Last Night I Dreamt You Called from Costa Rica Part 4

As I was checking my blog tracking stuff this morning I noticed that someone had come to the blog after doing a google search for the term "Quacklepuss" For those of you who haven't read all the way back in the blog or have just forgotten, Team Quacklepuss was the name of the high school surf team I was on. I could also see that two people had spent some time looking at my original Costa Rica Trip post and I was thinking "Oh man, how embarassing, one of the boys has found it and read about which ones we used to think were cute and oh man, I called some of them little bitches, shit!" Well anyway, an hour or so later I got a comment on the 3rd posting about the trip saying that my version of how things all went down was pretty funny and that I was pretty naive to what had happened and to write back and the person would fill me in on how it really went down. So I said I'd be fine with being stood corrected and just got a response from one of the boys who left to have their own little Costa Rican adventure so I thought I'd post it on the main page again so that everyone would know his version of the story and not just mine.

Here is the background info on the surf team:

http://littleddownunder.blogspot.com/2009/05/setting-scene.html

And then the first 3 posts about our Costa Rica Trip:

http://littleddownunder.blogspot.com/2009/05/last-night-i-dreamt-you-called-from.html

http://littleddownunder.blogspot.com/2009/05/last-night-i-dreamt-you-calledpart-2.html

http://littleddownunder.blogspot.com/2009/05/last-night-i-dreamt-you-called-part-3.html

And here is what the guy had to say about how it really went down:

hahah well running off was thrilling, and created the exact Costa Rican experience I was looking for. The main point I want to stress is that the tension started when Mr. G wouldn't let us have a beer, even though perfectly legal..I was 18. I had heard that Mr. G overheard that stuff, and was suspicious of our nighttime endeavors, but this was all speculation. The main point i want to make is that when they searched our cabana..all they found was an EMPTY bug tucked inside the mattress, that looked like it was 15 yrs old...obviously not ours, but this was all Mr. G needed to flip out. He accused us of planning to smuggle shitty C.R. herb back to the US, which is proposterous considering the quality we can get at home. So that night he took me on a walk and gave me an ultimatum. His exact words, I will never forget them MR. G - "You can come back with us but all your stuff has to stay in Costa Rica, all you can bring on the plane is your tshirt, sandals, and boardshorts...all of your other belongings must stay in C.R. I will let you sell them to the locals if you like. Otherwise you'll have to figure it out..." and he left it open. I immmediately objected, becasue i had over $2000 worth of stuff with me, and PLENTY of cash...I told him he was nuts, and there is no proof of anything. Mr. G - "the empty bag is my proof!" he would make a great cop! hahaha. Anyways, we had the time of our life...spent a week and a half on the Carribean Coast, surfed 20ft Salsa Brava, and became locals at the reggae bar. PS we were ducking in and out of stores/bars when Mr. G and everyone cane searching for us in Tamarindo...we caught up with a few of our buddies who hadnt gone rogue, and got a good laugh. His irrationality and quick temper brought all this upon the trip and team. Yeah I may not have been an angel, but the choice I had to make was an easy one...Leave my shit in C.R. and give in to Mr. G... never..I had all the respect in the world for the man until he gave me that ultimatum. We were forced to leave...and delightfully obliged...So many good waves to surf in that country! How could you just surf three breaks in front of the compound! Playa Negra was less than 30 miles away and perfect! Anyways, these are just a few thoughts hahaha time of my life!

Anyway, so there you have it.

Super embarassed that this is how I was recontacted by an old surf teammate, but glad he had a good attitude about it and could laugh about it all. (Sorry about the psuedonym by the way.) I can't believe it's been over 8 years since we were there! That trip was one of the best times of my life, too, and still ranks in my top two places I've ever been to along with Kenya.

Last Night I Dreamt You Called Part 3

Ok, so I think last time we left off on the Costa Rica story Overindulged Asshole, Bran, and his random friend had told Dick, Doug, and the Nice Guy that they were bailing on the trip set up the next day to Witch's Rock...

I don't know how or why I got involved; probably because I've got a big mouth and a bad attitude and was just sick of how O.A. constantly acted like an asshole who's every whim had always been indulged but I did get involved. I decided that I would go on the boat trip, but I thought it was fair that the 3 boys make up for the other 2 unpaid spots left on the boat between the 3 of them. So I walked over to their room and asked them for the money. We said that it was fine that they didn't want to go, but they had said they would so they needed to fulfill their monetary responsibility. They basically told us to F* Off that they weren't paying for it. Things started to get pretty heated as we argued back and forth about the money. It finally came out that the boys had been sneaking off each night to drink and get high in Tamarindo and had basically spent most of their money. I don't think I knew about it up until them and it really pissed me off and I yelled and O.A. about how could he be so sheisty and pull that shit after Mr. G had been so great to him (tutored his dumb ass, wrote him a letter of recommendation to UC Santa Cruz, and really just treated him like a good friend). Mr. G was a young teacher and could've lost everything had one of those dumb boys gotten hurt or arrested while in Tamarindo, unbeknownst to him. O.A. yelled out "Fuck Mr. G" Nice Guy, Dick and I gave up at this point and walked back to the bar and decided that we'd still go the next day, even though it was shitty that we'd all have to pay more.

When we got back to the bar, Mom told us we needed to go back to our room and stay there for the rest of the night. Mr. G had gone to his room to get something and was walking back to the bar and had overheard our whole conversation with the 3 boys...the talk about sneaking out of camp, doing drugs and drinking, and the part where O.A. said "Fuck Mr. G" The male chaperones were now going to go confront them and search their room for drugs. On top of that all, then the Mass Murderer started acting really creepy and aggravated and I think he was talking about knives he had brought or something like that.

The chaperones went up to the room and the boys were very adamant that their room not be searched. I think that we had signed a behavioural contract though, granting permission to let our rooms be searched. The boys started arguing with Photo Larry, Doug, and Mr. G and said they were packing up their stuff and leaving. I think a pipe was found and tiny bit of pot in a baggie or something, but true to their word, the boys took off into the night. When we got up to go on the boat trip in the morning, they weren't there.

We tried to put it out of our head and started the long drive to where we would meet the boat. It was an overcast day and it was fun to get out and see more of the Costa Rican countryside. We got on the boat and set out on our trip. First, we went to Ollie's Point (named after a guy in a drug bust or something that had taken place there a few years back or something) and I can't remember if the boys got out for a surf there or not. Then we chugged over to Witch's Rock. The waves were alright, but it was creepy because there was no one else there, there was a river mouth which meant you had to be on the lookout for crocs, and because it was overcast the water was really dark and you couldn't see through it. To top it all off, as we were about to jump off the boat, the boat driver's assistant said that whale sharks are found in the area and they've had people chased back to the boat by them!! That was not what I wanted to hear but I sucked it up and jumped into the water. I think I lasted about 15-20 minutes tops out in the water there. I'm not sure I even caught any waves before I had psyched myself up so much that I had to get out. The only problem was that the boys were still down to surf and the boat was probably at least 100 yards further out then the surf line so I had to get back out there some how. Dick, being Nice Guy's younger brother and a nice guy in his own right, paddled me back out to the boat then paddled back in for a surf. I sat on the boat, content to watch the guys and take pictures of them and the Rock, which had incredible texture to it up close.

After the boys were finished surfing, we had a long ride back to the car. The wind was up a bit and causing little ripples on the water's surface and so it was a bumpy ride back and my butt was so sore when it was all over. From there, we drove back to the surf camp and had to pack, as we were leaving the next day.

The 3 boys still weren't back the next morning as we got ready to leave. We drove all day to get back to the airport and they weren't at the airport either. Mr. G had gotten in touch with O.A. and Bran's families and I think Bran's Dad had talked to Bran and told Mr. G that the boys weren't going home with us, but would catch a flight a few days later. He also said he wanted to see Mr. G very soon to discuss the situation.

We got on to the plane and were basically the only people on it so we went a bit nuts at first...the boys adorned most surfaces with our team's sponsor's stickers. Right after or right before we hit Mexico City we hit really bad open air turbulence. I've never been in it so bad and Bren had never flown before this trip and was wide awake and nervous about it, too, so I went back and sat with him for a few minutes, just to distract the both of us from what was going on. We survived it, but I think that flight is one of the reasons that I hate to fly now. We got home and made it through Customs and then Dick shows me how he has managed to bring back Cuban cigars without getting caught...these boys-scandalous! But oh well, at least those would've just been confiscated, I don't think he would've really gotten in to any trouble and at least it would've been an American holding cell he would've been placed in if it was serious and not a Costa Rican one!

The next week or two weeks later and Mom went with Mr. G to meet Bran's Dad to discuss the trip. Mr. G had already been copping crap from O.A.'s family, including his fat, disgusting uncle(think of Humpty Dumpty, the egg, complete with the rosy red cheeks and all, that's what this man looked like) who was the head basketball coach at our high school and who happened to have a bit of sway in the school, threatening to get Mr. G fired because of the stupid choices the boys had made. Bran's Dad was a little more reasonable and was mad at the choices his son made, but was also angry that the boys had been able to sneak away. Mom stood up for Mr. G and said he had done everything he could to keep us all safe and that we had signed behaviour contracts so all us kids knew what was expected of us. In the end because the boys' had graduated and because we weren't a school-sponsored group (the school never wanted the liability of a surf team, so we were technically a boy scout troop who's members just happened to all come from the one school), there was nothing the school could do to punish Mr. G, nor do I think they should have, even if we had been a school-sponsored group.

The aftermath of the situation was that I felt like Mr. G wasn't as stoked on the surf team. He still did it and he eventually got over it, but I think he was very let down by those boys. I'm not sure he ever spoke to any of them again and the little bitches that they were, I'm sure they never tried to apologize for their actions; I get the feeling like they felt they were in the right the whole time. Mr. G took another group to Costa Rica the next summer, this time with a whole lot less drama (though a whole lot less waves too as there was no swell for the whole trip) and he continues to take his surf team from his new school on twice yearly surf trips.

Last Night I Dreamt You Called...Part 2

Upon waking up, we looked out to a beautiful rainforest area.  We had heard some scratching on our roof and looked up to see iguanas!  We also heard the gorilla noises and went to investigate...turns out there were howler monkeys in the trees- they have one of the loudest calls in the world I think I have read.  We had eggs and toast and fresh juice for breakfast everyday included with the price of the room and a revolving assortment of dinners was also part of the price...I think it was something like $35 a person per day...maybe $45 (http://www.amerisol.com/costarica/lasolas/index.html).  

So after breakfast we went walking through the mangrove forest down to the beach.  It was beautiful and white sand beaches stretching to the left and right of us.  We got out in the water for a surf and it was some of the warmest water I had ever been in.  After paddling for a bit, you'd be sweating.  I made sure to always have sunscreen on and I kept chapstick with sunscreen in my boardie pockets because I've got a big Bubba lower lip that tends to burn and get nasty really easily.  The water was clear, the waves were good, and the only crowd was us. We would surf, then explore, then eat, then surf, then rest, then surf, then have dinner and pretty early to bed.  Some of the boys weren't keeping up with their sunscreen applications and B. King loved the tan he was getting, every night he would come in and ask if I could put aloe on his back so the tan would last longer.

The second night we were there Mr. G said that if we wanted to, for extra money, we could sign up for a boat trip out to Witch's Rock (in the picture), but there could only be about 5 people per trip and it'd be about $50-$60 U.S. to go.  I didn't want to go as I hadn't liked jumping off a boat to surf the year before when we had gone to the Channel Islands, plus I thought the surf was fun enough for free where we were.

Everyday was perfect...weather wise and surf wise.  Photo Larry was getting some great shots of the boys and I was doing a lot of taping for our annual surf team video.  When I wasn't surfing or filming, I was hanging in the hammock or collecting shells on the beach, or bodysurfing, or hanging out with Mom and Sally, or laying out.  One day, as I was sitting in the shade between surfs a huge iguana came and stood on Nae's surf board and we had a bit of a shell near us and it dove towards the shell and we screamed thinking it was coming for us.  It didn't like the shell and ran away after I got some cool photos of it on the board.  The boys decided to have a play with the wildlife...one kept a gecko as his pet for the whole time we were there and there was one day where they caught a tarantula and a scorpion and made them fight to the death...I'm pretty sure the scorpion won after stinging the tarantula repeatedly.  The tarantula wasn't the only thing to be stung repeatedly.  Not once, but twice, B. King got stung in his room, his tongue even went numb for awhile (not a good sign) and one morning while we were out surfing Mom got stung on the bum as she got out of the shower and dried herself off (the scorpion had crawled on to the towel).  Our room was adjoined to B. King's and they found a scorpion nest in their bathroom or something so no wonder people from both rooms were getting stung.  I'm glad I didn't!

One day we did a drive in to the local town called Tamarindo I think it was just me, Mom and Sally or me, Mom, and Nae (+ Sally?  I'm amazed out how awful my memory is) and we got stuck behind guys on horses herding cattle.  It was cool to have them come out of nowhere and surround the car.  The town, I thought, was pretty jankity and for being such a famous surf spot, it was pretty flat while our beach was still pumping out some decent surf.  But we did get an ice cream and a few souvenirs and got to explore for awhile so it was worth it.

Halfway through the trip John Wayne's Grandson was painfully sunburned-the worst I had ever seen and have ever seen to this day.  His face was red and the worst of it was just at the top of his butt crack.  I'm pretty sure he wore a rash guard each day and of course board shorts, but there must have been a gap between the two.  It was so bad it bubbled.  Then the older boys got the brilliant idea to harass the younger boys; they must have been hanging around their rooms or something.  We all had duck tape with us to bubble wrap our boards for the journey home. They decided to duck tape J.W.'s Grandson to a tree!  He was a tough kid so I don't remember him crying as he tried to pry himself loose, but it must have been excruciating.

One or two groups had already been out to Witch's Rock and to another famous spot, Ollie's Point, without a lot of luck.  The next day, the final group would go out:  Bran, his random friend, Dick, the Nice Guy, Overindulged Asshole, and Doug as chaperone and driver.  That night after dinner Bran, friend, and O.A. tell the rest of the group that they don't feel like going anymore, bad luck to the guys who still wanted to go, and that's when the drama started!!

Last Night I Dreamt You Called From Costa Rica

School had just let out for the summer and it looked like it would be an awesome one:  I could drive, I was going on two great surf trips-one to Costa Rica and one to Hawaii, and it was the summer before my Senior year of high school.  We basically finished finals and then that weekend went to LAX to fly out to Costa Rica.  We were on some random airline I had never heard of, Laksa Air I think it was called, and it was a red eye flight. I remember it was a pretty long flight and that we had a stopover in Mexico City.  We arrived in San Jose in the morning and took a shuttle over to the car rental place.  Luckily my Mom had decided to be a chaperone on the trip as her credit card was the only one with a high enough limit on it to cover the deposits for all the cars we had...there was a bus that fit about 10 of us and 3 pick up trucks if I remember correctly.  We should have all had an inkling to the drama that awaited us when Bran's random friend joined us in Costa Rica and when I overheard the Overindulged Asshole talk about how he had smuggled pot in with him (Which by the way, WTF, how dumb can you get?  Obviously O.A. hadn't considered how horrible a Costa Rican jail might have been before deciding to become a novice smuggler!)

We get out on the road and drive for hours and hours through gorgeous countryside.  I got in the car with all the older boys and Mr. G and it was pretty funny just listening to them joke around.  Mom and Nae were in a car with K.C., D. Mini, and B. King (another really cool and nice guy from my class, that I forgot to mention in the earlier post) and they had the majority of the bodyboards in the back of their truck.  Photo Larry, his girlfriend Sally, Dick and Cabeza (one of my favorite kids ever, from Nae's year, had that nickname from everyone because of his massive head, and could be a real asshole but was also hilarious, too) were in one of the other pick up trucks and Doug and 2 other chaperones who's names I can't even remember, but were basically just there to surf and hang out with each other, were in the final pick up truck. The roads were pretty sketchy.  They were one or two lanes the whole way and some of our trek was over some pretty windy hillsides and you had to share the road with big 18 wheeler trucks as well who were notorious for having bad brake systems...not a fun experience for the drivers!

This was the era before cellphones regularly had international calling capability.  About 4 hours in to our drive we realize that Mom's car isn't in the caravan anymore.  We have no idea how long it's been since they were out of sight either.  All the boys start telling me how it's pretty common in C.R. that if you piss off the truck drivers they'll just run you off the road and you end up dead in a ditch and all this other stuff...nice guys, right?  We wait around for like an hour and they still don't drive past.  The boys are itching to get to the surf spot and so is Mr. G.  Photo Larry instantly earned friend for life status in my book when he said I could hop in their pickup and we'd drive back and look for where Mom's car was.  

After driving for awhile, we found them broken down in a random spot in the road.  They had asked at the place they broke down in front of if they could use the phone to call the rental company to come bring them a new car.  It was going to be a few hours wait.  The people at the place were super nice and even brought us out some cut up melon to snack on while we waited. It started getting closer to sunset and closer to mosquito feasting time.  The boys from Mom's car, on hearing how all the older boys didn't want to help look for them and wanted to get in for a surf instead, decided to take some of the bodyboards from the back of the car and "surf" them down the hill across the road from where the car had broken down.  The older boys would've been so pissed to learn their boards had been used in this way, but whatever, they deserved it. I've got the best pictures of K.C. standing on one bodyboard and riding it down this rocky, viney hill.  We ended up having fun, even though it was a crappy situation.  Out of nowhere this huge, pure white stallion came galloping down the road and I didn't have my camera out at that point and was so bummed to have missed it.  Finally a replacement car arrived and we were able to continue our journey (with still about two hours ahead of driving) in the dark.

Every so often, Photo Larry would call to the boys to roll up their windows and if you weren't quick enough you ended up with a bit of his chew juice on you...the boys learned after the first or second time that he wouldn't wait long!  Costa Rica isn't the best place in the world for big road signs or street signs so we were kindof driving blind and had a general idea from a map of where we were going.  We stopped once or twice and asked in broken Spanish if we were on the right track and we were, thank goodness.  At some point, Nae and Mom saw us hit a cat- I guess it kindof bounced off our tire and rolled to the side of the road, I don't even remember feeling it! We finally ended up on a dirt road and drove for what seemed like forever on it.  Sporadically along the road would be these red glowing eyes and it was super spooky as the only lights around were from the moon and our headlights.  We found out later on the trip, that they were some kind of bird (I'm guessing plovers) that liked to live next to the road.  We finally pulled up to the surf camp and everyone was just finishing dinner at the bar.  The Lakers were on the satellite TV as they were just about to win the NBA playoffs.  As we got out of the car, we heard the scariest sound...it sounded like gorillas were in the trees around us just waiting for us to walk under them so they could jump on us...What had we gotten ourselves in to??  We had some leftovers from the night's dinner then were shown to our rooms...there were no TVs in the room or phones, just beds, a dresser, a decent enough bathroom, and a really cool patio with a hammock out the front that looked down out on to the rest of the surf camp and forest around us.

I think I'll leave the rest (or maybe the next part) of the story until tomorrow so this one doesn't end up being 3 pages long.  Yes, that is me bodyboarding.  Yes, I know I look like a boy because of my short hair and because of my long board shorts, but I was totally cute when I was dried off with that hair and there was no way I was going to chance losing my bikini bottoms while surfing so I always wore boardies when I wasn't in a wetsuit.