We met the Guaymi Indians!

Today the Guaymi Indians arrived at the Pavones Farmer's Market!

Of course we stopped to purchase some of their crafts.  We got two bags for the girls (although I'm planning on having them share with me).










We didn't have enough colones with us but everyone also trades in dollars.  The exchange rate proved a little challenging but we finally got there!  Check out the woman sitting in the chair - she obviously thinks we're a little nuts.

surfing

When I started surfing I remember thinking that there are 1000 things to try and remember - position the board, paddle, catch the wave, pop up, position my feet correctly, position my shoulders correctly, the list goes on.

the cove where we've been surfing on the
far end of the point break 

My brain was working so hard on the checklist, I'd pitch over the side of the board before I got halfway through it.  But as I've surfed a little more, it's clear that so many of those things don't matter.  The wave is going to come, the board is going to catch the wave.  All I have to do is put my feet underneath me.  Everything else falls in place from there.  The list is reduced to one thing, the only thing I can actually control.

So - for a little surfer zen this morning - I think that's true of life.  So often we have these lists of 1000 things that we think we have to manage when, in fact, there are really only one or two things we can control.  And if we do those right, everything else falls into place.




I know I promised surfing pictures - sorry, no dice.  There's a problem inherent in that promise which is that none of us want to get out of lineup to take pictures from the beach.  Why be taking pictures when you can be surfing?  Maybe I'll get some snaps today - but probably not :)  Instead, check out the Pavones Internet cafe.  Awesome.

holy night! the kid jumped.

Each day, as we head out to surf, we cross a little wooden bridge over the Rio Claro. The local kids are always on the bridge, jumping into the river which is rocky and appears to be shallow.  Today we asked if we could take their picture - and OMG.  This kid did a perfect back flip into the river.  Two things to note: 1) the rocks. YIKES 2) the people already in the river aren't impressed or even paying attention.  They have clearly seen it before.  But we haven't - so WOW.

the local locals

Apparently there are locals in the south of Costa Rica who are original locals - the Guaymi Indian Tribe.  


The Guaymi are a large indigenous population that straddles the southeastern Costa Rica-Panama border. They are allowed to travel freely across the border, which occurs mostly to work during coffee season.  A subsection of Guaymi live in the town of Conte, which is close to Pavones in miles though not in ease of access apparently. They were one of three indigineous tribes present when the Spanish arrived in Central America and are known for effective resisitance against the conquistadors.


The Guaymi haven't embraced tourism and opened their culture in the same was as other indigenous populations in Central America but it does appear that it's possible to visit the Guaymi reservation in Conte. That said, it looks like it will be a process to figure out how to do it. Travel to the reservation is only by hiking or horseback and travel times on horseback seem to vary between 3-5 hours. 


I'd love to visit Conte since we're - relatively - so close.  On the other hand, its a whole day of  our stay after we figure out how to get there.   So we probably won't make it this time. 

http://wvw.nacion.com/ln_ee/2008/enero/26/pais1399039.html

We've been told that the Guaymi will sometimes travel to Pavones to sell handcrafts and that we'll recognize them because they continue to wear traditional clothing.  I'll keep my eyes open and hopefully bring home some Guaymi souvieners. 

morning after rainstorm in pavones

i burned my, ahem, upper thighs

... and there is no picture to accompany that headline!  We surfed for a solid two hours today. A long sleeve rash guard did its thing for my top half, but the fact that I totally spaced on sunscreen for the bottom half has left me a little ... tender.  LOL. Board shorts tomorrow for sure.  And surfing pictures too, which we didn't bother with today.

The area we surfed is called Golfo Dulce, sweet gulf, because the fresh water from the river decreases the salinity of the ocean.  It's nice because your eyes don't sting after being in the water for a long time.  The waves were about 2-3 feet, which is perfect for me.  They are really gentle rollers with spaced out sets.  As the week progresses, they're expected to get bigger by about a foot a day. I'm glad we had the smaller ones to get started with.

We had lunch in downtown Pavones at a vegetarian restaurant called Cafe de la Suerte, which has Israeli owners.  Yum!

And that sign above the horse is for the local car rental company.  You might do better renting the horse!

Chillin back at the hotel, we did see macaws up close and personal.  They landed right on the hotel balcony and we fed them nuts and bananas.  Very cool.

The River Claro runs right by the hotel so we trekked over for a swim this afternoon.  Well, over isn't exactly the right word.  It was more like up, over a little and then doooown.

The water is crystal clear because the river is spring fed.

Taz and Grizzly accompanied up.  Taz has pretty much become our constant companion.  He lays right outside our door and follows us every time we leave the hotel.  I like to think it's because the dog recognizes our higher consciousness and zen nature but I really think he's figured out we're clueless and need as much help as possible.

Purely for my own amusement, I'll share this lovely picture of my husband's water shoes, the only water shoes uglier than mine.  He's like some cloven hoof jungle creature!

Dinner at the restaurant should be interesting this evening.  It's open to the "public" - but I'm not sure what that means.  Pavones has about 1,000 residents but 2/3 of that belongs to the local indigenous tribe of Guaymi Indians.  I hadn't heard about them prior to arriving so I'm interested to learn more and, maybe, visit the reservation while we're here.  

Surf pictures tomorrow morning!

love the smell of biodiversity in the morning

one view from our hotel balcony

Woke up at 5:30 am to the cries of howler monkeys and other unidentified creatures.  They were hard to spot in the trees but I'm determined to get some pictures sooner or later.

Taz in the river after our walk 

Since it was pretty much fully light, we headed down to the beach to check out the break.  It's a 300 meter walk and Taz, one of the hotel owner's gorgeous dogs, appointed himself our official tour guide, which was excellent since we really didn't know where we were going .

Building directly on the beachfront isn't allowed here so the beaches are very natural and unspoiled.  They're also black sand which is very cool for us white sand Florida folks.  Because of the river that runs out into the ocean, there are smooth gray river rocks all over the beach as well.

Gonna grab breakfast and get our gear organized so we can get out in the waves, which look just about perfect.  Tomorrow we'll be able to take boards down early for a session before breakfast.