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A
Swimming Lesson
The day had
been great, wonderful weather, a little
windy but that just brought some relief
from the heat. On the beach the dry sand
was impossible to walk on, way to hot
for bare feet. Along the tidal line the
surface was tolerable, and the water was
fantastic. It was an extraordinary day
at Playa Manuel Antonio.
No crowds on
the sands, just regulars and locals,
they were sitting in the surf and of
course there were the ever present
soccer games. Two make-shift goals and
enthusiastic teams battling for victory.
I always wondered how in the world they
can tell the teams members apart;
scantily clad dark tanned bodies, sand
sticking to perspiration and salt water.
Who is
playing who?
It is all in
the good spirit of friendly competition,
naturally. And the entire beach had the
air of a relaxed atmosphere. It was as
close to nature as one could get.
That
evening, with friends, we dined at a
local restaurant. Not your typical high
profile tourist eatery, but one that is
well known, close to the beach with good
food and reasonable prices. We had
enjoyed a few rounds of drinks and waved
the waiter down to inquire about the
specials.
Look, I know
it is embarrassing to admit, but after
six years and many trips to this place,
my command of the Spanish language still
sucks! I admit that, but I never stop
trying.
He was
poised, pencil and pad in hand, ready to
take our orders. Intending to go
"all the way" and order the
food in the local jargon, I managed a
fair job of indicating my choice of
food.
Is the best
way to force a strange lingo into
your brain...
But the
response from the waiter was so out of
this world, that I knew it to be wrong.
Instead of rattling of the specials
--usual Mahi-Mahi anyway-- it sounded
like he mentioned a "body in the
cooler". Not a fish that I am
familiar with.
I looked at
the guy and tried to read his
expression.
I gave up,
threw in the towel and asked: "Habla
Ingles?"
He smiled
big and said: "Hey, I'll try!"
All right,
no practice tonight, just English but
let's eat!
"After
they take the body", he said.
It is an
unbelievable thing, there indeed was a
body in the cooler. Dagoberto, our happy
waiter, informed us that one of the
locals had drowned just a few hours ago.
The ambulance had to come from Parrita,
about forty minutes down the road, but
it was occupied with another emergency.
So, for the time being, the unfortunate
drowning victim was being preserved in
this restaurant's cooler.
"Our
business", Dagoberto beamed,
"has the largest cooler in
town!"
Nice for
him, but all I wanted was Mahi-Mahi, did
he have to tell us about the body?
Work around
it, I don't care, I was hungry and did
not need excess information, especially
the kind that would ruin my appetite.
He didn't
care though, we were getting the details
now, a very realistic description of the diseased
was being given to us and we hadn't even
tipped this guy yet!
Apparently
the corpse sported a grayish skin, with
blue lips, had started to bloat and had
been a victim of, as Dagoberto called
it; "The Bad Current".
"Riptide",
I said.
He looked at
me and frowned; "What means
reeptide?"
"Riptide",
I answered, "kills many people, but
is nothing bad."
This
confused him. If this was not a bad
thing, then why did it kill?
It is a fact
that Riptides claim many lives in Costa
Rica, especially on the Pacific Coast.
Often the locals are not the best
swimmers anyway, but it does not matter
how strong you are in the water, it is
impossible to fight your way back to the
beach against one of these babies.
So, what can
you do?
You can
"enjoy the ride", that's what!
Seriously, a
Riptide is nothing more than a river in
the ocean. Because of currents and
winds, water amasses against the coast
and eventually needs a way back. Because
it can not flow onto the beach and go
uphill, it finds the route of the least
resistance. The result is a "river",flowing
away from the coast that can move
at a pretty good clip.
The good
news is that these currents are not very
wide and they do not extend very far
into the ocean. When you are swimming a distance
off shore, and notice that you are not
making any progress back to the beach,
than you are very likely caught in one
of these riptides. If you panic and
fight it, you will loose and you will
probably drown.
And then you might
spend time in a restaurant cooler,
spoiling my dinner plans.
So
therefore, I am now going to tell you
what to do when this happens to you.
Do not fight
the current, enjoy the ride instead!
Eventually
it will stop moving you away from the
beach and you can leisurely make your
way back.
If you don't
want to wait that long, swim parallel to
the beach until you will swim out
of the current, because they are not
very wide, and use the surf to carry you
back.
That's it!
Don't panic, don't fight, just cooperate
with Mother Nature and you'll be just
fine.
It is
something that eventually comes
naturally, just like not spitting into
the wind!
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