An ordinary Cabarete Day

A lot can happen in a single day when you’re living in Cabarete. With so much to be offered in a 20min radius, all you need is a “get up and go” mentality and everything folds out in front of you.

As I write this I’m sitting on the Trapeze lawn at the eXtreme Hotel watching the morning swings of the Circus Art fiends. “Back! Forward! Forward! Back! Up!” is being cued in the background under Tracy the kickboxing Coach’s even louder instructions from inside the gym next door. “Jab! Cross! Slip!” -and it’s only 10:15am. ::sigh:: being at the eXtreme Hotel is always exciting. But anyway I was telling you about my ordinary day:

So I woke up and wasn’t sure what was up with surf but put my suit on anyway and went down to the surf beach Encuentro. The trip there, whether on bike or moto is always beautiful in the morning because of the long windy roads littered with grazing horses, chickens, and sun beams thru lots of trees leaving cool shadows on the road. When you’re on bicycle it’s even nicer because most of the way down to Encuentro is downhill, although after a surf session the trip back up isn’t something I particularly look forward to. The waves were clean and maybe waist high with occasional head high swells so basically PERFECT but I was more in the mood to drink some coffee and talk shit with the other lazy surfers on the beach. They have all morning to get in and ride some waves but I was wanting to be at Yoga in 20 minutes so I said bye to the usual suspects, hopped on the Gringo Sanky (my friend’s moto) and rode 5 minutes to eXtreme on Kite Beach.

 

Practicing at The Yoga Loft is always my favorite morning activity, and Yoga with Molly on a Friday is always a challenge. Her TGIF means Thank God I’m FUERTE so I was sweating within 10 mins. I love how Friday Yoga is always the day I do something I didn’t know I could do. An entire practice looking at the ocean in a studio with no walls makes me feel so close to nature as I move through the asanas. Morning Yoga makes me feel accomplished for treating my body to healing, my mind to peace, and my spirit to health. Awwww que cute.

 

 

Walking down from the Yoga Loft I came upon 9 or 10 Aerialists practicing in our half pipe. Sweet Retreats, a group of Circus Artists on an intensive training vacation, was having their morning Silks class which meant toned persons binding themselves up their silks and cascading down in different ways. It’s kind of like watching the Olympics; there’s a mixture of being amazed by what a human body can do and also feeling completely dissatisfied with your own body. Oh well, there’s Abiu from Taino Farm in the kitchen I can get in on some of that.

 

After watching the circus freaks for a bit I managed to bring the rest of the eXtreme team to slack off a bit and go for a swim in Kite Beach.. We convinced ourselves we were still being productive since I brought my underwater camera and was going to include a section in my blog about our frolicking in the ocean. Then of course we got back to work…

 

 

Later in the day I was itching to have some kind of ocean activity so since there was no wind I went to Encuentro for an afternoon session. That’s the best thing about Cab, whether you want wind or waves, there’s usually always one or both. The waves were smaller than in the morning but I still had a great time catching them and very easily getting back out to the set. Bryan, one of our Farm woofers who is learning to surf, loved that he could get a lot of ride time with no real wipe outs. The trick to having lots of fun on smaller waves is not being picky, ride them all!

 

 

 

Around dusk, a bunch of Cabarete ladies were getting together for sangria and to cut up old t-shirts into new ones and it was a great turn out! We ate more chips and salsa than was necessary, but At least I got 3 new tops! The highlight of the night for me was at sunset when my friend was coming in with the paddleboard and I ran out and had myself a sunset ride. The sunset on the water reflects shades of pink and orange onto the water to the west, and the clouds to the east, nothing is more beautiful or important when it’s just you in the water basking in the sunset.

 

The waves outside of extreme are such a fun ride, especially with the Paddle board. When you’re on SUP you don’t really need waves because just being on top of the water by yourself with the clouds and horizon and green clear ocean underneath you is pretty satisfying, but if you see a swell go out and ride a few, totally thrilling and there’s a nice relaxing paddle back to the shore to catch your breath.

 

The best part of this particular Friday was that this was just an ordinary Cabarete Day. The night closed with dinner at Casa Mami’s, and a nice early night to be well rested for Saturday’s surf, Yoga, and Flea market. Cabarete can fill your day with all kinds of life experiences and introspective moments but being a small town it’s filed with lots of socializing too. Adventurous days, lazy days, it’s all good in Cab.