Just some photos...

Just a few extra photos to compliment my last post.

Hibiscus quesadilla, hibiscus water. I'll turn pink if I'm not careful.

Courtyard banana tree. Check out how cool to flower is:

Sayulita Surfing & Snacking

We went down to the Punta Mita area last Friday, to a spot called La Lancha, where I took my first ever surf lesson.  Seth tagged along and did his own thing while Lindsay and I took turns with our instructor, Kalle.  I was really impressed by his knowledge of the break and wave reading; he kept us in perfect position and I caught what were surely some of the best rides of my life.  I'm finding that I do okay once I'm up on a wave, but my paddling and board maneuvering was greatly improved by some pointers.

It was such a good lesson and break that we went out again yesterday, again with Lindsay on her last day here. The waves were a bit bigger and the water a little more crowded; I'm not entirely sure that I would have felt comfortable paddling out there on my own.  But being out with Kalle was great; he saw big sets coming in long before we did, which gave us time to paddle into position if we wanted to catch one, or paddle towards the channel to avoid being clobbered. Reading the ocean like this is something I really hope to develop, and I think just takes time and attention. Kalle barely seems to be focused on the ocean, but has spent so much time out there that he still sees things I don't while staring intently at the horizon. Yesterday was far and away my best day of surfing ever.  Many of the waves were coming in head high, and I caught nice really long rides.  I've been renting and riding a long board down here, and my rides were long enough that I got the opportunity to play around with my footing a little. I love classic longboard style: cross steps and nose ridings, high on my list of surfing hopes and dreams.

There are so many talented surfers in this town it's quite inspiring. The other morning we walked down to the beach early, where we saw a kid that I would guess is 6-8 years old outsurf everyone else in the water, even pulling off a headstand at one point. It wasn't even the end of his ride; he flipped back down onto his feet and kept going!  

We can walk a nice loop by going directly out to the beach, walking south a ways, and then coming back to our cabin through town, which is what we did that day, stopping to pick up some croissants along the way to have with coffee back at home. There are several European-style bakeries in town, and we're on something of a mission to find the best one in town.  Food, generally, has been a highlight of this trip. There are a few places that do really interesting varieties of vegetarian dishes. One of my favorites and one of the most interesting so far has been a hibiscus quesadilla. While I've had and enjoyed hibiscus tea and water* before, I had no idea that anyone cooked and ate the flowers, but they're great. The same place makes a tinga, a saucy spiced dish served in a tortilla, taco style, with carrots instead of meat. Next door is a place with fantastic handmade blue corn tortillas, with many veg options for fillings, including poblanos and corn, zucchini, and spiced potatoes. Yesterday I had mole enchiladas there that were so rich I could barely finish my meal, despite its deliciousness.  Of course, we've been getting our fill of fish tacos as well, served all over town in a variety of styles and with several different types of fish as options.

(*if you're unfamiliar with "aguas frescas" they're a commonly served beverage in Mexico: water blended with fruit, or sometimes made from a mix, so that they have a light refreshing sweetness to them)

More soon on new friends and learning Spanish!

Hola Sayulita

Greetings from the enjoyably sweltering heat of Sayulita, Mexico!  We arrived Sunday evening and kicked off our vacation by jumping right into our token travel kerfuffel.  At the airport, we hired a taxi company to take us the 30-40 miles from Puerto Vallerta North to Sayulita. They offered us a shot of tequila at the counter, and we both obliged. Then, in the cab, our driver asked if we wanted some beers for the road, drinking in a vehicle being something of a novelty to us gringos. Porque no? We said! Unsurprisingly, I managed to forget my bag in the car when we were let off two beers later.  Luckily I had a number for the company, and went into town to find a phone to use. I paid to use one at a convenience store. After watching me wait for some time for the company to track down my bag and call back, a mechanic enjoying his evening beer out front took my taxi ticket and without solicitation used his own phone to call for me and check in on the situation. Several phone calls later I spoke with the gentleman who had arranged our ride at the airport counter. He tracked down my bag, and instead of charging full price to have it delivered by taxi, or my making the bus trip back to the airport to pick it up, he offered to drive it up to me for just the price of gas. We arranged to meet him at the gas station at the entrance of town, and he told me he would be driving a Ford Explorer, so that I could recognize him. 'Thanks,' I said, 'I have purple hair, so I'll be easy to spot.' 'Yes,' he laughed, 'I remember.' Although it dominated our first evening here, it was in the end a minimal inconviece, and a proving ground for the friendliness and helpfulness of everyone we met.

It rained off and on all day on Monday. We didn't make it out into the water, party due to the rain and party due to our need to adjust to the heat and humidity.  Instead, we spent most of the afternoon on the covered patio of a cafe, sipping beers and munching on guacomole. There we met a teacher from Vancouver, Lindsay, with whom we became fast friends.  We talked travel, west coast culture, education, and surfing, and plan to join her and her friends tomorrow for a trip a bit south to Punta Mita, another surf spot.

Now that the sun is out and we're a bit more acclimated we've fallen into a really nice routine.  In the morning we go out for a surf, coffee, or breakfast (or some combination) before retiring to our shady cabin during the heat of the day to read, nap, study Spanish, etc.  Our cabin is perhaps a bit rustic by some standards, but perfect for us, with a private little courtyard.  Bananas, coconuts, and mangos (unfortunately not yet ripe) grow in the cabins' common courtyard/walkway, where there's also a larger outdoor kitchen (we have a small two burner/sink kitchen setup in our cabin).  The noise is something to get used to, as our neighborhood back home is an exceptionally quiet one. The wide variety of birds here can be at times deafening, the shriller ones balanced by the soft and familiar hoots of a nearby owl.  Like many places in the world, here many things, like gas, are sold in roving trucks which signal their approach with loud music or announcements. I think I may forever remember the jingle for "Cinta, Cinta, Cintagas!" after our stay.

We've had excellent interactions thus far with locals and other travelers alike.  Many people here seem to have roughly as good a grasp of English as I have of Spanish, although there are plenty who are completely fluent and plenty who speak not a lick (including the mechanic who came to my rescue on the first day).  I get plenty of opportunities to practice; unlike some other places I've been people here don't seem to be chomping at the bit to practice their English, and generally conduct business in Spanish unless someone approaches them in English, or they happen to be completely fluent.  Most people I've talked to are happy to help me learn, to speak a little slowly, and graciously correct me when I say something silly or can't find the word I want.

More in a few days on our trip down to Punta Mita, town explorations, and continued social adventures!

Work Work Work

As I've mentioned to most of you independently, my sewing ventures having really been picking up, getting bigger and more exciting as of late.  Business on my etsy site is pretty steady and growing slowly; additionally I'm participating in a huge pre-Christmas sales event called Crafty Wonderland, which is hosted at the Oregon Convention center every year.  Seth and I have gone to the last two, where we've mostly purchased consumable goods (caramels, booze, fancy hot sauces) but where I've also purchased some more gifty type items like lotions and kitschy mugs.  Aside from one woman who hand dyes vintage slips and nightgowns I haven't seen any lingerie there in the past, which I think will make me a good fit and a popular stop.  Anyhow, my days have been busy planning and producing product for the event, which happens Dec. 13-14.  I'll have a week and a half to finish preparing when we return from Thanksgiving, so it's definitely crunch time from now until next Monday, when we board a plane Philadelphia bound.  In fact, the only reason I have time to sit here and type this is because I have to let this lavender dye sit on my head for another half hour at least before I can head to work.

That's right, I said head to work.  As in, go somewhere.  

I started renting a studio to work out of, and it's been an amazingly refreshing experience so far.  I was losing my mind and driving Seth's to the brink working so much from our bedroom.  There were too many days when I didn't leave the house, and falling asleep and waking up looking at my work was stressing me out like nothing else.  Oh, and the distractions.  I found that I can't work if my laundry hamper is full, if the floor needs to be swept, if someone is down in the living room laughing at something funny that I'm missing...

a somewhat unimpressive photo of my new space.  more to come...

So so far, so good.  My time in the new studio has been monumentally productive, and I can actually stop thinking about it when I come home at night.  I'm also excited at having a more professional space because it means that I can invite custom work clients to a fitting and know that it will be a professional experience, which opens me up to a different bracket of clientele.

That's about all for an update right now, aside from the following photos of pretty things (my lovely friends included).

101 to 1 (old news)

I found some old photos from earlier this year that I had meant to make a blog posting of, but forgot.  In the spring Lenny began a stint on a boat out of Sausalito, and Seth and I drove him down to the Bay Area.  We had hoped to surf along the way, but the weather was atrocious and we were on something of a tight schedule.  We did stop during a dry spell at this little trail that runs about a quarter mile downhill from 101 to a beautiful cove, all to ourselves just as it has been the other times we've stopped here.  Watched the surf boom in and were glad that we weren't in it.

Through the Redwoods

Harbor seals, disguising themselves somewhat successfully as rocks.

Surfboard for Alyssa

Seth's latest project was to build a surfboard for me, which came out beautifully!  I've only had one opportunity to ride it thus far, but it was a fantastic transition from the board I've been using.  I thought that, being shorter than the board I had before, it would be more difficult to catch waves but I found it just as easy, and much easier to manage in the water while dodging the waves I wasn't riding.    Hopefully I'll get to take it out to play again tomorrow!

If you look closely, you can see that the resin around the fin boxes perfectly matches my lavender hair!

sccs #001

Exciting morning for Seth yesterday, as he made his first exchange of surfboard for cold, hard cash!

Seth with Adam, who commissioned this board at the beginning of the summer, and was extremely excited when he picked it up yesterday.  He should be out in the water with it today!

Spec sheet for Adam

Update:  Seth got an email from Adam, which I thought I would include here:

Hey Seth,

Just wanted to let you know how phenomenally the board performed today!! Just some random thoughts from the session in no particular order...

Conditions were pretty clean most of the time - anything from waist to head high sets.

It paddles super well, especially for its length. Later drops are also no problem thanks to that flip in the nose. On the wave, it's super fast when I want it, and is nice and responsive/maneuverable as well. Lets me go top to bottom and get some more aggressive turns in! It felt really natural right from the very first wave. It was pretty cool not having to think about how to surf a new board, all I had to do was just get up and go - didn't really have any foot placement issues at all.  

It's really everything I could've hoped for, and I can't thank you enough for putting so much effort and creativity into the shape. You'll have to give it a session sometime soon, because it's an absolute blast!