Don't pet the jelly fish!

Yes, jelly fish look all cool and cuddly and warm and I know you wanna touch em, but don't do it less you wanna set yo hand on fire... paddling back out this mornin to the little reef when I touched one of em and got a good lectric shock, made my hand start shakin and I consider goin in, but no, surf is way clean, gotta walk it off, pain and swellin and itch went away, now just a couple bumps.

Settin out in front of jailhouse and the sets are infrequent so I decide to paddle over to little reef, whole lineup is watchin as I score wave of the mornin, paddle back out and light up another one, then before you know it, just like ants on the sugar jar, the whole crew is paddling over to little reef, I still got some good waves.

Dowtown Esterillos is fillin up with "come huevos" people from the capital that come down to the beach on buses and throw trash on our beach, get all tore up borracho, then go home, pura vida!

En el NOMBRE de Jesus!

Well the gods are shining down upon us here at Ghetto Mary, the evangelical church across the street has been cranked up for at least 4 hours now and I think we all may be goin to hell according to their spanish message, music so loud you can't even think about makin a phone call, wait til after 10pm. The surf gods are not frownin on us cuz we still got some nice clean waves this mornin, although we may have a sinner amongst us cuz the sets were about 15 minutes apart, bout shoulder high, cleaner than Jenglin's car. Today's lineup included Lagarto, Adam, Lester Earl, Larry, Pat, Cam and Eggs, Michelle and Willy, Anna and Chris, plus Bo's 2 german cousins, pura olas por todos...If Bingo were here, I'm sure the holy ghost would have gottin amongst it with us too...and we all be speakin in tongues.

Welcome Maui Jim!

Like to welcome Maui Jim as the latest follower on the blog cult, still got your board hangin in the rafters, surfed the secret spot today really fun, see you in April, peace to your cousin Johnny!

New Org Chart for Soda Mary Board Room...

Today the board room got officially outta control, looked like Obama's tacklebox, didn't know which boards were comin in which were goin out, which ones got stolin' and which one I'm gonna lug down to the 20 minute walk to the Soda Mary Secret, yea right. So I put together a new org chart, hope all board members are okay widdit.

Woke up late today, little before 6 and found myself trailin the rest of the surf team walkin down to, well the spot. I had to put out the trash, yeah, today be garbage day! Walked down to the reef, still got a knee that don't wanna cooperate, walked a slow pace behind 2 beautiful ticas, hey gimp knee aint so bad! The Jersey Crew plus Cali was rippin it up out there, the reef was showin out today, beautiful lefties, maybe bout shoulder to head high with long shoulders. Cailin caught the wave of the day, look like a postcard. Her pops surfs really well, J-Bird slashin it up, Little Paul got some long rides, but took a helluva long time to walk back in over the jagged rocks and sea urchins, Ozzy locked in on some closed out barrels, J-Bird got barreled. Cam got out of the water first which signaled me to get out, bout 3 hours after full tide, the rest of the crew took bout 30 minutes to gingerly walk in over the reef, Adam brought his reef walkers. You CANNOT pull out a sea urchin, gotta DIG it out!

Had Brekky at Margaritas, great place, typical CR gallo pinto con huevos, talked a lot about killing pigs. J-Bird is now known as California King, lives in Long Poke, surfs well. Jersey crew took off for Dominical and I miss them already, but silence is nice too. Gave 4 surf lessons in the aftanoon with 3 lifeguards on the beach, 6 surfboard rentals today, wow, I'm Obama rich... pura pura...

Me go to reef again tomorrow...less people

Austin City Limits...Live in Esterillos,,,

Well we only had bout 5 or 6 pickers in da house tonight with a great live show from Cailin, JD, Shannon, John and Chris, playin to the sounds of fried chicken in the background, plus Legend on da blues harps. We only surf 2 times today, one time in da moanin, one time wif de sun goin down... Both excellent sessions because Cailin's father is up here in da ghetto so welcome, also to JBird, Toy and Paul, welcome to ghetto Mary. Tomorrow we surf wherever day got kine waves... pura vida!

Fried Yardbird Tonight!

That's right, read it and weep cuz Larry's cookin up da fried chicken tonight, well if he manages to stay halfway sober, no beer for you Larry til you finish cookin...

Soda Larry...

Today me and Larry went for a surf straight out front in da pura pura low tide. Well, da rocks are stickin up all around, so we paddle bout half mile out where day breakin on da reef, we had the best time, just 2 of us. Rest of da crew went down to I dont know wherc cuz day gone before we wakes up, I pretty sure the tide too low fo dem, they jus like talkin machismo bout how low day gon surf the leche. Been lookin at dees waves for more than 5 years, who you gonna call?

Got back to the Sodar, felt like I need to take a shampoo because gotta lotta sunscreen hung up in my hair lookin like a grease ass porky pine. look over at the neighbors dog, his name is Clavver, look jus like him. He is the famous dog that like bark in da middle night, fuckin Clav, you mf...

Soda Mary Live...again

Yes, there is no echo in here, yo hearin is correct...again tonight we had another episode of da Soda Mary Live, yes sir...ms. cailin callahan on vocals and gee-tar, legend mike on the blues harps, mr. rick from chicago fillin in with the blues guitar, and a stand in from of all places, wimberley texas (JD) with a little solo, wow. We surrounded by talent. Shannon played bout 4 or 5 songs from Galvatraz, Brett singin backup on "seat belts and bucket seats". We is officially outta contro. Bout 15 to 20 folks in the parkin lot smokin ciggis...

Today we had the best mornin sesh bout head high and glassy glass til ms callahan lost her board and started swimmin and we help her out then quit surfin for da mornin. The sunset sesh was awesome bout head high drops on the baby reef, there is one boy out there that wanna make a fight with me but I tell him cain't fight with you, too young, but I will slap you one time...go fry some chicken and quit messin with the Texan...

Need some Okry...

Goin thru my Gumbo recipe for the Supa-ma-Bowl party and just realized ain't got no okry...cain't call it Gumbo si ain't got Okry. Well, we just call it "black shrimp soup" less somebody wanna fly down here with about a pound of fresh okry...will wait til Sunday moanin...

Wow, Excellent Waves...

Sunday mornin we're sittin around BSing about the night before when we saw the Chupacabras playin at the Backyard in Hermosa. I gotta quit dancin, too many injuries that affect my surfing career. Long story short, Cailin did not want to dance with me, but when the Salsa hero in me comes out, well one or two spins in, went for a dip and somebody almost got hurt, but luckily, just my knee, lesson learned, no mo dancin. Glad Cailin is alright too, many apologies today every time someone tells the story.

Any way, we're waitin for the tide to come in, I decide to DRIVE down and check the surf and it's goin off at LOW tide, never slowed down La Mula, just u-turned back to the Soda to get my board. So I parked in the handicap spot at Low Tide Lounge and hobbled out down the beach into some clean waves. Lot easier to paddle than walk, my first wave clean and nice, bout shoulder high, time to test the knee, did a one-leg pop up, put pressure on the knee, hey this is not so bad, little cut-back, no worries, I can surf my way thru this injury. Surfed bout 4 hours on Sunday including the evening sesh.

Welcome back Softboard Willy and Michelle, we missed you. I think Cailin won the World Domination Longboard contest. Cam blew a take-off on the set of the day. Low Tide Lounge offered the Soda Mary Team $3 burgers after the morning sesh and we killed it. Today's crew included: Lagarto, Cailin, Adam, Les, Ozzie (no leash almost killed Adam), Cam, Pat, Larry, Brian, Willy, Michelle, Adriana and Johnny shootin photos, will post those later...

German Technology and Swiss Craftsmanship

Everybody has heard about German technology (BMW) and Swiss craftsmanship (watches), but today I witnessed 2 of em tryin to strap on 4 surfboards to the top of an Isuzu Rodeo. Well apparently this may be their first rodeo. They wrassled with it for bout half an hour, scrapped the whole mission, tried again, and took off with boards flappin in the wind. They are good friends, sorry to see them go, but would not take the advice from some Texan "tacklebox" technology. So away they went, I advised them not to stop and surf in Hermosa because they would never make it to Mal Pais before sundown if they had to re-rack those boards.

Gotta love em, Nico and Thoralf...get a real job!

Gittin Amongst It...

Big Ben threw down the hammer with his curry sauce up in the Soda Mary kitchen, gittin amongst it big time. Full crew in the house with Adam, Les, Legend Mike, Nico, Michelle, Manuel, Cailin, Amber, Larry and his new girl plus his nephew-in-law, and later Suzanne and Jeni dropped in on the party wave. Cameron kicked it up a notch with yellow rice and Adam donated the mahi and tuna, great dinner! All fun and games til someone tries to smoke Les last Marlboro and is pullin off Les' bottle o rum, but all confrontations were avoided. Peace!

Amber Waves...

Well, Amber took a surf lesson today and did very well. Started the lesson bout 11am at Pelican, then moved back to Oeste and surfed a couple of wind-chopped hours here. She should be really tired, because this mornin she went hiking at 5am and returned bout 10. I feel fairly whooped myself, could use a nap, but now Big Ben is hear to cook up some killer curry.

Garbage truck came today...haul all our trash away...pura vida!

Waiting...waiting...honk, honk...hey that's not the garbage truck!

Today is Garbage Day! YEAH! Normally they come early around 7AM so we gotta get all the garbage out to the street while making killer CR coffee. The high tide today is about 12:30 so gotta hurry up and wait for the waves...no problem, today is garbage day. We got this.

Had a few cups of coffee, told a few stories, still no honk, honk. Bout 9am we go for a surf, excellent fun waves, small but good company and camaraderie. Get back to the world headquarters and hell, the garbage is still sitting out on the street. Should we call the municipality? No, just be patient, maybe they are having truck-trouble.

Cam finally returned today, gotta new job in Jaco teaching white kids. Good news, he may be living in Esterillos and getting a lot more waves, welcome back brother. We paddled out for a reunion sesh with Cam and had a ball. Get back to Soda Mary, well you guessed it, pura basura in la calle, no Garbage Day...we will still celebrate...

World Domination Blog Fest- Dear Cailin...

Dear Cailin...Posting photos of cold beers on your blog is not fair to try and gain followers, you are only pulling my tried and true followers over to your blog only to find out they can't taste the ice cold Imperial in front of their face, this is not fair.

To ALL of my followers, you come down to SODA MARY, I got you an ice cold beer waitin for ya...Pura Birra!...

Girls Surf Too!

Got some good rest last night- woke up early to some killer costa rican coffee, did laundry and hurry up and wait for the tide to push in...

Paddled out in front of low tide lounge and Larry proceeds to try to kill me, acted like he didn't see me or the other guy from England, as I was reaching for some rocks to grab onto on the bottom I was thinking that if I die, Larry still has to pay rent...hear that porch monkey?

A handfull of pretty girls showin out on the beach, and they got surfboards in their hands. After a little yoga they all paddle out on the "girls expressway" 10 items or less, and Lester Earl is leading the way. We shared a ton of waves today with Suzanne, Jeni and Sarah (and Guy from England), Larry, Brett and a handful of ticos...all in all a great day and it's only 11am. Forgot to mention Rick and Kathy boogie boarding.

The Lecheria crew (Adam, Cailin, Legend Mike and Thoralf, then John showed up late, Pat too.) caught good waves, but not as good as yesterday.

Gotta get some grub, take a nap and look for an afternoon sesh...pura vida!

PS: I STOLE this photo from Cailin's blog, ha ha!

Gee-Tar Lessons

The amazin ms. callahan is now givin guitar lessons at the Sody Mary. Suzanne is pickin it up quick, but the strangs hurt her fingers, ouch she says...see fer yer self...gotta git some shut eye for da big waves in da mornin...pura vida from the downtown esterillos.

Soda Mary Live!

Last night we had one helluva great time with live music here at the Soda, but instead of ME writing about it, just click on the link below to hear if from Cailin:

http://cailincallahan.blogspot.com/

This morning we caught some excellent waves out front, bout shoulder to head high with good clean lines.

Props to Barrack Obama, you got your work cut out for ya...

2009 Surfer of the Year Award

Okay, so you say you are a surfer, big deal. So you say you are a member of the SMST (soda mary surf team), again, big whoop, that and 50 cents gets you a cup of coffee. If you go surfing in 34 degree water, first of all, you are a bit loco, but best of all, you win the 2009 Soda Mary Surf Team Surfer of the Year Award, and we still have 11 months to go. Way to go Shawn, you da man!

Tomorrow we gonna surf a liddle harda...

Carribean Crew

In case you are wondering, here is the Carribean Crew that invaded (returned) to Soda Mary last night, one german, one american, 2 swiss, good people, glad they're back, except they have a lot of dirty laundry!

We still love 'em.

"Cain't go left on my first wave...hah"

We got waves again, nice ones this mornin, glassy, fun. Larry, Brett, Adam, Les, Pat smack in the middle of Jailhouse. Also, one guy from England, nice character. Les, true to form, "cain't go left...bla...bla", shake your arm muscles, couple push-ups on the board, etc. now we're ready to surf. We love you Pops, you old mf. The Carribean crew invaded last night, good to have them back, they surfed Hermosa this morn and caught it good. Tonight we're jammin, unplugged, live at Soda Mary, Cailin Callahan's in the house, Big Mike on harmonica, always a good time...see y'all soon!

Newman

Well, the waves have started coming back and everyone is in a better mood. Did a couple surf lessons with Canadians Bob and Tim and they did well, good job! The cable TV is messed up so we are not watching football at the moment. Beach if full of "come huevos" with lots of baby girls all slicked up with oil. I took a picture of Newman, Adam's son, the most interesting photo I could find. The sun is really shining today, hot! Gotta get a cold beer...

Parece que va a llover, ay mama no llore!

Looks like it's gonna rain, ay Mama don't cry. There are a few clouds in the sky today, have not seen those in days but it's a welcome sight, less spf 50. Mom says it's in the 20s in Texas, well it's in the 20s here too, yesterday we broke the 30s (celsius). Surfed out at Lecheria this morning with Big Mike, Larry and Pat, had the waves to ourself. Lots of beautiful girls on the beach, saw one slumpbuster and Larry is considering it. Jersey boys caught waves in Centro.

NFL football tomorrow!

This is Big Mike

Legendary, surfs every day, one day he left his dog at the beach and went home with another dog in his car. Paddles like a walruss and catches a lot of waves. When I grow up will be just like him. This is Big Mike from todays blog.

We love you Mike, Pura Vida!

No Swell, Gotta Paddle, Stay in Shape

Well, today woke up to check the surf and for the third day in a row, well flat, not rideable out front. First time I've seen this much flatness in one season in 6 years. Gotta get my paddle on somehow, so went back to the soda, grabbed my big board and paddled down to a remote reef break, La Lecheria, (just south of here, haha). Lots of turtles and fish jumpin around and swirlin. Very nice paddle, about 2 miles to get there around a rocky reef about 1/2 mile off shore. I left Soda Mary the same time Big Mike started driving down there to walk the rest of the way and I was in the lineup first. Scored about 4 good set waves, long rides, then started paddling the 2 miles back, catching some rights on the way that left me in knee deep reef, peligroso. I was well offshore when all of a sudden, big rocks started sticking out of the water, bumped the bottom of my board one time, paddled further out to sea, saw a fishing boat, Mainor, finally finished with his drinking binge, said hello, then paddled in and around La Sirena to get back to the beach. All in all, good day, good paddle, just like goin to the gym.

Pray for waves or a slumpbuster...

Earthquakes and Cold Beer

We have had many people checking in to make sure we survived the 6.2 quake on Jan 8th, and the answer is yes, no worries, just a little rumble for a few seconds, almost spilled my beer but caught it just in time. Thanks for your concerns.

Surf is still flat AND the fish are not biting, so looks like a good day for ding repair, gotta love the smell of resin and glass in the morning. Rest of our crew is still in the Carribean scoring good waves. Later from Downtown Esterillos...

New Years 2009

New Years Eve we had a bad ass band Aaron Nazrul, they are traveling from Canada to Argentina and just happened to be in CR for the party at Fred and Brigittes house on the hill. Great lyrics, good time with all our friends here in Esterillos Oeste, although I was the only one doing flips into the pool, outta control bra.

Few nights before, Cailin Callahan played at Soda Mary, and the other day she wrote a song about Soda Mary, wow, she's a great surfer, part of the crew went to the Carribean because the waves are really small here.

New Years day we took a photo of the local surfers here in Esterillos, will try to post it. Our locals only surf tournament was held on the 28th and I won my heat taking out 3 young trash talkin short boarders. Had to go to work so could not surf the finals, gotta pay for rice and beans somehow. The holidays were a blur, lots of surf lessons, rentals, full house in the cabinas and many many parties.

For now, Pura Vida!