Costa Rica

Our first stop in Costa Rica was two nights in San Jose. Philipp finally decided that, yes, his toothache was now bad enough to make a trip to the dentist reasonable. Anna and Madlein,our German hosts, were so supportive and even treated us to an evening of "Tatort"- a little bit of "home" in San Jose! :)
The dentist concluded that a root canal therapy was neccessary, which took us a whole day at the dentists and a trip back to San Jose a week later because of complications during the first treatment...Philipp is now well and trying to avoid Coke and sweeties. Yupp, that´s right!

Good old root canal...

Punta Banco
A long bus trip to the southern border took us to Rancho Burica in Punta Banco, near the famous surfbreak of Pavones. The ranch is literally the "last stop" of the local bus and from that point on there is only jungle and the indiginous reserve of the Guaymí. And rain. Alot of rain! It rained every day for 5 days, and the wind made the surfbreak at our front door choppy and unkind. So it was books and Tico home cookin´ that kept us happy- but for the first time also a little homesick!
Highlight was no doubt our horseback ride with Wilber along the deserted beach and into the thick and slippery jungle. We saw parrots, monkeys, and -our favourite- peresosos!
On the last 2 days we finally got some surf in and Philipp was awarded his first in a lifetime barrel for his patience :). 

El Señor Peresoso.

Playa Negra
Our favorite! surfspot as of now lies just north of the Peninsula Nicoya, not far from the well known Tamarindo. The bus driver dropped us off at the main dirt road and pointed us toward a smaller dirt road...which we followed and found a small surf lodge with little cabinas for rent. Just about 5 minutes walk from the surfbreak. And wow, after our first evening surf with the sunset, the following days treated us to shoulder height waves getting bigger and bigger every day to double overhead barrels! We surfed, surfed, ´til we could surf no more and have some progress to show for it (see pics).

Our stay was very quiet otherwise. We cooked for ourselves alomost every night and hit the (only) local sportsbar for the Mavericks final game and some nachos. We befriended the labrador and her two pups at the lodge and Karoline went to yoga regularly in hopes to find the Zen for those big a** waves. Our initially planned 4 days turned into 15...who wants to join us for our next trip to Playa Negra?

Philipp and Karoline

Santa Barbara

It's been two weeks since California, but here are some impressions for y'all: at first culture shock finding ourselves drinking beer and eating hummus on a sailboat at sunset on our first evening! Ole, an old friend of Philipp's from Flensburg, lives in Santa Barbara and he and his girlfriend Sarah were awesome hosts for our 3 weeks stay there. We met up with Karos' brother Henning and his friends for a camping trip to Jalama for a weekend - a campsite at the end of a long winding road to the ocean through the hills. Campfires, Dosenbier, a freezing cold ocean, a very tasty Jalama burger, and too much wind for surf, unfortunately...but just perfect for sailing of course! :) We hiked in the hills of Montecito, took a trip down the coast to Malibu, enjoyed sunset a Lizard's Mouth overlooking the ocean, hung out with Ole and Sarah at the fireplace, snuggled into our tent on the porch in the evenings, and ate way too many hamburgers and others greasy American food!

Sailing on our first evening with Ole.

 At the harbour in Santa Barbara.

 Sunset at Lizard's Mouth.

 Midnight hotdog delight at the gas station.

 Our cozy little tent.

 Sailing on Dr. Laura's boat Katana.

 Camping in Jalama.

 At the beach.

Thank you, Sarah and Ole, for making our stay in California so memorable. Our time was too short to get all the cool things done we had planned...we will be back, for sure!

Batu Karas and Yogyakarta

So, it has been a while and we will make things breef and just post a lot of pictures :). From Lombok we flew to Yogyakarta, the old Sultan city on the island of Jawa. It was our first visit to a big city in Indo and we are glad we so spent little time there...we had the most fun wandering the streets and eating "Bakso"- fishball soup with rice noodles. The streets were jammed with tourists, mainly Indonesian, and one could get dizzy peering into the Batik stores and get your head spinning even more fending off all the vendors trying to lure you into their Batik "museum". Keen on avoiding the tourist masses, we reluctantly planned traveling to Borobudur, one of the largest Buddhist temples in the world. But, in the end, it was the most fascinating temple I have ever visited. I have never seen a holy structure which so well captures the nature of a religion so impressively...and made us feel so much like movie stars :), see pic. From Yogya we traveled to central Jawa by train, bus, on the back of a pick up and by ojek (on the back of a scooter) to Batu Karas. Batu Karas is a small surfer dorado with an incredibly long longboard wave, a slamming barrel on a point and a fun fun reef break! Jawa was very different from Bali and even more so from Lombok, less hustling for tourists- just because there are less of them- very kind people and fantastic food. We would go back to Batu Karas on our next trip to Indo!

Flew back to Bali on the 10th and spent our last 2 days in Canggu, surfing our old routine and suddenly realizing how many "bule" actually call Bali their home... It was awesome to have had so much time in Indo, because we got an insight on how culturally diverse this country is and how a rapidly growing population changes the environment and the people so dramatically. Looking forward to going back to Indo in the near future- next time: G-Land! :) Until soon,
Karoline and Philipp

  

Borobudur.

                                 

 The Bakso man.

Batu Karas

 Economi.

 Banjar train stasiun.

 Sold my 8ft board to an ambitious local...

Quick roadside gas in Absolut bottles.

Lombok

After Medewi we spent another week in Canggu, which was only half voluntarily, since we had to extend our tourist visas- not an easy ride for fun lovin' "bule" (white people) like us! On Tuesday, April 18th we drove to Padang Bai, where we intended to hop on the ferry to Lombok. Not having an international drivers license, we knew we might run into problems...and we did! "Just do it", Philipp said, and Karo folded up the 100.000 (about 8 Euros) and tucked it under her Minnesota license. "You don't take this license?", she said nervously and he smiled, "Ok, no problem. I only want help you." Yeah, riiight...
What we had heard about Lombok was fulfilled: a more remote island than Bali, white beaches with no soul on them other than some goats and the guy collecting parking money :), very rural, vast beautiful countrysides, crystal blue water- sitting on a surfboard you could see the colorful fishies!- and REALLY spicy food. Lombok is known for it's chillies! We found a nice hotel on the edge of the village Kuta, where surf tourism brought enough development to satisfy the needs of a "bule". We were a bit unlucky with the swell, unfortunately. Our surfguide Rif, a fisherman from Gerupuk village, still tried to bring us to the best available surf- but no escape from the wavehungry crowds paddling for each ripple in the water! We enjoyed the time with Rif nonetheless, sipping Kopi Lombok and trying the spicy coconut sambal for breakfast with his family (from 16 month-old to great grandmother), hearing the stories about his life working in the mines of Sumbawa, fishing on the rough Lombok coast, and finding his wife by successfully "kidnapping" her from her family. Turned out to be an expensive dowry for him! He definitely gave us a good idea about what life is like in Lombok- simple, but content for him in the middle of his big family and living the quiet life by the ocean.

When the surf wasn't good around Gerupuk, we went exploring South Lombok for it's abundant surfspots. Snorkeling turned out to be a fun option for flat days! But we did run into trouble: the so-called "roads" had potholes as big as our scooter, one of them sending us tumbling back down a hill and putting a big hole into Philipp's surfboard! We were uninjured, luckily. Other beach accesses could not have been accomplished without the help of a rice farmer, who helped us yank our scooter out of the knee-deep mud!
Philipp then had to try out a different board, a bigger shortboard, that was easier to paddle and gave him the bit he needed to win the battles for the wave against the locals :).
Eating tasty Soto Ayam (chicken soup with rice noodles) every day, going to the local market and giving those banana leaf packages a shot (see photo), succeeding in the struggle for finding the right kind of banana- the green ones!- made Lombok quite the tasty experience!
On our last day, bigger swell finally arrived the coast of Lombok. Rif and his father took us with the fisherboat to Ekas, a secluded surfspot: and we surfed 'til we could surf no more! The waves were over head and glassy, just perfect!
Next entry about Yogyakarta! Until soon,
Philipp and Karoline

 On the ferry to Lombok.

 Stuck in the mud...

 Coconut sambal and lontong wrapped in banana leaf - yummy!

 The Soto Ayam crew.

 At Gerupuk Outside of Rif's boat.

 Market in Kuta, Lombok.

Wawan, always smiling and never letting us go home hungrily. Soto ayam, lontong, and young coconut!



 

Medewi Pics

 Nur, the Shaper of my board, at Horizon Surfshop in Kuta.

 Our balcony in Medewi.

 Tuna and Meckerel dinner.

 Motorbike ride to Medewi.

 Getting ready for surf in Balian.

 Bull race in Negara.

Lunch at Danny's house with his family.

Medewi

So, we have been surfing in Medewi Beach for the last week and we have become a little better accustomed to the way things work here! I have bought a new board, 8 ft long by a local shaper from Kuta, and Philipp now also has a nice little 6,2 ft shortboard. It is great to have a board to call one's own!
Medewi is a small place, actually only a little road leading to the beach from one of the the main highways to Java. We travelled by motorbike from Canggu to Medewi, leaving before the crack of dawn to avoid the trucks to Java. It was a smooth trip with Philipp driving, two boards on a rack on the side, and me in the back with the big backpack on- and both of us of course with helmets and anti-pollution masks :). I love our little Honda "Vario"!
At first arrival in Medewi, I feared I might get bored quite soon, since there is not much here other than a rocky beach, some small homestays and one hotel. But we found a nice place to stay right on the beach where we can hang out on our own little balcony and watch the cows, the traditional fisherboats and the ocean. This it what I had imagined it to be like!- minus the ants, the cockroaches and the bucket-flushed toilet :). But, hey, thanks to DEET and other invaluable insecticides, life has become very delightful!
Louis, our now good friend from Neederland, has joined us and the two of us are taking surfing lessons with Danny, a local guy from Negara. Louis and I have been progressing in our surf skills quite remarkably! We surfed in Balian as well, a surfspot that can get quite big. I have learned that, no, big waves do not kill you...but they can be f**'in fun! And I think that is a truly good lesson for the upcoming months.
Other memorable events were: grilled King Prawns fresh from the fishermen at the beach, riding the motorbike trough the rice fields, avoiding potholes on the road going 60 Km/h, going to the night market in Negara, eating Goat Sate, meeting 70 year old surferdudes that keep up the spirit!, eating Mie Goreng Telur one too man times,...and vomiting half the night, playing cards with Louis aka. "The Poofter", seeing a very poisonous green tree snake on the road at night, trying- and not succeeding- to eat stew of unknown barbaric contents, and waking up to the sound of the ocean in the morning :). Until soon, Karoline