Courtney goes to PR: shift

Buenas Tardes

Another beautiful day here in Puerto Rico. The swell has officially died off as of today... today is the first day since I've been here that I haven't surfed. Gotta love those odds! Feels weird not to surf. Instead, today I drove over to Jobos beach and checked out a new friend's restaurant. Diana is a SUPER cool woman who's probably in her mid to late 30s. She and her husband own El Carey (sea turtle) in Jobos. What a place! This is my Green Room Cafe while I am away--they have lots of healthy dishes (think fish, rice and beans, lots of veggies, MMMM!) They have all the acai bowls and smoothies like the Green Room too. I met Diana, her husband, and 2 young sons while surfing at Wilderness over the past 3 days. They are the nicest, coolest family you could imagine, and I love the fact they all surf together. So it was cool to see them today, and their food is amazing to say the least.

El Carey in Jobos

Yesterday I had another fun, mellow surf at Wilderness and actually just hung out there for at least an hour afterwards talking to Masso, the local watchdog/surfer of Wilderness. He has a close eye on everything going on at his spot, and is just as friendly and down-to-earth guy as you could want to meet. Pretty fun to see who you end up meeting while hanging out at your favorite break, like Masso and Diana--all the people who are drawn to the same place because they are all like-minded individuals.

Upside Down Wilderness Anole

Even though I've really enjoyed my stay here thus far, I made the decision yesterday to cut my trip to 1 month instead of 3. Truthfully, I never really knew how long I would want to be here, but had to plan for SOMEthing, so I initially decided 3 months. I thought a lot about it. Big part of shortening the trip is that May and June onward through summer is really the off-season for waves in PR. Yeah, I knew this when I planned the trip, but there were so many other things I did not know that I found out while down here that swayed my decision:

I learned that while surfing is my passion and probably the biggest part of my life, it does not make up the WHOLE of my existence. For one example, I thought I would not mind being away from the yoga studio--practicing and teaching--for 3 months. But after just a short amount of time, it became apparent to me that yoga was a bigger part of my life than I had realized! I would rather not be away from the studio for that long.

I also realized pretty quickly that while Aguadilla is a great town, it's not the town for me. It is way too sleepy a town. I had to learn that by spending some quality time here. Had to spend time here to find out that it even mattered to me to be in a lively town. I didn’t realize that was important to me until now.

Instead, I would like to try Rincon, PR in the winter for a month or so. From what I've heard and experienced from past visits, there's a bit more going on in that town and it's more youthful. Plus, in the winter, Rincon's waves are world-class (but no waves in the Spring/Summer, which is why I was not down there for this trip).

I had to make this decision right away, in order to give more notice to the people affected by it. I was a hard decision for me, because on some level, I felt like I failed the challenge of being gone the whole 3 months. But I realized that was silly, I had nothing to prove in that regard. While I also felt somewhat bad for inconveniencing others with my change of plans, I trust that the people in my life support my happiness and are flexible. I realized that it’s good to be flexible to change and fluctuation, because that is where growth and evolution lie.

Trusting my own judgment call without doubts...

"What is the biggest problem in human life? Because of lack of self-realization, you always underestimate yourself."

--Bikram Choudhury

Good realizations, here's to life and learning, and displacing yourself to find out more. I'm actually really stoked that I've learned so much so quickly--more quickly than I anticipated. Sometimes the conclusions are not what you expect, but that's the cool part of it! It has been a great journey already and I still have 3 weeks of it left.

Thanks again for reading... stay tuned for more. Fully prepared to have an amazing 3 weeks here in PR.