Ok, so I haven’t updated in a while, I know you’re all asking yourselves what’s up with Ed, what happened in Bali, did he kook out* on the surf scene, where have I been and why aren’t I updating per usual. quick update:
Bali was incredible. I took about 3000 photos over the course of the trip and I’ve been slowly editing them down to a viewable mass. I’ll probably write more about the trip as the photos make their way on to Flickr. We fell in love with Ubud, Bali’s cultural center, all over again. We’re totally addicted to Legong dances now, going so far as to know the names of each different dance troupe and recognizing their main players. We literally ate our way through Ubud, I think I gained five pounds on this part of our trip. I’m gonna learn me a good Mie Goreng recipe.
Surfing was simultaneously wicked awesome and frustrating at the same time. I totally kooked out. The first four days we stayed at Nick’s Place in Bingin and the ladies there took very good care of us, I gained another five pounds eating their home cooked feasts. Nick’s is the perfect setup, right over the main break. First coupla days I borrowed the longboard for Bingin and caught a moto ride down to Uluwatu (with this bloke from Cornwall, England) to catch some three footers with my shortboard. Everyone talking about a six foot swell on its way. Met an aussie couple and we did a day trip over to Nusa Dua, a lagoon/reef break (half a mile out) you grab a boat to get to. Locals were calling it 2-3 feet, I called it 6-7 with outside sets of 8-9 feet. Totally hollow, fast, powerful and getting bigger. Nusa Dua kicked my ass, royally. My indo-reef-break cherry was popped in no uncertain terms. When I wasn’t fighting the current dragging me down the reef, I was fighting to avoid getting pummeled by the never-ending incoming crushers lined up 10-15 deep like corduroy, to whupp that ass. We stayed on at Nick’s for an extra day in hopes of catching the big swell and when it never came, we headed out to Candidasa on Bali’s eastern end, to enjoy some diving. Big mistake. The waves started to hit later that day and by nightfall I could tell the swell had begun. At this point we were two weeks into the trip and we both simultaneously came up with the idea to cut the trip short by a few days, for logistical reasons having to do with crap we had to get done in LA and just a general feeling that we were over the beach scene and needed some big city vibe. So we cut out of Candidasa the next day and spent our last two days in the Kuta/Legian area. The swell had definitely arrived and Kuta was playing host to 6 foot hollow shore dump. Heavy. We could see Kuta reef break, in the distance, easily overhead to double overhead and after my experience with Nusa Dua, I decided to stay on the beach. The following morning I followed an Adonis looking old guy with the big log, up the beach to Legian’s beach break. Easily overhead and heavy. Didn’t catch a single wave and spent an hour just trying to get back out of the water. Way past my experience level. In fact, that’s kinda what sums up my experience, when Indonesia is big, it’s way above my experience level. I had a ton of fun and surfed some great waves, but I was definitely humbled. IMHO, if you decide to go seeking waves in Indo, go with your surf homies. Be careful and be safe.
From Bali, we flew back to Los Angeles and spent a few cold, rain soaked days consolidating a storage space full of my old crap from my pre-mexico days. Regrettably, I sold my entire record collection, 1500+, it was a hard decision but ultimately the right one. We packed what was left and a whole bunch of IKEA crap into the truck and lead-footed it back down to Mexico in time for the holidays.
We’ve been back for just under a month now and I have admittedly, only been surfing twice. We’re experiencing a crazy cold winter, probably some records broken I’m sure. I pulled out the spring suit but I still froze my bells off. My New Year’s resolution was to kick the RSS habit and my copy of NetNewsWire has been lonely ever since. I’m still checking up on a handful of blogs, mostly mac/surf/photo related. but for the most part, I’ve been keeping my recreational computer time to a minimum.
A few days after New Years our dog, Lola, was hit by a car and died in our arms. we buried her in a mango grove on an old road behind Bucerias. Her unexpected passing left us shaken and our home with a slight case of empty-nest syndrome. We still miss her like crazy. A few days later I started to get some heavy sinus trouble from allergies which developed into a nasty sinus infection. A trip to the ear, nose, throat doctor in Guadalajara and I’ve got polyps in my nasal cavities. A full month of anti-histamine treatment later, and a radiological exam and we’ll see if the polyps have spread to my deep sinuses… To top it all off, I’ve been working on spec house project in Sayulita for over a year now and it looks like it’s not going to happen, big bummer. Time for Ed to get a real job! [Ed, you're starting to depress me.]
Back in Bucerias, a big swell came through town earlier this week and I was too busy to get in the water. I’ve been helping my sister more and more each day and fussing around with some other stuff. I have a bunch of daily links posts I’ve been putting off, so hopefully in the next day or so I’ll get those out for your reading pleasure.
After a killer, relaxing trip to Bali and some pretty good holidays, 2008 started out on a real downer and things are totally in transition right now. Fluctuations usually lead to interesting opportunities, but they always make my guts churn with nervous energy. Here’s to a new and different 2008, optimistically, it can only get better.
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