April 15th
We all knew the routine pretty well by now. Go to the bathroom, get out passports and papers, head to customs, try to be first in line or the wait could be endless, collect bags, wait for surf boards to come out, go through agriculture inspection, go to a cell phone kiosk, pick up a sim card, find a working ATM to withdraw money in the new currency and find transportation. We also knew that not everything goes smoothly when traveling, so when they didn’t have any portable WiFi devices in stock and the store in town was closed, the ATM was broken, and our shuttle driver didn’t show up, we rolled with it.
Luckily, the woman at the info kiosk was super helpful and within minutes we had contacted the surf resort and we were loading up our boards on top of a taxi (think Endless Summer in Africa with the Taxi and surfboards). The taxi wasn’t quite as nice as the air conditioned van they promised us, but at least we were moving forward.
As the sun set, we were still driving to Waidroka Bay. It was a 2 ½ hour drive. The smell of exhaust and the heat of the engine seeping up through the floorboards couldn’t help but make us all a little nauseous and car sick. Hot and tired, I finally saw the sign for Serua, the village of our destination. The dirt road that leads to the surf camp ascends a small mountain and then descends to the ocean. We listened to the sound of metal grinding on the road under the car and the occasional ping of car parts dropping from the underside of the taxi. Now we were not only holding our breath to prevent asphyxiation but also in fear of breaking down in the dark on a remote dirt road. Finally, the sign for the Waidroka Bay Resort came into view and within minutes we were all breathing a little easier.
Gil, one of the surf guides greeted us at the door without an apology for having forgotten us at the airport. “It happens,” was all he said. At least we were there safely with four plates of food to fill our hungry bellies. We headed to our Bure, avoiding the over population of frogs and toads on the pathway. Willie got the low down on the morning surf plans and soon we were fast asleep.
