Diaries of a B2B Client: Mexico, Surfing and Kayacking

To me, learning to surf is comparable to learning to golf. Those who know how to do it make it look easy, but it’s not. Like golf, there are many minute details involved, and each skill builds on others. Ultimately, the individual needs to keep trying until he gets a feel for the various parts. There is only so much that can be taught. Like most things, practice is the key. Learning to surf, within the framework of Back2Basics has been key for me. We’ve gone out every day, gotten up early each day, and us as a group have encouraged and motivated each other. Edgar our coach, taught us the basics and quickly let us get into the water. He makes a point to spend time with each of us individually as we are all at different stages of progress. He is also a respected local, which gives our group credibility wherever we go. There’s an unwritten etiquette to this sport and because we’re with Edgar, the more experienced surfers seem pretty welcoming and forgiving. For me, it’s been a tough sport to start at age twenty-nine, but I love it and see myself doing what I can to continue my learning. Unlike many of the sports I played as a kid, this is one for people of all ages, it’s not to hard on the body, and it provides a natural high. Nothing feels quite like catching, dropping in and riding a wave. After getting the basics down three months ago when I came to Zihuatinejo last, I was hoping to pick up where I left off. It hasn’t been that easy. I’m on a different board and the waves are bigger and more powerful. This time around, it’s been a totally new set of challenges, frustrating at times, but I just keep at it. I just try to have faith that if I don’t give up, it will eventually and over the course of the past two weeks, it has. The feeling of successfully catching and riding one wave washes all of the frustration away and reinvigorates my mind and body.

 Zihuatinejo is a great place for surfers of all levels, and I think it’s a particularly great place to learn. Playa Linda is where we get our feet under us. The waves aren’t too strong or tall, and they’re consistent, plus it’s a local beach and isn’t overcrowded. La Saladita is more of a tourist break; it’s consistent and has long, low rolling waves where we can really start to get the feel. Then there’s El Rancho, my favorite, where it’s bigger and more powerful, but clean and rolling. I look forward to coming back on my own to continue learning.  

Without Back2Basics, I would likely never have ventured down to this part of Mexico. The culture, the surroundings and the surf spots have all made this one of my favorite places in the world. My desire to return has motivated me and my friends to learn the language. Our daily Spanish classes, taught by a local, have been a great way to learn many nuances. Shirley, our instructor, provides structure to our lessons, but she’s also willing to encourage going on tangents that interest us. I was here with a different group three months previous and we were all beginners, so we started with the absolute basics. This group already has a pretty good grasp on the language, so we’ve been able to get into some of the more intermediate or advanced stuff.

Shirley puts a stress on conversation, and has brought some of her friends to class so that we can talk with them. Slowly but surely, I can feel the language barrier melting away. I feel totally comfortable ordering food, asking directions and just getting around in general. My friend and I have already committed to each other that we will continue our Spanish education when we get back to the states.

I spent many years learning French and as I grew older, didn’t find it that useful. Having worked for many years in the restaurant business and living in the southwest, I wish I had started learning Spanish at a much younger age. Through learning French and Spanish, I have also gotten a much better grasp on my English. The trick, however, in learning a language is to avoid thinking in my native tongue and then translating directly to the other language. More often those translations don’t carry the correct meaning, and it’s extremely difficult to engage in a conversation where that kind of mental process is needed. It’s frustrating and difficult to get to a place of comfort, but it’s also humbling, which is healthy for recovering the nature of my addiction. I’ve been surprised, as well by how well other cultures understand English. There are many exports down here from America and Canada, so the culture has adjusted a bit accordingly. One could survive down here with no understanding of the language, but it’s much richer with some insight and understanding of the culture.

For the past four weeks we have been taking a white water kayaking class and preparing to take a trip down the San Juan River. I think this trip is going to be extremely exciting and going to teach me some valuable lessons I will need in sobriety and help me realize some things about myself. When we started this class I was really nervous about how well I would do in a kayak. I had a lot of fears about getting injured or struggling on the river, but these have been fading as I progress through the class. We started the class learning about kayaks and practicing exiting the kayak if it flips upside down in the river. Being attached to a boat while under water is a scary and uncomfortable thing at first, but I got used to it after some practice. In our next class we learned how to paddle properly and how to use your kayak to rescue someone who has flipped over so they don’t have to exit their boat. I feel like this is a good exercise to help us work as a team and to look out for one another. Our third class was more practice on paddling and flipping yourself over with the help of another kayaker as well as learning how to slap the water with a paddle to keep from flipping over. The last class we took was the one where I showed the most improvement and gained more confidence in going down the river. In this class we practiced the technique to prevent yourself from flipping, but we also learned how to flip back over using your body and a paddle. I was scared about learning how to flip, thinking I wasn’t going to be strong enough to do it, but I soon realized everything we had been learning were all steps to doing the flip and that strength had little to do with it. In the end the teacher said I was one of the better students at flipping which gave a lot of confidence in my abilities and made me way more excited for the trip. We have our last class in two days and we leave for the trip the next day and I’m really excited to try all I’ve learned on the river.