Go to Part 1 Living in Paradise
by Pam Schlotter
This is the second of a series Len Goodman asked me to write about my husband and me leaving our jobs and moving to
We are living in Paradise where everything goes perfectly--well--almost.
After lying around for our first few days here, adjusting to the heat and humidity, I decided to take my wave ski down to surf in front of the village. We are a block from the beach and a ¾-mile paddle from the main break in front of the village. I launched through a nasty 4-foot shore break. But since the waves are usually very consistent, I made my entry between sets and paddled 15 minutes south to the surf spot. As I was sitting outside and waiting to get in the lineup, one of the local hotshots paddled over to me and told me I couldn’t surf there because “you have no control with those things.” I had surfed there in March with no problems. He told me I could “surf over there”, on a shallow reef.
Whatever. My ski is a Mike Johnson Mini Mako and is made like a surfboard with a blank, fiberglass and fins and is very maneuverable. I had a belt holding me on and was wearing a helmet, but there was no way I was going to surf on top of a bunch of rocks. If I were at home or Mexican, I would have surfed at the main surf spot whether the guy liked it or not. But I am a guest in this country and wanted to act like it, so I paddled home.
On the way home, I met some guys surfing a left break. Some of them remembered me from March and were very nice. They told me I could surf with them and I hung out for a while and then started to paddle the rest of the way home. As I left them and was a ways down the line, I saw a big wave coming in. One of the guys caught it and I watched him as I paddled out over it. The wave was easily double overhead for the surfer and a pleasure to watch as a new friend caught the wave of the day.
When we were here in March on a scouting mission, we were told there “were no waves in the summer.” We have been pleasantly surprised. I have caught waves almost every day on my board. Since Sayulita is a tourist town, people tend to stay up late and sleep in late. No such thing as Dawn Patrol here. So if I arise early, hit the beach at first light and get to the break by 7 a.m., I can have the waves to myself for awhile. We could probably get away with driving to the village early and surfing our skis and kayaks at first light until the hotshots wake up. But we don’t want to appear bad guests. All the people I have met early are great and I am getting to know people.
One of the people we got to know was our local doctor. Soon after we arrived, Bill came down with a lower intestinal problem. After about 5 days it hadn’t cleared up as usual, so we went to a doctor and got a prescription. With the help of antibiotics, it took about a week to clear up completely. During this time I also started to have the problem and used the same prescription. I was able to attack my bugs earlier (probably E-coli according to the doctor) and had a quicker recovery.
Another guy we met – I guess he actually met us – was a local bus driver. We were driving to
Even though we have been here six weeks, we have just had high-speed DSL cable internet service installed. To get it, we needed to have the permission of the owner of our house. It will now be much easier to keep up with e-mail. Before, we had to walk to town to use an internet café at the real estate office. We’d download, save it on our computer and go home and write replies.
We don’t have satellite TV because it requires a 19 month contract and the owners of the house will be back in December and we will have to find a new house to rent – unfortunately during the high season. There is no bank or ATM in this small town and no Fed Ex service for our mail.
We are beginning to explore the ocean in front of our house. The touring kayaks are too hot for just cruising around. If we were on a trip it would be a different situation—places to store gear, rolling, stability, speed, etc, would be important and never mind the heat. But for just paddling around, we prefer the sit-on-tops – a Scrambler XT and a Scupper Classic – and easy access to the water. The water is bathtub warm – close to 80 degrees, I bet – and sometimes I bail off my board or boat and dive down to the cooler water.
We were recently out in our SOTs. We got through the shore break easily and paddled to a beautiful little cove. The water is usually crystal clear, except when the rain muddies it up a bit. After coming back from the cove, we weren’t as careful landing as we should have been because we were in the sit-on-tops. The beach is steep there with an undertow. I knew this because I had landed with my ski and surfboard. I went in first and was fine. I turned around to see Bill land, then get sucked back out, the boat coming to rest on the sand as a 4-foot pounder curled over his head. He braced into the wave and made a perfect, albeit sandy, landing. The Scrambler was full of sand. So were Bill’s hair, nose, ears, and swimming trunks.
This is supposed to be a dry year, but we have had some incredible thunder and lightning storms. I saw a posting from Beth regarding an LA Times article about the dangers of lightning on the water. This is the rainy season here and with almost daily bursts of thunder and lightning, I would not want to do any overnight kayak trekking here now. I would not want to be out in a tent or on the water in this rain and lightning.
We are taking Spanish 4 days a week and have homework every night. Bill is working on his writing and usually does his homework late at night.
I will try and post something every 2 weeks. One of my major concerns about leaving work and coming down here was that I would be bored after a few days. I like aimless vacations for a week, but then want to get some structure in my life. Taking Spanish 4 days a week with homework and the other household chores have given me structure and have kept me busy.
That’s all for now. Write me at bschlot24@aol.com if you have any questions or comments.
Pam Schlotter
Submitted on September 9, 2005