environment I work in. How do we plant a church of 1000 in a religious scene like this? We don't, but I still have faith God can. Is there any parallel in the Bible to this religious scene? Is the lack of desire to commit to anything going to get in God's way in Salvador? Probably not, but it will get in the way of the people of Salvador, and makes it hard for anyone over 25 to change anything about their lives. I'm just thinking, and these answers are too simplistic to be definite.

Bummer

I'm just sitting here thinking about all the great waves I am missing right now. Actually, this time of day today is probably not the best time, but it is the epoca for waves right now, and I should be hitting the beach every day. That is my plan (once we buy a car, that is). I am hoping that I can get up every morning early and drive myself and my board to the beach and hopefully meet up there with some others who are out there regularly.

For now, I have a lot of time to think about doing that, and I am still getting out there once in a while. The good thing is, next time I go to Otavio's, I don't have to worry about taking my stick, because he bought a longboard and said I can just ride his. Seriously, I really want to get into a routine of at least being in the water, and I can't rely on him because I never know if he is working or off work. Plus he always just says drop by. He is such a surfer, and a Bahiano. Very laid back and ready to leave everything to chance, whether he happens to be home or not when I drop by.

I do need to take Thomas to the beach and let him take a turn on the longboard. That is becoming a ritual for our visitors. Take them out there and let them catch a few small waves on their bellies and try to stand of a couple of times before they get pooped or sunburned or surf wax rash. Then I go out for what probably seems like an eternity (I know for me it seems like an eternity when they are in the water with my board) before we pack up and head for home. It's good times, and they get the chance to try a little of the sport with lifeguards around. That's the deal, if there are no certified salva vidas in the vicinity, I don't even go out. Not yet anyway.

Stronger

I've been working with Otavio a lot lately. He has still had me working on basics like keeping equilibrium on the board in the water and paddling as opposed to swimming on top of the board. This week I went out into some actual waves, much like I tried to do before and failed. This time I paddled out into some calm water with him first to keep practicing basics, but then he had me paddle back into the waves from beyond, which is a lot of hard work. Anyway, I actually caught a wave after I rested sitting on my board for a while. He kept pushing me to go ahead and try. So, finally I did, and after I missed a few, I caught one for a while. Then he said he wanted to try my board, so I let him, while I floated and rested for a while. I was just happy that someone was actually surfing on my board. It was great, although I could only see him part of the time when he would ride on top of the wave.

So, then he brought the board back and went to the beach while I was still trying to catch some waves. He said they were really fracas (weak), so it was harder to catch them right now because I have to paddle the same speed of the waves to catch them when they are so small and weak. He missed the one that I actually caught and rode into the shore, although I was prone all the way (that means on my belly). Anyway, I am feeling a lot stronger in the water.

Oh, I forgot. The funniest thing that has happened lately was on the beach. I was practicing popping up on my feet (found out I'm goofy) on a board drawn in the sand. And, so that I would know the right time to paddle and pop up, Otavio was acting like a wave, with his arm curled upward to imitate the shape of a wave coming at me. He had me do it a couple of times for him as well. It was a little awkward, but it was funny, even though he is such a serious dude, or maybe because he is such a serious dude.

note: postdated actual post date 3 March 2006

First day of class

Mondays are my day off. Today I lugged my longboard down the stairs again, this time early in the morning and took a taxi to my friend Otavio's house. I spent the morning with him and my stick, on the beach. We started out jogging and then did some exercises to warm up. Then I spent the rest of the time paddling out and paddling back in calm water. Each time I went a little further, but he wanted to start me off completely on the basics (and from the last time I attempted to surf, that was probably a very good idea.)

So, I got a little tired and then we worked a little on popping up on a board drawn in the sand.

After the beach, we went back to his house for lunch and to relax. I was there for a few hours, but then had to get home. Mostly I just layed in a hammock and tried to talk to him about the day in Portuguese. I am still learning. So, he helped me with two new things to me right now, a new language and a new sport.

Then we walked to the bus stop together. He let me keep my board at his house, so I don't have to carry it up stairs and try to catch a taxi with a rack on it everytime I want to go over there to surf.

note: postdated. Actual publish date 25 April 2006.

Wiped and wiped out

I just got back from my first attempt at riding waves. I am so a total kook. I was probably dangerous out there. I wiped out a couple of times, and that was just my attempt at paddling out. My stick is pretty dinged up from slicing across a couple of shallow places over rocks, but thakfully not through the shell, so I should be ok. I'm a little dinged up as well. I got a couple of cuts on my feet, not too deep though. I am thrashed. Completely tired. The thing is, my board does not fit in our elevator, so anytime I want to go, I have to carry it down 13 flights of stairs and then after surfing for a few hours, and getting completely tired out, I return home to carry it up those same 13 flights of stairs.

We were out there with Keith and his son Brock. Brock was cute trying to surf on the sand. He even helped me wax my stick for the first time. They were an encouragement as was Mary Virginia, my wife and helper. I have a friend here who is a lifeguard and a surfer. He wants to teach me to surf, and after today, I am more than ready to take some lessons. Not going into the water again without someone showing me the way.

note: backdated and actually posted 25 abril 2006.

The Gift

I have spent pretty much all my life as either a poser, a hodad, or a body surfer catching whatever waves would pick up my large frame and carry me for a few seconds toward shore. Today, that changed. I received, from my wife on our wedding anniversary, a mean green long board from right here in Salvador da Bahia, Brasil. It is a quebra coco, considered the top local board company, and a lot of surfers are already admiring the board shape. So, this begins my journey into learning to catch waves. I will start soon heading out into the waters of our beaches here, turning around and trying to raise. She gave me some bogus story about needing to help our teamates Travis and Alicia with something, and then we opened the door to a room they had not yet finished in their apartment. There it was, in its case, but I ripped that baby open to find a beautiful dream sitting there for me begging me to take it to the water. Soon my new friend. Soon.

note: This post was published 25 Abril 2006, backdated.