It’s been nearly 3 months since I left Nicaragua, and 5 months since I officially passed the Camp Manager torch on to the beautiful Annaleigh. I miss the work, the job, and the offshores dearly, but I am beyond pleased to see Chica Brava flourishing and spreading the stoke one week at a time. After leaving Chica Brava, I had big plans to travel to Panama but injured my shoulder riding horses, which sort of knocked the surf trip idea out of the picture.
I was fortunate to make Rancho Chilamate my home base for a couple of months, which made my transition out of San Juan del Sur slightly easier. I didn’t have to say my real good bye’s until February, and even then, it was just a handful of ‘see-you-laters’. I got to fit a few pretty epic adventures into those couple of months including a sail to Costa Rica on the ‘Must Be Crazy’ in the midst of 40 knot winds (if you’ve been on the Catamaran tour they are one in the same). I squeezed in a few more surfs once my shoulder was feeling stronger, and got to teach yoga to the Chica Brava groups during that time as well. Which I had never had the time to do when I was managing. Luckily, I stuck around long enough to be at Candace’s baby shower as well and squeezed in a bit more time with the girls. Congrats on your baby girl sister, I can’t wait to meet her!
I arrived back on the Big Island of Hawaii (or the rock as we sometimes call it), on the 22nd of February, via the Pacific North West where I got to visit my dear friend, Niki’s newborn as well as adventure around with Chica Brava alumni, Tara Hackett. I was a bit overwhelmed by the mainland, stimulating as it is, and was pretty ready for home by the time I stepped off the plane into Kona. I had all sorts of illusions about taking some time to chill, catch up with myself, absorb the previous three years in the comfort of my family and the sweet climate of Hawaii….but anyone who knows me would call that delusional on my part. Nope. After about 24 hours of relaxing, I decided to hit the ground running.
I remember being asked, in the months leading up to my transition, what I planned to do next. I made up all sorts of answers in the moment, but the truth was that I really didn’t know. Yet I trusted that things would unfold organically, and sure enough, they did. Within the last three months I’ve gotten health insurance (yes, that was number one on my list), registered and put my car in my title, gotten car insurance, moved into a rad house in a sweet little town called Kamuela, starred in a Theatrical Dance show, played a few gigs with my friend Rachel (our band is called ‘Black and Tanned’), started working at the local Brewery (Big Island Brewhaus), taken up substitute teaching, built a bookshelf (pretty stoked on that one), been contracted to teach yoga at the Hotels, taken up bodysurfing (the sand bar at my local spot is brutal at the moment), spent some sweet quality time with my rad nephew, and started massage school. Oh, and I’ve picked a lot of flowers and made loads of leis – one of my favorite things about being home is the lush foliage.
I have yet to start my book, take the GRE and apply for grad school, go see the Volcano flow, surf more (anticipating some south summer swells), and put the curtains up in my room….but I’ll get around to it. Now that I’m home, people frequently ask me if I miss Nicaragua. The answer is yes, of course – my experiences there taught me more than I think I’ll truly grasp for a long time. And I left a chunk of my heart on her shores. But it feels wonderful to be back in my community, amongst old friends and family, creating a life of my own…for now. After three months, it feels like I am beginning to truly arrive here in the islands, although I wonder when I’ll finally stop shuffling my feet in the ocean and answering questions with ‘dale’. Yup, Nicaragua will definitely always be a part of me, and I plan on visiting when I can…in fact I’ll be back for a couple of weeks in August! A friend once said, ‘wherever you go, there you are’…I think I will forever stand by those words.
With love from the land of aloha,
Noelani
