In order to take on surf breaks in foreign lands you have to sport a mask of power, a sort of voodoo protection from harm. The ocean is a furious playground, and it would be sketchy enough paddling out at a reef break or thumping beach break without knowing the contours or the currents. It becomes even sketchier when you add the human factor. Will you arrive upon a surf paradise point break; isolated from the main roads, with only a few guys camping out and plenty of waves for everyone? Or will it be a different situation. Like at Playa Hermosa for example. Like many of the popular surf spots in Costa Rica, the "Beautiful Beach" was infested with kooks and girlfriend long boarders who clog the lineup with that "deer caught in the headlights" kind of glazy look as you attempt to successfully navigate around them.




The locals rip! Lead by ticos Alberto and Roger, along with a handful of ex-pat Floridian and California hotel owners, the waters in front of Playas Arenas are a proving ground for the younger up and coming surfers of Costa Rica. Five, Ten years ago, no of the kids could afford surfboards, and despite growing up in a virtual surf heaven as their backyard, they have had a hard time until recently getting into the surf scene. Many of the ex-pats just give their old boards to the teenagers, and with the ability to surf three times a day for years, they have all progressed to the point where they are entering national contests. I would not be surprised if Ticos start to emerge on the international surf scene with a flurry in the coming years.





On the beach, pretending to be at Puerto Escondido, was this annoying French woman with braces making her funny accent even more difficult to understand. She had her tripod set up on the best vantage point of the beach and since I was taking pictures, so I went over to check her scene. Capitalist. She learned from the best, obviously, as she has incorporated technology to make a portable cottage industry. She took pictures vigorously, working up a sweat, asking me to watch her equipment as she sprinted across the beach in the blazing tropical morning to fetch her forgotten hat at the restaurant. " That's right . . . yes, get in there . . . right, now! Yes! I got you baby. That's right . . . uh, huh . . . right -- now! Got you." She had an obnoxious self-diatribe going, then in the middle of explaining her mini-surf photography business she sprints down the beach . . ."Hello! Hola! Yes, Hi!" and gives a surfer her card. He is as shocked as most people would be. You just don't expect someone to hand you a business card into your soaking wet palm after finishing a surf session in Costa Rica. Evidently she takes pictures on her 9-mega pixel digital camera, then does a slideshow at one of the little restaurants and sells copies to traveling surfers. It's the same in Puerto, but for some reason, two to three foot close out barrels did not seem to be worthy of a bustling photog gallery.

ER Harris