July 12th, 2005

Somewhere in Nicaragua

For the evening session we changed up locations and found some fun waves by ourselves. The forecast calls for slightly smaller waves tomorrow and then a double overhead swell is on tap for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

It was hard for me to decide whether or not to put this picture up, but I decided it would be more difficult not to address this. Last night there was a terrible car accident that resulted in the loss of a good friend to many in San Juan Del Sur. Jessie was driving back to SJDS from Managua when his car hit an unexpected flood zone filled with mud and water on the PanAm highway. He went off the road and into a tree. It was by chance that I was in Rivas today at the Police station where they towed the remains of his Landcruiser and needless to say, my stomach turned inside out when I saw it. Please let this serve as a reminder that driving in Nicaragua is very different than driving in the US. Although there are many unexpected things that can happen, we tend to drive as we would in the US. Many times this is way too fast and reckless. If this shows us anything, please let it affect how we drive. I’ve seen too many close calls and this accident is just too much. Jessie was 24 years old and just opened a reggae bar in SJDS. Jessie, you will be greatly missed.