For the first time in two months, I entered the Pacific ocean. Full force too. I went surfing in Lima, freaking, Peru with my good friend, Lindsay. How's that for a good life?
I don't think you can ever understand my love of the ocean. It's something I can't hold back. It's something I have to fulfill.
I think I like the ocean so much because it's the unknown and the unknown is my element. That's just where I naturally thrive.
I always say, I've messed up a lot in life - gotten myself into my fair share of "trouble" - so I know how to figure things out. It's this art I've mastered. I like being able to roll with the punches. While bad things are happening, I'm laughing. A thundering strength should be put to good use. Sometimes I think about my journey here in the Peace Corps and why they chose me. I try to think of the things they chose me for, and I try to remember them when things get tough. I try to use my resiliency skills, my zest for life and my joy of seeing the world through different lenses and apply that for a solution.
So let's talk about the day I went surfing. It started at 5am.
- woke up at 5am got my shit together and ate breakfast at 5:30am with Lindsay
- left to catch the hour and a half bus ride with my host brother, Fran...he was going to school so he figured he'd help us get to Miraflores safe and sound
- around 7:30am Lindsay and I had a coffee and Lima had never been so beautiful. It was an odd hour to see the city but I liked seeing Lima tranquil on a Sunday morning
- went to meet Lindsay's family friend who brought her a new computer, because hers broke
- went searching for a beach to surf
- spotted surf rentals
- 10 minutes later we were entering the water
Johnny, our surfboard renter, is your typical surfer boy who lives to surf and surfs to live. Before we left for the water, two girls without a care in the world, he gave us some words of wisdom that I think are deeper to me than he imagined. He yelled, "Buenas olas chicas!!!" to Lindsay and I. Can we say, "words to live by?!?!" He wished us good waves. I feel like that's saying, "buena VIDA." Buena ADVENTURA maybe! Buen AMOR! Good life, adventures and love to you too, dear Johnny!
It was the first time Lindsay had been in the ocean, being from Wisconsin and all. It's a beautiful thing watching someone play in the ocean for the first time. Her eyes lit up and I swear, the whole time, she never stopped smiling. I was alongside her pushing her into waves and she caught one after about 30 minutes. Helping teach Lindsay how to surf was one of my finer moments in life.
Once she got tired, I took the board and paddled out. It was cathartic to make way through the waves mother nature was throwing at me. I just sat on my board and looked at the sun setting, the sky's colors and I took greedy whiffs of the ocean air. You know when you feel you're at the right place at the right time? There are just defining moments when you feel God's presence. "He has put me here, right now, in this water, between this set of waves, around all these Peruvian surfers, to breathe this air, to feel happy, for strength, for clarity, for goodness, to go on with my life journey." All is right in my world for a split second, and just like that - the moment's gone. The high goes but in comes a new set of waves. Time to paddle, because I personally don't like to eat salt...but I'm still riding the energy of that moment I had with God. That moment may physically cease, but my soul won't ever let that moment pass. I know that for sure.
We get out and walk back, all smiles...riding the energy of one wave, one moment, one whiff, one hope to last me a lifetime.
I don't think you can ever understand my love of the ocean. It's something I can't hold back. It's something I have to fulfill.
I think I like the ocean so much because it's the unknown and the unknown is my element. That's just where I naturally thrive.
I always say, I've messed up a lot in life - gotten myself into my fair share of "trouble" - so I know how to figure things out. It's this art I've mastered. I like being able to roll with the punches. While bad things are happening, I'm laughing. A thundering strength should be put to good use. Sometimes I think about my journey here in the Peace Corps and why they chose me. I try to think of the things they chose me for, and I try to remember them when things get tough. I try to use my resiliency skills, my zest for life and my joy of seeing the world through different lenses and apply that for a solution.
So let's talk about the day I went surfing. It started at 5am.
- woke up at 5am got my shit together and ate breakfast at 5:30am with Lindsay
- left to catch the hour and a half bus ride with my host brother, Fran...he was going to school so he figured he'd help us get to Miraflores safe and sound
- around 7:30am Lindsay and I had a coffee and Lima had never been so beautiful. It was an odd hour to see the city but I liked seeing Lima tranquil on a Sunday morning
- went to meet Lindsay's family friend who brought her a new computer, because hers broke
- went searching for a beach to surf
- spotted surf rentals
- 10 minutes later we were entering the water
Johnny, our surfboard renter, is your typical surfer boy who lives to surf and surfs to live. Before we left for the water, two girls without a care in the world, he gave us some words of wisdom that I think are deeper to me than he imagined. He yelled, "Buenas olas chicas!!!" to Lindsay and I. Can we say, "words to live by?!?!" He wished us good waves. I feel like that's saying, "buena VIDA." Buena ADVENTURA maybe! Buen AMOR! Good life, adventures and love to you too, dear Johnny!
It was the first time Lindsay had been in the ocean, being from Wisconsin and all. It's a beautiful thing watching someone play in the ocean for the first time. Her eyes lit up and I swear, the whole time, she never stopped smiling. I was alongside her pushing her into waves and she caught one after about 30 minutes. Helping teach Lindsay how to surf was one of my finer moments in life.
Once she got tired, I took the board and paddled out. It was cathartic to make way through the waves mother nature was throwing at me. I just sat on my board and looked at the sun setting, the sky's colors and I took greedy whiffs of the ocean air. You know when you feel you're at the right place at the right time? There are just defining moments when you feel God's presence. "He has put me here, right now, in this water, between this set of waves, around all these Peruvian surfers, to breathe this air, to feel happy, for strength, for clarity, for goodness, to go on with my life journey." All is right in my world for a split second, and just like that - the moment's gone. The high goes but in comes a new set of waves. Time to paddle, because I personally don't like to eat salt...but I'm still riding the energy of that moment I had with God. That moment may physically cease, but my soul won't ever let that moment pass. I know that for sure.
We get out and walk back, all smiles...riding the energy of one wave, one moment, one whiff, one hope to last me a lifetime.
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