Groms, Kooks, and Creepers

Pascuales.
Big, heavy, hollow, fast, did I say heavy yet?

This wave is not for me but I've enjoyed watching Andrew and 10 year old "Pols" and his friend Alan.
Where Pol's name originated:
Rolando
Rollie Pollie
Pols

Yes, that's right, two 10 year olds surf this wave and I want nothing to do with it unless it's small (still throws me on my ass).

I've become quite fond of Pols, who is Kiwi Dave's son (the guy we're staying with). Dave is from New Zealand, married a Mexican and Pols is fluent in both languages.
Right out of a nap, Pols will stumble sleepily over to his bow and arrow, and when he's bored with that he'll come over to me and say in his kiwi accent, "Boom Boom Becca, do you want to go surfin' board ridin' or body wompin'?" Every day, he paints his face a different color with all 8 Zinkas we gave him.

Top: Pols, Andrew and Alan (10 years old!)
Bottom Left: Pols playfully snaking Andrew
Mid Right: Andrew being selective
Bottom Right: Pols and his war paint 

The rips here are unreal and they don't take long to sweep you out. The other day, Pols and I were swimming when I heard the whistle blow and I looked to the beach to see Pol's 16 year old brother sprinting towards the water with the other two life guards. I looked out and saw two guys being swept out to sea so I yelled at Pols to go in, then sprinted my way over to the guys
...on a full stomach and rum 'n coke. Fail.

I swam out to Juna (Pol's brother) and he told me to grab the guys arm and this guy just had a look of terror on his face when I told him we had to go "abajo" because two set waves were about to hit us.
I'd never been gripped onto so tightly.

Once we got them in, they told me it'd been 6 years since going to the beach and they weren't the best swimmers (ya think?) The lifeguard Carlos and I gave them a quick lesson on swimming out of rips and I tried not to throw up.
Don't want to waste a good rum n' coke.

I never realized some people don't know how to swim in the ocean (thank you, Mom for teaching me about rips at a young age!)

The thing about rips here, is they're super wide so it takes awhile to swim out of them. On my evening "body wompin'" session with Mr. Pols that same day, he got swept out super quick and I swam after him. Somehow, he scorpioned his little body out of it and passed right by me. By the time I got out, we were both exhausted but laughing about the irony of me saving someone from a rip earlier, then being taken away myself. Humility at it's finest as the ocean reminded me of it's unpredictable nature.

Top: Mexican fisherman, Dave and Pols
Bottom: Creepers watching me take photos, Lifeguards Simon and Carlos

I haven't left a quote or Bible verse at the end of my recent blogs so I'll leave you with one of each! Hasta luego amigos.

"If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles."
-Doug Larson

"Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds." - Matthew 6:25-26 MSG

Saladita and Nexpa II

Not much to report since the last post. I love Mexico more every day, I've become obsessed with pelicans and the ice cream in Michoacan, and I can still eat tacos for every meal.

So we spent Christmas in Saladita with some small but fun surf (good thing for long boards). I fell in love with a puppy we named "mini mange" and the camping was pretty epic - secluded, quiet, clean and the perfect place to spend a mellow Christmas.

We made our way back to our beloved, Nexpa. A piece of my heart has been left there permanently and it was bittersweet to leave after a month. Some of the highlights included sunrise beach runs, coffee and journal time, choco-banana smoothies, learning to do a legit bottom turn, watching whales jump  every day, and cooking on the disco over the fire. It was also fun to see so many girls in the water. About 10 girls from Canada showed up and with the few of us already there, we took over the line up.

Andrew thinks I have way too many journals and he might be right just by looking at that stack. Between the book on top and my Bible on the bottom, four journals might need to be slimmed down to one this year. Although, realistically I'll probably acquire one more for good measure. Five is my lucky number after all.

We're posted up in Pascuales for a few weeks until heading north to Aticama again. The lady we stayed with on the way down passed away recently so we'll be paying a visit there for a week with Andrew's parents before heading to the Copper Canyons (so stoked for this). Probably won't have much more to post before then. I'm still living the dream and don't want to wake up!

The film crew from Forge made an awesome video of the boys kayaking in Tlapacoyan so you can see what these crazy boys got themselves into. Not nerve racking at all... Cascada