Sorry it took so long to post these. I would have loved to keep A better blog this last bit of time, but I was either too busy, too tired, or too something to actually get these things posted. It doesn't help that I'm somewhat computer inept meaning that Danielle has to be the one to help me gather the photos, upload the videos, and even upload the writings. That means we had to have both of us alive enough to do it.

As long as I can find the old blog I wrote I left off with us staying in A loft of an all bamboo built house set back up the mountain a bit with our friends Dorian and Angelina and their little one. It had a shala out back to do yoga in and numerous fruit trees in the yard; including starfruit, guava, nani, and lemongrass.  It felt like a japanese monastary.  That lasted until just before Xmas and they decided to buy a different house and go back to the States for a bit to pay it off. We had no problems with that because staying there was literally sucking the life force out of us.  We prepped, cooked, and cleaned almost every meal in exchange for the free rent, but that mixed with long bike rides to the beach to surf, and producing a weekly surf movie drained us to the point that we were running on empty. By the time we visited danielles family in RI for XMAS we were both exhausted to the point of sickness.  That explains the not posting A blog over the holidays. Just too tired to do anything but rest and recover- and that is exactly what we did for two weeks. A steady diet of all the delicious foods we'd been missing, movies, and reading books, revived to the point that we were ready to go back down there. Our trip back down to costa rica was great because danielles mom came with us and we got to celebrate New Years in a hotel in Boston.  We even got to see fireworks right from the hotel!

Our buddy Louis who we partnered with to create some surf films and a surfing based tv show had bought  a waterproof video camera and we were excited to start filming with it.  Thus another 90 days of all out get 'er done filming ensued. I'm actually really excited about the results.  Getting through dry season in Costa Rica is no picnic when you have no a.c. and you are working all day and we both came back exhausted, but we got through it and things keep getting better. 

For starters, we moved out of our place up the mountain and back to a place on the beach which has internet from our bed - so after we were done with our filming and editing for the day we could watch a movie on you tube.  The local pro surfer kids really started wanting to work with us too so we had a steady stream of talent to film. There is some serious talent coming out of costa Rica these days. We made a you tube promo video for A sixteen year old kid down there named Carlos Munoz. To check it, go to you tube and type in Carlos Munoz surfing and then click on the 9 1/2 minute one. that's ours. He's pretty amazing!!!! 

We also have our first surf video pretty much done. We are applying for some music rights and doing some last minute editing but it is coming together. You can see a rough draft of some of the footage below (there are five parts-  Famosa Hermosa part 1/5,  2/5, 3/5, etc - click the next to see them all!  or go to youtube.com/freefallwave24 )  

 

 Somewhere along in there boards broke, but we traded paintings for new ones and I'm finally on a board I really like and feel comfortable with. Danielle's got a new one coming her way when we get back so things are just flowing along. Both our parents visited us while we were down there. That meant a chance to have pina coladas and lounge pool side for a bit.

When we get back down there the first episode of our tv show will run (april 19th) It's pretty cool. The show is on the local public broadcasting chanel and is called Cultura Surf. It's 1/2 surfing and half local history and culture of the coastal area. Our job is to make the surfing parts.  which is not so bad. It includes a condensed weekly surf footage, a trick tip, a profile, and a summary of the local backyard bar surf contest each week. 

So that's our life right now. A steady diet of surfing, filming, making those parts for the tv show, making a weekly surf video for the restraunt, and making promo videos for the aspiring pro kids down there. We are back in Rhode Island at the moment just sort of recovering and getting inspired again. I read the Percy Jackson series (they are worth reading) and I just finished a book by Jimmy Buffet called A salty peice of land. that one's good too. I also just finished Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol which was another excellent read.  It's springtime here at the moment. All the trees are budding or blooming so there is color everywhere and the weather is pleasant. (shorts and a tshirt so far, but jeans and a sweater on the cold days- which is really nice after nearly sweating to death for 90 days.)  We only have 12 days here before we go back which seems an entirely too short of time for how tired we are, but Danielle's dad, stepmom, and stepbrother are coming down on the 15th so that was that.  We are bringing our dog down there with us this time though which will make life down there infinetly better for us. It's hard to really explain our life down there and have you understand what it feels like. All I can say is that it keeps getting a little bit better each time, so why dwell on the hardships?  We made it through dry season and now we are coming up on rainy season meaning it will be a lot less hot, we will have our dog with us, and you can normally surf out front much more during rainy season so it's less biking.  We also have A 64 vw bus coming to us at some point free of charge thanks to the tv show so that's something to look forward to as well.  At the moment we are trying to get the dog used to the dogger crate she will ride in on the plane and the dogger carrier she rides in behind the bike. Mix that with reading, watching movies, and overall decompressing and that's life for us. I am excited because in a week it's Danielle's birtthday which is fun to celebrate and each day before that is like a mini celebration anyways. There is always beer in the fridge here and ingredients to make whatever you desire. The weather is perfect for walking,  and we have free time for a change. Most go to Costa Rica For a vacation. We go to Rhode Island. That' s all for now, I'm going to try to be more consistent with blogging.  I will leave you with the opening quote from the Dan Brown book The Lost Symbol:  "To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books."- The Secret teachings of All Ages  That's us for you, we're just trying to get through the Costa Rica chapter. 

Until next time,

Cheers,

Gary and Danielle