Santa Catalina and into Costa Rica

I’m pretty sure that the stars were in perfect alignment, because the six-transfer bus trip went more smoothly than I could have ever imagined. A complete turn-around from the trip to Venao. We caught the 9:30 am bus from the beach, hopped directly onto the next bus in Pedasi, the bus guys took me directly on to the next bus in Las Tablas for Chitre, from Chitre to Santiago which was waiting for the last passenger which was me, from Santiago, the next bus to Sona which also had to wait for me to take a pit stop, and from Sona to Santa Catalina by 5:30 pm, without any waiting or troubles with either Josh or the surfboard. I’m still having a difficult time understanding how it all happened so smoothly and only took eight hours. I fully expected to stay the night in either Santiago or Sona’ because the very last bus of the day from Sona to Catalina is at 4 pm, but I was lucky enough to have caught it at exactly the right time! Yippee!

Catalina was a great time. I ‘attempted’ to surf the world class Santa Catalina point break the first two days, and took to the beach break at Playa Estero the third day after being thrown around in the washing machine of the break more than once and having the locals stare in awe that I came out without much damage, as lots of people apparently get banged up by the reef on the bottom after getting swallowed up in that same spot. Although the beach break was a good 35 to 40 minute walk away from town, I had a great session before heading out for Chiriqui at 2 pm.

Catalina was a powerful point break wave, with nice and helpful people out on the wave each day. On the world class point break, where many competitions are held, I tried to stay out of the way and catch what I could when vacant, but was encouraged each day by great surfers who helped me catch a couple, not without being put through the giant 'washing machine' several times however. After a good 20-minute paddle out to the break through lots of rocks, my little paddling arms were pretty darn tired by the time I got out there and was forced to rest for another 20-minutes before even attempting to catch my first ride. My final day I decided to hit the beach break at Playa Estero. A fellow traveler and I walked the 35-minutes to Playa Estero from our hostel, and I had a blast, as the waves weren't too huge, but were definitely plentiful. Three buses brought us to the city of David at 8:30 pm, with the nice surprise of bumping into a Rasta that I met and paid to make Josh a leash at the fair in Los Santos two weeks prior. I got to hang with Rasta and his friend who ‘gifted’ Josh a matching collar to wear with his Rasta colored hand woven leash. We officially changed Josh’s name to Pedro Tosh from that time forward (Pedro is Peter in Spanish). Josh is indeed a total Rasta dog – I never realized what a cool ‘religion’ Rasta is until hanging with all the local Rastas in this area. I have a much deepened respect for it all, and Pedro Tosh is a true believer and follower of Rasta. He's my little travelin’ Rasta doggie. I worked a plan with a local Gringo, who needed to cross into CR the same day as I for visa purposes, who brought my board up to David a couple of days later, so that I could travel into the highlands of Boquete without having to pack my board along. This worked out perfectly, as he picked me up in David, with my board in truck, we found a hotel right near the border to leave his truck at for a mere $10 for three days until he had to return, and then took a cab to the border, checked out of Panama and into Costa Rica, switched taxis, tied the surf baords to the roof, and headed for Pavones. As soon as we pulled into the Las Perlas hotel, where Vince was staying, my good friend Merc, who I'd planned to find once I got into town, just happened to be passing by at the same moment as Vince was checking into his hotel and I was waiting in the taxi. The three Mikes from Florida had a beautiful beach house rented out for us already, and I was living in luxury for the first time since leaving the Dominican Republic. Yippee! The Mikes are all amazing surfers and gave me some great pointers to help me improve. When we weren't surfing, we were eating great food or playing cards. From Pavones we headed in their huge Toyota Landcruiser up to Dominical where I was feasted upon by swarms of mosquitos from the time we arrived, until the time we left Dominical. From Dominical, to Manuel Antonio to surf Playitas, where Merc had managed to wrench his back the week prior, and I managed to do some serious damage to my left arm, which I later learned would end my surfing for the rest of my travels and continue to cause pain and havoc whenever in use. Still had a great time though, staying in beautiful hotels, eating great food, and grabbing good surf. Those Florida boys sure do know how to live it up - thanks for hosting me to an excellent four days Merc, Mike #1, and Catfish! You guys are top-notch in my book.