Spring Break

Spring break was pretty awesome. It was great to get away for a couple of days and not have to worry about tests and presentations and papers.

Dylan, Jenna, Christina, Will and I rented a car in La Paz and drove about an hour SW to Todos Santos, this small tourist/surfing town on the Pacific coast. Our hotel was about 20 minutes from town, on axle-breaking dirt roads, which we had to navigate in our rental sedan. We got stuck once, on a hill with a perfectly tire-shaped hole halfway up. Luckily Christina caught it quickly enough and just let the car roll back down the hill so she could try again. The San Pedrito Surf Hotel, when we finally got to it, was absolutely beautiful. It's kind of like a collection of mini-apartments, with nice beds and full kitchens in each room. Our back door looked right out onto the beach and ocean. When we got there, there were probably only 5 other people at the hotel (which is pretty small) and maybe 50 staying at various hotels along the beach. The owner/manager Andy is a friend of AJs and is super cool.

Since Jose has been doing so much translating for my DR, I offered to do some surveys for his project, which is looking at the economics of surfing. I ended up surveying a bunch of the guys staying at the hotel, who ranged from a 28 year old who just quit his high-paying job to a 45 year old retired pro surfer. I didn't know he was a pro until I was done talking to them, and Andy came over and told me "now, you don't know who he is, but he's a legend." I then surveyed Andy for awhile and he talked to me for awhile about surfing in general and in Baja. Apparently Andy moved to Baja at around age 30, specifically to learn to surf. He said he'd never been on a surf board before, but his friend was a good surfer and Andy thought it looked like a lot of fun, so he just picked up and moved. Now he's been here for 10 years and in my opinion, lives the life. He has a couple of hours of hotel work every day, but beyond that he can just live in Baja and surf his heart out.

We did have a surfing lesson the first day, and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would! I expected to get thrown into the surf all the time and hate it, but I ended up being pretty decent. I managed to stand up on my second try and rode that wave almost all the way in. By the end I was catching waves without the instructor (Chuy)'s help. I did bite it a lot, but you could usually feel it coming and prepare yourself.

We also spent a day walking around Todos Santos, where we randomly ran into Bailey and Jose, who were kind of just wandering around Baja for break. We put their gear in our car and kept wandering for a couple hours, seeing the sights. We went back to the hotel room and were just starting to worry about Bailey and Jose getting their stuff back (around 9) when they showed up, having hitched a ride from the beach. They hung around, had dinner with us, and struck a deal with Andy to sleep on the floor for like $30.

We got up the next day and drove into Cabo for a day. I have to admit, I really didn't like Cabo. It didn't feel like Mexico, and there were definitely more Americans than Mexicans. And it was super expensive. Will and I saw a Haagen-Dasz and figured we'd get some. I thought it would be a problem when the guy brought the ice cream to our leather chairs...and then brought the bill in the same holder they use in restaurants. I spent like 109 pesos (about $10) for an ice cream cone. For reference, we stayed at San Pedrito for 3 nights and paid 362 pesos per person. But we did meet up with the other group that was staying in Cabo and had dinner and went out to the bars with them. I have to admit, the one bar was pretty cool. It was essentially a beer pong hall, with like 10 tables set up and the bartenders doubled as waiters that would supply you with cups, balls and beer.

The last day we drove all the way to La Paz, ate at an Applebee's to cure our "I need American food NOW" craving, turned the car in and rode home on SFS vans.