Fire in the Streets

We went down into town and watched some of the Festival events. They were advertising balloon rides on the beach and so they drove around and fired the big flame thrower units between the electrical wires in the middle of town. Man, it was hot when they let loose. I took a bunch of video because it looked so neat.

During the middle of the day we watched a skim board competition. In fact I watched both the amateurs and the professionals on two separate days. Both days I walked back to the place and asked Linda to explain exactly what had happened because I could not figure it out. Each day I watched a lot of young guys mingle with a bunch of young girls as loud music played and this guy chattered over a microphone. Every once and a while he would walk in front of the speakers and there would be this loud screech, but that was about it. Guys would whistle and then three or four competitors (????) would run down the beach and slide on their boards. This went on for about two hours and then I went home.

On the day that the professionals were to compete, I thought I was going to see something better when this very cool Mexican kid walked out of the crowd and started stretching. He was a magnificent specimen with a long pony tail and bronze body. He stretched and waved at the girls and after about a half hour he grabbed his board, picked out the perfect set of waves and then charged to the water. He tossed his board down stepped on the thing and immediately slammed face first into the shallow water. It was impressive to say the least.

After that show, I walked home. I guess you need to have someone who speaks both languages, Spanish and skim board, to understand what went on.

Later that evening I talked to Larry and he said that the competition had been canceled both days because the surf and wind were real bad. Now that's the way to get introduced to skim boarding don't you think? I did get a chance to watch a kite boarder work the wind and water. It was very cool, and I think if I was a bit younger, I would be right out there.