Last Plane to Jakarta

John Darnielle from the Mountain Goats has a blog (go figure) calledLast Plane to Jakarta. I love that guy.

The band

The band
Originally uploaded by emjanero.

This one is a bit more appropriate. Jeremy in the foreground moodily composing a shoe gazing masterpiece. Me, in the background, can of PBR, contemplating something of great import.

Pics for the album

cheetos and pbr
Originally uploaded by emjanero.

Before I can get the CR pics up, I wanted to share these. Espy sent them from our camping trip on Camano Island way back in Feb was it? Not sure. Anyway. These pictures could be consider perfect for the album cover. Consider here the cheetos. Ironic? Perhaps.

From Costa Rica...Week 1

We've been traveling for just about a week. It's been an amazing time so far. The first night in town we stayed at a hostel in San Jose, leaving really early the next morning for the coast.

After a 7 hour bus ride (which was supposed to be about 5 - but as they say around here: muy tranquilo!) we arrived in Tamorindo - the heart and soul of Costa Rica's surf culture. It's a bustling town full of Americans, surfers, vendors and hotels. We stayed two nights at some pretty cheap cabins that happened to have a pool. Being from Seattle, the heat is whipping me out on a daily basis. But the pool and the surf and the water is keeping it cool. We surfed the first day in Tamorindo then hiked to Playa Langosta (aka Lobster) for some tougher waves - which were pretty much beyond my abilities. I hung for a bit but watched Jeremy from the shore. It's a lot tougher than La Push. After hiking the hot mile back with the boards we had a fun filled night that ended up with a midnight swim, which proved to be eventful - but more on that later.

After a couple of days in Tamarindo - we decided it was time to see the less tourist part of the beach culture. We rented boards, bargained for a cab and headed 25 kilometers south to Playa Avellanas which turned out to be a totally different world. Small secluded cabins in the woods which were full of iguanas, monkeys and many resident dogs. I spent much time trying to determine how to smuggle said beach dogs back with me.

The beach was a 200 yd walk from the cabins and while all the super good surfers complained about the waves being flat and small, it turned out to be perfect for us. After a four days of sore surfing, new friends, and much fun, we headed back to Tamarindo.

It's currently thundering overhead and I'm going to go take a dip in the pool. we leave at 7am tomorrow for Lake Arenal for windsurfing, hiking, volcano viewing, zipline riding and ...thankfully.. a relief from the heat.

Love to all. More soon...
Emma

The day before we leave

Tomorrow we take off for Costa Rica. Everything's packed, we have a pretty good idea where we'll be sleeping (the first night at least) and just excited to get to the surf.

I'll post if I can while I'm there. See you in a couple weeks.
Emma

ER and JB

Jeff and I, keeping it real.

Beerfest

Sassy enjoying the underbelly of the table at Beerfest.

Windsurfing part II

As I've previously mentioned, J and I have been taking windsurfing lessons to prepare for our trip to Costa Rica and visit to Lake Arenal. The first day, I proved to be somewhat unskilled at this new sport but I was taking pride in the fact thay my lack of success proved to help bolster others self confidence.

Well class number two was a different deal. After some visualization tips and some advice from our excellent instructor Julian, I was off and sailing smoothly this time around. I still fell a couple of times, but it's making more sense now. Also, if you don't fall as much you don't have to keep pulling that hulking mass of sail out of the water...which also means you don't get as tired. And being less tired, just makes it much more enjoyable.

The best tip Julian gave me was to sweet talk the sail - instead of swearing at it and that my friends, seems to work.