Waas On Breadbin!

I am currently rockin in Dominical which is a couple hours south of Mal Pais. I have hooked up with four boys from Penzance in the land of Kernow and we have been doin her proud.

We left Mal Pais 10 days ago on a bus at some ungodly hour, the bus was big and comfy if not a little disconcerting on the roads round there. They are mostly single laned, pot holed, windy dirt tracks. I was fairly sure we were either going to A Crash into on coming trafic or B Fall of the side of the road. Thankfully my lack of faith in Tico drivers hasn´t been realised yet which i am quite happy about. We got to the ferry port and had a fairly uneventful crossing Punteranus, we waited there to cach a bus to Quepos.

I had decided to get some money out of a cash point as Dominical dosn´t have access to money. The cash machines over here give cash first and once you have taken it give your card back. I got me 180,000 potatos out of the cash machine and was counting it with my card waiting, just as i reach to grab my Visa card it magically gets sucked back into the machine. What the Fuck! I go into the bank next door which has one guy bahind the counter and one guy next to the counter with a pump action shot gun, well at least my visa card will be safe. I explain in my wonderful Spanish, which i thought was getting better but apparantly my vocabulary falls of rather quickly when i step outside the restaurnt or bar arena. He gets the jist after a while and trys to hide his smirk at the stupidity if the sun burnt gringo standing in front of him makin mad gesticulating motions. Whats the international sign for "The fucking bank machine has just eaten my fucking Visa card"? After much explaing what must be the most basic of scenarios to me about a hundred times he draws me a little map of head office, go there. To be fair they sorted it out pretty quickly once i got to head office, i missed the bus we were supposed to take but there was another an housr later.

On our walk to the bus stop a taxi driver pulls up in a mini van and asks if we want to go somewhere, we joke and say Dominical, about five hours ..>.. D(["mb","away.Yea, sure for $120, now you may think this lazy but with seven of us it came to a tenner each. We weighed our options carefully, four hours on a public bus wait in Quepos for 3 hours and then another 3 hours to go a further 45 km down the coast on the lovely roads i was telling you about. Half a second later we were loading our surfboards onto our newley hired, air conditioned mobile. The driver was awesome. Just outside Jaco he turns round and says "You ever seen Crocodillo?" No and yes i would like to, we pulled over to a store on the side of the road to purchase some very pink sausage type foor, apparantly humans do eat it! Anywhoo, we stopped just before the bridge and walked down the middle there were bout eight or nine crocodillo´s bellow, sunbathing and having there photo´s taken by a load of tourists, then the Kernow crew rock up and start pelting them our dayglo pink bratwurst. The Croc´s got a bit excited and started moving around, it was pretty cool. The journey went by pretty fast after that, the last section was a pain in the arse, when you have been awake since three in the morning and you want some knapp time i wouldn´t advise driving forty kilomteres down a bumby dirt track, just a tip...n..u003c/p..>..n..u003cp..>So Dominical, it´s basically a small fishing village, it takes about 10 mins to walk from one end to the other and what do i find on my first scouting mission, they do have a cash machine so my foray into the Costa Rican banking world was all in vain. We hired a house on the beach after a lot of searching, a two bed place with big kithcen and lounge area, for $200 dollars for the week. Sweet. The surf hasn´t been that great since i´ve been here. Most of my days have involved surfing 3-4 beach break mush which i could find in Cornwall, Yayyo and Flur de Cano drinking sesions and playing poker for high steaks [10 pound pot]. I have had lots of fun!..n..u003c/p..>..n..u003cp..>I´m off to Hermosa up the coast tommorow for three days and then iflying back to Canada on the 30th and then back to the UK, you will all be glad to know i´ll be back in the country on the 2nd of April!",1] ); //-->..> away.Yea, sure for $120, now you may think this lazy but with seven of us it came to a tenner each. We weighed our options carefully, four hours on a public bus wait in Quepos for 3 hours and then another 3 hours to go a further 45 km down the coast on the lovely roads i was telling you about. Half a second later we were loading our surfboards onto our newley hired, air conditioned mobile. The driver was awesome. Just outside Jaco he turns round and says "You ever seen Crocodillo?" No and yes i would like to, we pulled over to a store on the side of the road to purchase some very pink sausage type foor, apparantly humans do eat it! Anywhoo, we stopped just before the bridge and walked down the middle there were bout eight or nine crocodillo´s bellow, sunbathing and having there photo´s taken by a load of tourists, then the Kernow crew rock up and start pelting them our dayglo pink bratwurst. The Croc´s got a bit excited and started moving around, it was pretty cool. The journey went by pretty fast after that, the last section was a pain in the arse, when you have been awake since three in the morning and you want some knapp time i wouldn´t advise driving forty kilomteres down a bumby dirt track, just a tip.

So Dominical, it´s basically a small fishing village, it takes about 10 mins to walk from one end to the other and what do i find on my first scouting mission, they do have a cash machine so my foray into the Costa Rican banking world was all in vain. We hired a house on the beach after a lot of searching, a two bed place with big kithcen and lounge area, for $200 dollars for the week. Sweet. The surf hasn´t been that great since i´ve been here. Most of my days have involved surfing 3-4 beach break mush which i could find in Cornwall, Yayyo and Flur de Cano drinking sesions and playing poker for high steaks [10 pound pot]. I have had lots of fun!

I´m off to Hermosa up the coast tommorow for three days and then iflying back to Canada on the 30th and then back to the UK, you will all be glad to know i´ll be back in the country on the 2nd of April! ..>.. D(["mb","..u003c/p..>..n",0] ); D(["ce"]); //-->..>

Good morning everybody,

Mondays arn´t quite so rubbish in Costa Rica. None of the usual awakening with a cactus struck on the inside of your brain, dragging yourself into the shower in some vain attempt to try and awaken from your slumber. Getting the drip out of the cuboard to get it loaded up with coffee for a direct injection of Caffiene into the system. Then stumbling out of the door into thew pissing wind and rain to get nearly run over on the way to work. Where you spend the rest of the day subtly surfing the internet trying quite hard to make it look like your working, when the only thing your trying to do is keep your breakfast down.

Thankfully none of that for me this fine Monday Morning, i awoke at the crack of dawn, about 5.30, without the aid of an alarm clock. I took a look outside and the sun was just about to start shining. I grabbed my surfboard and gave it a quick wax. The hangover feeling lacking as i was a good boy and went to bed early. Clad only in shorts i headed down to the beach, a 2 minute walk made only slightly annoying by the fact of the gravel drive. I can hear the surf before i can see it, a nice heavy pounding sound. I get to waters edge to behold just over head height waves, the wind blowing lightly offshore, rolling in in quick sets and not another soul out in the water. I head down to waters edge a dip my toe in and still as warm as it was the day before. I get out back fairly quickly and just as the sun rises over the mountains behind me. I caught one of the best waves i have ever riden.

I hope you enjoy your monday morning as much as i have enjoyed mine!

Just thought you´d all like to know that i got barrelled today!

Easy!

It's been a while since i last updated this 'ere blog, what have i been up to, well sit back and i shall inform you.
After my excursion to Whistler i was enlisted to advise my parents about purchasing a new TV being the technical whizz kid i am.Off we poped to Best Buy, the Canadian version of Currys, to perouse a few new televisual boxes. We left a while later with a 46" plasma TV, surround sound and spangley new DVD player, i feel i held up my end of the bargain quite well. Needless to say, me being the lazy bastard i am i then spent about 5 days road testing new TV watching  a few Moovies. Nice!
One of my freinds, Yolanda then came out to stay for a bit, I got drunk for the first time since i have been here on the first night she arrived. It was quite fun. We then headed to a resort called Sun Peaks. It's just outside a city called Kamloops, which was a 5 hour trip on a Greyhound bus. The resort was pretty big and there was a bit of new snow the day we got there. The first day i taught Yo how to snowboard and then spent the next 4 days spazing around on my own. The resort had a lot of intermediate terrain and not much hard stuff. There were lots of runs through the tree's which is what i spent most of my time riding. The place was almost deserted as we were there during the week. I had entire runs to myself. They promised a half pipe on the website but didn't have enough water to build one at the begining of the season so i obviously didn't get to ride one. I didn't have enough time to check the pipe out at Whistler. We went out to the locals night while we were there and got fucking drunk, kinda like being 17 again, lots of rock anthems being played, lots of drinking, i had fun. I smoked some weed with some Canadian guys afterwards and bonded with them over my love of Ice Hockey violence.
The last day in sunpeaks was the best, they had a nice dump the night before and on the first run i took a wrong turn, i ended up cruzing down this nice steep black run with hardly any tracks and got some good powder. Spent the rest of the day riding a different bowl listening to the Prodigy carving up the powder.
I had to go back to Vancouver a day early to meet my girlfiend, Rachel. B.A. decided they were gonna strike so she had to change her flights, useless bastards.
I got a lift to the Greyhound station with the owner of the hostel i was staying in. He had a van type thing with a sliding door, he had just had this door fixed because retards kept breaking the the lock mechanism by trying to open the door when it was frozen shut. So me being a massive retard, i not only broke the lock but pulled the entire handle off the door. I stood there with it in my hand just staring at the door just as he came out to give me a lift down. Wanker! Anyhoo he was quite nice about the incident.
I got back to Vancouver and meet Rach at the airport, after much couple based activitys we went across to Vanouver island. We got a sea plane from Vancouver Harbour and flew to Nanaimo, the plane ride was awesome, you fly quite low so you can see laods of stuff. The weather was unseasonally good so we hired a car and drove around. We planned to got to lots of different places. On the map Vancouver island dosn't look that big, after reading a tourist pamphlet we discovered it is 2/3's the size of the UK. We changed our plans a bit.
We went to a place called Tofino which is right on the Pacific coast, stayed in a nice chalet on this little beach. We drove around and saw some rainforest, a lake so still you can see the relections of the mountains in it, nice beaches and suff. It was pretty good. Then drove down to Victoria, the capital of BC and stayed in a swanky hotel called The Queen Vic. Went to the Roayal BC museum which was good and saw an Imax film about under the sea, it was shit, not a patch on Blue Planet, as i told everyone who would listen. More touristy type stuff, eating out a lot.
We got back and i checked my bank balance and had a mild coronary, had to conserve pennys so chilled in front of massive telly for a bit. We then went and stayed in a cabin outside Squamish for a couple of nights. Perched at the top of a valley with nice vistas. All romantic and shizzle, hot tub on the balcony which was put to good use.
We then went to Big White, a resort outside Kelowna, they were doing a deal which meant we could stay in a hotel and get a lift pass for $99 dolars a day each.Thats about 40 quid a day, sweet as fuck. Big White is awesome, the ski area is the same size as Whistler mountain, there are bowls and tree glades to go riding in, the terrain park is fucking good as well, finally i got to ride half pipe. Not just one, but two. 12ft normal half pipe and the 17ft super pipe.
The first day i spent taching Rach how to ride again. The next two days were cloudy so i spent it riding powder between the trees, it was sweet, there is soo much terain and not many people there.
I have been wanting to ride half pipe for a while and this was my first chance, i decided to start small and ride the 12ft pipe, i didn't notice (or chose not too) the ropes at the top stoping people riding it. I dropped in on one side, did a front side air and came back. The reson it been cordened off suddenly became apparent, the other wall hadn't been ground down by the pipe monster and had a mssive wind lip on it, basically it looked like a breaking wave as oppsed to a skateboard ramp. I launched out the top and got thrown back into the centre, just managed to land on a curved section, i'm glad, i like my knee's. So, off i went to the Super Pipe, after checking it had been tended to properly i took my first tentaive ride. This is the type of half pipe you see in the videos. Let me tell you, they are FUCKING MASSIVE. A 17ft wall of sheer ice, fuck me it was good fun. I was able to ride it and get just about level with the lip doing little airs. I nearly pooed myself it was so scary but the adrenline was awesome.
The last day was nice and sunny and i spent most of it trying to find powder which had got blown off by the wind the night before. I then went and tryed the normal half pipe again. They had sorted it out and i spent the rest of the day riding that.
Well Rachel has just gone home, so i'm now up to date. Check the photo's.
I'm of to Costa Rice in about a week.

In conclusion: I love Half Pipe!

Dunc

Why Hello There.....

Well, I've been away for 21 days and havn't E-mailed anyone so thought i would take the lazy mans option to update people about my where abouts and have started this here blog.
I am staying with my parents in Vancouver at the moment. They have a nice house just outside downtown Vancouver in a place called Kitsilano. I have been abusing their hospitality and eating their food, it's pretty sweet.
It took me approximatley 21 hours after i landed to purchase a new Snowboard. It's pretty Cool, for those in the know i will bore you with the details. It's a 2007 Option 'Black Tusk' Wide. 163 long and really wide to keep my bulk from sinking in the powder. All mountain board so i can get tricky in the parks. Was pretty cheap as well, so i have done rather well.
I spent Christmas with my parents, my brother, his girlfriend and their new baby, my neice, Marcia. She is very cute, i would like to direct you to my photo's where you can see photo's of her and some of my other escapades.
I spent New Year's throwing up and not through self abuse which was a bit of a shame. I spent it watching TV programs streamed of t'internet, not very hardcore i know but after caning for the last year it seemed kind of appropriate.
There are a couple of mountains around Vancouver. One called Cypress Bowl which is pretty fun if not a bit small. I went up there on Christmas Eve for the day. They had a fair bit of powder, spent the day finding routes through the tree's trying to find fluffy powder. Had a few close calls with some tree's and thinking i had gouged the bottom of my brand spanking new Snowboard but it was still fresh as a babys bum after a full day of riding. I spent the next few days riding up there but got bored after the powder got flattened out.
I then spent some time investigating Vancouver, wlaked around down town scouting places to go drinking.
I then went up to Whistler for about 4 days. Spent the first day riding with my brother. Spent it trying not hurt myself. You'll be pleased to know i slammed on the first rail i tryed. Luckily, i have invested in a helmet so me noggin was safe. I then hooked up with some Bristol peeps, Ed Spit and Laura Wovs, who are living in Whistler this season, you may know them from Hi-Jack fame. It was the first time i had meet them and they let me stay at their place for 3 days, so after practising abuse of hospitality at my parents i was on top form. Anywho they are both really cool. Went riding with Ed for the next 3 days. We had one perfect day. It snowed about a foot one night and the next day was blue sky so i got to sample the legendary Whistler powder. It was Sweet As Fuck. Went out for first lifts at half eight and rode till the lifts shut at 3, i thought my legs were going to fall off, luckily they were still there the next day.
Got back to Vancouver and hibernated in my room for a few days to re-coperate.
I still havn't been out on the Razzle since i've been here, pick your jaw up, i'm trying to save me money so i can go riding more.
I'm going back to Whistler or Sun Peaks in the next few days.
Have fun where ever you are, i shall be updating this here blog with anything of interest , so keep your eye's peeled.

Dunc