Hello mudda, hello fadda, here I am in Granada Nicaragua...

I'm thoroughly enjoying being in Granada! This place is lovely and my new friends are a lot of fun to be around. Since I basically had been on a bus from Sunday morning to Tuesday night from Guatemala City to Granada, Nicaragua I felt like I'd been hit by a southbound train! I was sore from head to toe so I took it easy on Wednesday--mostly relaxing in a hammock and walking around town a bit. I also got my laundry done so I feel fresh and clean! It was funny because Lincoln (from New Zealand) has a thick accent and we were getting our clothes ready to take to laundry. He asked me a question and I couldn't figure out if he was asking me if my clothes were white, wet, or if he was asking about their weight. Come to find out he was asking if they were wet because the laundry service charges by weight. It was pretty funny! He and Laura (from Scotland) also use the word "fortnight" defined as a two week period of time (i.e. I receive my direct deposit fortnightly). It's interesting :-)

Today is Thursday and it turns out that my new friends are heading to the exact same place as I am so we're going to continue traveling together! It works out well because we all save money and enjoy being together. The place we have been staying in Granada is $6/night and it's actually really nice. So, we're going to head down to the border of Costa Rica today to a place called San Juan. It's not too long of a trip so I'm definitely glad about that. It's a real wear on your body traveling on the rickety buses and bad roads down here. I should be able to get to Puerto Viejo Costa Rica in plenty of time to meet my friend Kaytee there. I can't wait to see her!

Here are some pics from beautiful, historic Granada, Nicaragua:Municipal building near the park

The church in the central park of Granada...I love the color!

I got to climb the clock tower...it was a cool view!

Laura (Scotland) and Lincoln (New Zealand) borrowing my laptop to burn their photos to a DVD.

Laurie (Canada) resting on the hammock

So, I'm excited to get to Costa Rica and see what's cool there! It should be a great experience!

YMCA

Ok, so you're probably wondering why I named this post YMCA...that was the song I heard on the bus into Nicaragua! Yes, that's right, I'm in Nicaragua for the first time in my life!
A funny thing happened when I was in Managua (the capital city). I had been traveling from Honduras so I was pretty tired when I finally got to Managua. I thought about staying the night there and heading down to Granada (a colonial town popular among tourists) tomorrow. But when I got to the bus terminal I met a taxi driver who convinced me that I still had time to make it down to Granada so I decided to have him take me to the bus station. He was an interesting fellow who insisted that I should have him take me straight to Granada for $30 instead of taking the bus. I told him that I was a poor gringo and that I didn't have the money. He then ripped me a new one about how I was from "the world superpower" and how it was impossible that I couldn't pay $30 to have him take me. I told him that I preferred to pay the $1 to have the bus take me but he seemed angry and so I just dropped the conversation. He dropped me off at the bus station after all and immediately popped open the trunk to get my luggage out. I was so relieved to get out of that taxi! He was SSSOOOOO bitter!
Anyway, with the trunk open I went to get my luggage out only to realize that I was in the middle of another fight. Only this time it was a fight between two buses who wanted me to board their bus--both insisting that they were the first one to leave. The bad part was that one bus had my black suitcase and the other bus had my hiking pack. I have no idea how they moved so fast to get the bags into the buses but it was CRAZY! I decided which bus I would take but the bus driver of the "losing" party refused to release my black suitcase insisting that I would get there faster in his bus. I demanded (a bit forcefully) that he return my suitcase (the one with my laptop, digital camera, and pretty much everything valuable) immediately. He told me I could open the back door and get it myself because he refused to help me--RUDE! So, that's exactly what I did. I've never had anything like that happen to me so it was insane!
Anyway, I'm here in Granada and I met three nice travelers from New Zealand, Scotland, and Canada who offered to share a hostel room with me to save money. They're really nice folks and I'm glad I got to meet them!
I can't wait to see this city in the daylight. It looks really pretty. It's colonial (kind of like Antigua Guatemala) and it's by a huge lake with volcanoes all around. If the weather is good I'm going to try to hike one of them!

Oh, it's been a while since I've uploaded some pics so here are some more for you:Hanging out with Ulises and Gilda GonzalezJaqueline Gonzalez' new baby Limhi...I helped babysit him while Jaqueline worked.

Anyways, that's all for now. TTYL!

I've only got 4 minutes...

No, I'm not quoting Madonna and Justin Timberlake in my title...I seriously only have four minutes to blog at this internet cafe.
So, real quick...
I had an amazing weekend. Went dancing in Guatemala City Sat night. It was so much fun and everyone at the "disoteca" was so friendly. I hung out with my friend (Daniel) in San Salvador Sun evening (we went to a restaurant on the beach and it was beautiful!). Anyway, it was a good weekend.
I left Guatemala City on Sunday morning and got to San Salvador in the afternoon. Stayed there for the night and made my way to Honduras today (Monday). I'm just here for the night and then I'll head down to Nicaragua tomorrow morning. It will be my first time in Nicaragua so I'm kinda excited to see what it's like! I'll probably spend a couple days there before I head down the Costa Rica.
Anyway, so I'm here in a small town in Honduras and there's only one ATM and I don't have very much money. I just went to the ATM and it says it's "temporarily out of service." I hope it starts working soon because otherwise I might be sleeping on the streets! YIKES! Wish me luck!

Thanks, but no thanks...

So, I decided not to buy the land after all. I thought about it and I really need to conserve my money to go into the new business that I'm going to start. Also, I'm not down here enough to make it worth my while (although I wouldn't mind changing that).
Anyway, I'm in Barcenas with the Gonzalez family again--enjoying their company and working on a few things before I leave for Panama (via El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica). My friend Kaytee is house-sitting down there and there is plenty of room for me so I'm gonna go down there and relax a little. For now, I'm doing some research on different business ideas that have come to me and trying to decide the best route to take. I feel like my mind is flooded with possibilities and I have to make a choice. It's really cool to be in a situation like this where I am not distracted by "regular life" and I can really think clearly about what I want to do. I'm also going to contract my friend Ulises Gonzalez to do some drawing work on possible logos. He's a great artist and he seems excited to help me! I'll probably stay here until Saturday and then start heading south.
I miss you all in the States by the way! I hope you're all doing great!

I'm the "Donald Trump" of Guatemala...

Ok, so you all know how much I love Guatemala--sometimes a little too much! Anyway, I have a chance to get a little piece of property (about 1/4 acre) in a really sweet spot and I think I'm gonna do it! Check out this video and tell me what you think...

Don't forget to comment!

I can't get photos to upload!

Sorry guys, I can't seem to get photos to upload today. Real quick update:
I returned the rental car Thursday night (around 8:30 PM) and the cool guy at Thrifty charged me as if I had returned the car at noon instead of charging me an extra day. He said he wanted to help as much as he could since we're down here helping the kids in his country.
I stayed with the Gonzalez Rosales family Thurs night and got up early to catch a bus to the coast. A big group of teachers from the schools around Salamá went on an excursion and they invited me to come along. I managed to catch the bus at a bus stop on the way and we headed to a place called Xetulul (Shetoolool)--an amusement park. We had a great time and then we headed up to Panajachel/Lake Atitlán for the night and the next day. It was a blast! We even crossed Lake Atitlán to go to a beautiful little town called Santiago. Funny story: on our way back the boat driver stopped in the middle of the lake to explain to us that one of our travel companions forgot to pay him for the way there and he demanded payment. After a quick call to our friend, we confirmed that she forgot to pay and made sure he got his money. It was funny because he had us trapped in the middle of the lake to make sure he got his $3 and he wasn't about to let us off easy. We all had a good laugh about it when it was all over!
Anyway, we got back to Salama really late so I'm pretty tired today. It was a fun trip!

San Jose Espinero...aka "Middle of NOWHERE"

Sorry to leave you hanging for a while there! You've probably all moved on to bigger and better blogs by now ;-)
So, Thursday was amazing because I got to go to a little village (I don't know if it even qualifies for the title of village) called San Jose Espinero. When Mily told me about the school she tried to explain that it was far, far away but I had no idea! Since I still had the rental car I gave all the teachers a ride on the way. It was about 6:30 AM when we left so I made sure to have some good WAKE-UP music thumping in the car and we made our way up the hill.
I dropped all the teachers off along the way until we got to the last school which marked the entrance/trailhead to San Jose Espinero. The principal of the school quickly gathered 7 little rascals to help me carry the 45 lbs of books down the hill.
They were excited to help and even more excited to get out of school for the day! We started down the steep, muddy trail and I could immediately tell that these little guys had me beat on all levels. First, they all had rubber boots (like the kind you use to pour concrete) and second, they were well accustomed to these trails. I somehow managed to keep up with them without falling on my butt. One of the kids insisted that he was strong enough to carry an entire set of encyclopedias (about 20 lbs) in his backpack. I tried to convince him to divide the books between the kids but he seemed to be doing fine with the strap looped around his forehead.
After about an hour of hiking we got to the school and surprised the teacher. He rarely receives visitors due to the location of his school. It was thrilling to see his excitement when I announced the reason for our visit. This school was in serious need of books. It was a one-room school house with grades K-6 all in one room. There was no electricity or running water but there they were nonetheless. They were in the middle of a simple English lesson when we arrived so they took advantage of my presence to work on their pronunciation. All of the kids (and the teacher) are fluent in Spanish and a local dialect so when they learn English they'll be tri-lingual. The kids who know dialect usually have an easier time pronouncing English words because they have a wider range of sounds in their language.
We read a few stories and then let the kids have a recess to play a game of soccer. The two schools are basically rivals and they play each other every chance they can. The funny part is that the traveling team always loses because they have to hike an hour to get to the soccer field...lol! It was fun to watch them have so much fun! We had to head back right after the soccer game so I stopped by a little store and got the kids some "gasoline" (aka CocaCola and Doritos) for the trip back up the hill. The hike back was even harder because it was like climbing stairs nearly the entire hike (kinda like Camelback Mtn.). The kids were tired from playing soccer but we managed to make it back to the school with very few rests. It was an amazing hike! Oh, I almost forgot to mention that there were tons of little rivers and waterfalls all along the pathway and, in the distance, we could even see the largest waterfall in Central America (Chilascó). It was beautiful!

Quick update...

So, I took the long trip to Cubulco today to deliver to three schools. It was a great time! I got there and had no idea where any of the schools were to I decided to ask for help at a local store. One of the guys at the store (Chente) started giving me Guatemalan directions to all of the schools. Quick explanation...from my experience, most Guatemalan's have a hard time explaining to an "outta towner" how to get places because they've never been in the shoes of an "outta towner." Instead of words like "left, right, north, south, etc." they may say something like this: "take this street straight until you come to a bunch of pick-up trucks then go up that road and there's the school." And they always say it with extreme confidence. What usually happens after that is you find the road (by asking people in the street) then you go "up" the road (which you would assume means "up" but it could really mean down so you have no idea whether to go left or right) continue on for a while until you think you've gone too far, ask another person where the school is only to find out it's down some little trail--untraceable by military satellites--and behind a grove of trees. I have yet to have a Guatemalan just admit that they don't really know how to get to the destination. It really stems from their natural desire to help people so I can't be mad :-)
Anyway, I think Chente could see my head spinning while he was giving me directions so he offered to go along with me. I always hesitate to take strangers in my rental car (for safety reasons) but I had a good vibe from this guy so I took the chance. He was great! He helped me find all of the schools and we were able to make it to all three. It was funny because while we were chatting he happened to mention a guy he knew from the Peace Corps who had helped him when he was 13 or 14 yrs old. The guy happened to be Kevin Koordt who was responsible for the Books for a Better World presence in Cubulco and is a current board member! What a small world! Chente was so happy that he was able to help me and felt it was like returning a favor that Kevin had done for him almost 10 yrs ago.
Things went really well at the schools. I was particularly impressed by Escuela Santiago where they had constructed a wooden box with wheels to cart the books from classroom to classroom for reading time. It was a really cool idea!
Another cool thing about today is that it was Doña Carmen's birthday. She is Mily's mom and has always been a wonderful support by making our lunches every year when we come. She's an amazing cook by the way!
Anyway, I was having trouble thinking of something to get her so when I got back to the house I asked Mily. Apparently nobody had eaten lunch (it was 2:00 PM) and Carmen loves PIZZA so I decided to order some pizzas for everyone. They were so excited! The pizza place in town is Telepizza which is actually inside Pollo Campero. It was interesting pizza...not too bad for a fried chicken joint!
Another reason why today was extra busy for the Reyes family was because it is the one year anniversary of Carmen's brother's death. The Reyes are very Catholic and they set up a beautiful altar with candles and picture frames and had a special prayer session with all of their friends and relatives. I felt happy to be a part of something so special. After the meeting, we all enjoyed delicious "chuchitos." I'll let Lorenzo (Mily's brother) explain what "chuchitos" are in this little video clip:

Anyway, it was a great day and I'm looking forward to another great day tomorrow. I was gonna go back to Guatemala City in the morning but I decided to make one last delivery to a little village before I leave. I'm excited because it will be quite the hike and the local teachers might even let me borrow a horse to pack the books in! If they can't get a horse they said they would send six school kids up to help me...isn't that funny :-) I'll let you know how it goes!

Attempting to blog half asleep...

It will be a miracle if this post makes any sense because I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open!
Let's see, Sunday afternoon I dropped Kira off at the airport. I was sad to see her go :-( She does such a great job with reading to the kids and we were having a lot of fun working together. Oh, wait...back up...Saturday I had to go to a doctor because I had this bizarre rash on the back of my head. It was really gross...EWWW! Anyway, the doctor said it was some kind of fungus so he told me to go to the pharmacy and get some anti fungal cream and three pills to be taken every five days. By the way. I showed up at the doctor's office at 4PM on a Sat., waited 5 mins to be seen (by an actual Dr.) and paid $6 for the consultation. The total cost of the drugs at the pharmacy was about $15. And that was without ANY insurance. Well, I took the first pill Sat. evening and by that night I started feeling a little sick. By Sun. morning I was feeling worse with a headache and stuff. To make a long story short I finally feel better today and the fungal infection is completely gone! Tomorrow I'm gonna ask the Dr. if it's necessary to take the two remaining pills.
So, back to Sunday...is this blog making ANY sense? After I dropped Kira off at the airport I rented a car to transport some encyclopedias for the libraries in Salamá. The Rotary Club was cool enough to offer Books for a Better World some space on their shipping container so we shipped the heaviest boxes we could find which resulted in a savings of about $800 in shipping! I had originally planned on hiring a driver to deliver the books to Salamá from Guatemala City (actually Amatitlán) but after I got a couple quotes it seemed like a better idea to just rent a car and do it myself. So I rented a little Toyota Yaris for $38/day instead of paying a driver about $400. Plus I'll have the car to make deliveries. It works out.
So, back to Sunday...I got the rental car and headed to Barcenás to see my friends from la Família Gonzalez Rosales. It was so nice to see them again! For a second I forgot that I was feeling sick but soon I had to give in and go straight to bed. I had a horrible fever all night.
Monday I called my friend (Mandy Vasquez) and we went to lunch along with my friend Ulises Gonzalez. We dined in style at McDonald's. It was really fun to hang out. We dropped Mandy off at work (Telgua...the phone company) and then Ulises and I went to see Hancock at the movie theater. We timed it so I could pick Gilda (Ulises' sister) from work and get back to their house.
Oh, by the way, I wasn't even supposed to be in Guatemala City on Monday (yesterday) because the Rotary Club container was going to arrive for me to take the encyclopedias but it didn't arrive until today (Tuesday). So, today I met up with the Rotary people and we unloaded a huge container of dental equipment. As luck would have it, the boxes with the encyclopedias were the last to come off the truck so I didn't get out of Guatemala City until 4PM. I wish I could have been more help with the unloading but I am so weak from being sick. The good news is that I got the encyclopedias and I'm so thankful to the Rotary Club for all of their help!
I made the trip back to Salamá and tomorrow I'm going to deliver to three schools in a rural area called Cubulco.
Oh, when I got to Salamá I showed Mily (school teacher/local volunteer) the encyclopedias and she was really excited about them. They are really nice with color pictures and plenty of information about a lot of topics. I think they will come in really handy here because a lot of kids don't have access to the internet or other information sources. I was happy to see Mily so excited. She helps us a ton and it's good to see her enthusiasm!

A day in the country...

So, this motorcycle is coming in really handy for our work here! We had an extra box of books this year so we decided to add a new school to the program. Mily recommended Aldea Dolores--a rural school near a small town called San Miguel (where we went yesterday). Kira and I left around 7AM and made our way to the school. It was a beautiful trip on a curvy, bumpy, hilly road. It was actually pretty fun on the dirt bike!
We had to leave the motorcycle at a little store to walk across a suspension bridge to the school. It was really cool! We ended up getting to the school at the same time as a group of students from the high school in Salamá. Part of their program was to interview the director at this rural school to investigate the major causes of drop-outs in their town. They were neat kids and it's always good to see the youth working to make their own country a better place!
The director of the school was enthusiastic about starting with Books for a Better World. He gathered the kids together so we could read to them and present the books. It was great to see how excited they were. The school had a lot of indigenous kids from very poor families so it was a perfect candidate for our program. Toward the end of our visit we gave the older kids a chance to read to everyone. I was impressed when one of the guys from sixth grade got up, in front of everyone, and read a few pages from a book. Not only was he a good reader but he seemed confident for his age. I told him he could be a good teacher someday :-)
We got back to Salamá and ate lunch--chicken, rice and veggies. We still had plenty of daylight so we decided to take a trip to San Jeronimo just to check it out. We found another bumpy road (I guess our butts weren't sore enough yet...lol) and started down the path. We ended up at a river with a dam where they divert water into a canal to water crops. It was a beautiful place surrounded by mountains and streams. I love discovering new places! On our way home we stopped by a restaurant/fish farm where they serve fresh fish and ostrich meat. It was really good! I felt like I was in Chandler, AZ...eating ostrich...lol! Kira and I decided that we were reducing our "carbon footprint" by eating at this restaurant. The fish were right there and the ostrich farm is a few miles away. Fresh food is the best!!!

Schools, libraries, clay, cross and bubble wrap...

Hello my faithful reader(s)...lol! Today went by really fast. We delivered to two schools and a library. The schools were in a nearby town called Rabinal and the library was in a little pueblo called San Miguel. Kira and I got up early (once again) to catch the bus to Rabinal and then we got a taxi so we could get both of the schools in one day. Normally we walk to these schools but we never would have been able to get them both that way. I was happy that we got two schools done but the downside was that we couldn't spend much time with the kids because our taxi was waiting for us. On our way back home we found a cool place where they make clay pottery.
We got done a lot faster than expected so when we got back to the house we decided to make a trip to a library in San Miguel. We decided to go on the motorcycle that a friend was letting us use and it worked out really good! We must have looked pretty funny--two big gringos with a big backpack (full of books) on a dirt bike. There were a couple of hills that we struggled to climb but we managed to sputter up somehow. The librarian was stoked to get some new books! They had a very small collection but I could tell they were well used.
We returned to the house and ate lunch--macaroni and cheese--and then I decided to take the dirt bike on an adventure! There is a cross on the mountain above Salamá and I've been wanting to go up there ever since I saw it. It was a steep, curvy road but I was able to make it up pretty quickly. I managed to snap a few aerial shots before the battery in my camera died and then I went back down. Going down was the hard part! The rocks on the trail were pretty loose so braking was tricky but I made it down without a scratch :-)
When I got back to the house I walked in to find the kids (Estefani and Roberto) playing with some of the bubble wrap from the packaging for the books. I couldn't help but snap a photo...they're such cute kids!

Another day in paradise...

Here's another quick update! This morning we got up super early (like around 5AM) to head up to a school called Niño Perdido (translated: Lost Child...great name for a school right?). Anyway, this is the school where Mily teaches (Mily is the lady who helps us coordinate everything down here). It was really fun to visit this school because they have a very positive energy about learning and you can just tell the teachers are enthusiastic about being there. Most of the kids come from very poor families but they have a desire to learn! It's a great feeling!
Mily's class was a lot of fun because we got to sing some songs in English with the kids. They were so excited to hear our "real" English accents and they did a very good job of trying to copy us! It was kind of funny too because Mily had to run an errand and she asked Kira and I to run the classroom. At first I was like..."huh? u want us to run your 4th grade class?" Can you imagine a teacher doing that? Anyway, Kira read them a story and then I grabbed a book about snakes and had the kids take turns reading all about snakes. They were pretty interested in the topic so it went really well. I even quizzed them with questions about the reading and they seemed to be learning. It was pretty fun!
After we got done at the school we went to a little national park that was really close to the school. It was a beautiful place! It was set up as a special preserve for Guatemala's national bird--the Quetzal. It was a simple, 2km hike with trees, ferns, and water falls all over the place. I felt like I was walking through heaven! The only thing that would have made it perfect would be if they could replace the mosquitoes with Quetzals. They are extremely rare but I hope to see one someday before I die. Here are some more pics of the beautiful surroundings:P.S. This cool guy in town wanted to help out with the project so he's letting me use his motorcycle! I'm going to try to make a couple deliveries with it over the next little while. It's been fun learning how to drive a motorcycle--it's really a dirt bike. It's a small one...a good starter bike. I thought it was way nice of this guy to let me use his bike :-)

The books have arrived!

Yay! The books finally arrived at the post office so we can start delivering books tomorrow morning! I'm so excited :-)

Feels so good to be back...

Hola amigos! It's been a couple days and I know you've been dying to know what I've been up to...lol!
So, in a nutshell, I didn't get to surf because it rained too much and the ocean water was too dirty (leaves and dirt that got washed in). My instructor advised me not to surf because he said you always end up swallowing water and with all the debris people get sick so I decided to pass. We had a good time nonetheless and enjoyed a lot of good seafood...mmmm!
So, we headed back to San Salvador on Friday morning so we could get ready for Alice to head back to AZ and Kira and I to Guatemala. We decided to check out a museum and take a look at the tourist markets before we left. The museum was really interesting because it showcased Sorpresas--miniature clay figurines enclosed in an egg-shaped enclosure. It's hard to explain but here's a pic:
Anyway, it was pretty interesting and I learned a lot about the culture of El Salvador. I ended up buying a set of "Sorpresas" which depicts the illegal immigration of El Salvadorians to the USA. The miniature details are astonishing and the set wasn't even expensive ($12)! Gotta love Central America prices!
So, after we went to the museum and checked out a tourist market I made my way back to the mall where I had gone with Joaquín last week. I met up with a new friend (Daniel) who I had met earlier in the week. I wanted to see a little more of the city and he and I have a lot of similar interests so we decided to hang out. We had a good time eating "Mexican" food and just chatting. He and his mom run a little business and we had a good time discussing how he runs his business and how I'm planning on starting a business and stuff. His best friend (Marvin) met us later (after he got off work) so we all hung out at the mall. We all had to be up really early so I got back to the hotel early. I love making new friends and I had a great time! By the way, as angelic as I may be that blue "halo" above my head is actually a sign for Nine West ;-)
Saturday morning @ 5AM Kira and I were ready to head to the bus station. There was just one problem...the taxi we had arranged for was not at the hotel! We were pretty worried because the bus to Guatemala City supposedly left at 5:30AM and it was about 15 mins drive to the stop. After a few stern (but friendly) calls to the taxi company our half-awake taxi driver arrived (at 5:20) and took us to the bus stop for TICA Bus. Luckily, the bus didn't leave until 6:15AM so we got on with no problem and our freak-out session was in vain, WHEW!
We're in Salamá Guatemala now and it feels so good to be back. For those of you who don't know, I stayed here two years ago when I worked with Books for a Better World. I really love the family that supports us here. They are wonderful people and we have a great time every time I'm here. It almost feels like I never left. Oh, and did I mention that the food at their house is SABROSÍSIMA (yeah, that's a really good thing for you English speakers)! Today Doña Carmen (the mother of the family) taught me how to make green beans fried with eggs. It was really cool because she whipped the eggs first which made a type of batter around the green beans. It was delicious and pretty easy too! I'll try to get some pics of the family because they are the coolest people!
Our books aren't quite here yet (thanks to Guatemalan Customs) so we'll either get them tomorrow or Tuesday so we can start the deliveries. This is a blessing in disguise because Kira is getting over her cold and she needs a little extra rest. I just hope they put a rush on getting the books here. I'm not holding my breath because I don't believe the word "rush" is in the Guatemalan dictionary...lol!

Playa El Tunco

We said "goodbye" to Ahuchapan this morning and set off for a new adventure--Playa El Tunco! We got a nice bus to San Salvador and then Alice decided to hire a taxi to the coast so we could travel in comfort. Poor thing has been sick with a cough the entire vacation and the last thing she needed was diesel fumes from an old "chicken bus."
Anyway, we got here around 3PM and found a really fun lodge where a lot of surfers seem to hang out. It should be fun.
I'm going to take surfing lessons tomorrow morning and I'm so excited!!! I've always wanted to learn how to surf and it's really cheap for lessons down here. I'll let you guys know how it goes!