Around The World In 80 Waves

Massive congratulations to Wigan Athletic for winning the FA Cup. I have been following the text update on the BBC website for hours. It is great to see a team come up through the ranks and win the oldest knockout football competition in the world. King Street will be rocking tonight!

It is brilliant that the chairman (who admittedly is not without a few bob) is above everything a football fan, and not just using the club as a Billionaire’s plaything. That he actually broke his own leg playing in the 1960 Cup Final, just adds to the romance of the tournament.

I can’t believe it Swansea and Wigan, which are my two favourite nights out in the UK, bagging both the cup competitions and I am unable to join the party for either of their biggest nights ever. Gutted! With all the above and all the Welsh success it may be better for my sporting teams if I do not return to the UK. I have turned into something of a Jonah!

Yo Bro. Hope you have a great day you old git.

I couldn’t put all the required candles on your cake in fear of starting a fire at the server farm where the website is hosted.

Will try and catch a few left hand waves in honour of your lefty ways as soon as another beach is in sight.

Catch up soon.

Robert

x

It is great to be mobile again. Today I invited a Venezuelan biology teacher called Jenny to join me in the little green surf machine for the day. Jenny’s English is as good as my Spanish, but the two of us enjoyed a lovely day getting out of the city.

We took the Corredor Sur which is the road going across the sea that you can see here, built because they had run out of land in the city! However we stayed on it far too long and then had a bit of a shocker trying to get to our destination mostly because I had failed to notice the car was running on empty when we had started. Thankfully though my green friend did not let me down when I had company.

We were trying to find the ruins of the original city called Panama Viejo (or Old Panama in English), at least what was left of them after Henry Morgan and his shipmates went on the rampage through here in 1670. The picture here is what is left today of the original cathedral, which was the first one to be built in the Americas in the early sixteenth century. Epic work by the man from South Wales. I may have to burn down the hostel in his honour later this evening!

It was all quite impressive but having grown up just down the road from Conwy’s castle and walled town, which dates back to the thirteenth century I can freely admit to being more interested in the waves on the horizon that were breaking underneath the Corredor Sur.

Even though the water quality is appalling here I almost needed holding back. The opportunity to be the first person ever to surf under a motorway was rather tempting, especially so because I have not had a wave in weeks! It does mean there is swell about though, so maybe tomorrow. 😀

We strolled around for a bit and enjoyed all the remnants of Spanish architecture, including the convent you see in the background here. It wasn’t actually ruined by the Welsh pirate, it just was never finished after he had trashed the rest of the old town. After the attack it was decided to abandon this area and simply move the entire city westwards a few miles because it could be better defended there.

We also walked through a local artisans market, where every trader tried unsuccessfully to talk me into selling my soul for a brightly coloured beer can holder or equivalent. However after a few hours we had spent enough time in the area.

We weren’t rushing back to the hostel though and stopped for a drink or two on the way home. A top day.

By the way if like me you have ever wondered why Spanish influence in this region faded from near omnipotence across two continents to nothing bar the language being spoken, think Napoleon. I have been looking into it and as best as I can make out there had been revolutions and declarations of independence throughout the world in the late eighteenth century, and the feelings in Central and South America were no different at the time. The Spaniards kept a lid on it at first but when Napoleon invaded and conquered Spain a short while afterwards, also I believe putting his own family on the throne, it gave the locals the excuse they needed to throw off European shackles and stand on their own. I believe that to be true for all the Spanish speaking countries from Mexico to Chile, but please could anybody correct me if I am wrong?

I am not talking about the recent Disney movies here, more about the two British seafarers who had a significant impact on this part of the world. I have been hearing a lot about them since arriving in Panama so thought I would pass some of that on.

In particular I am talking about Sir Francis Drake and Admiral Sir Henry Morgan who caused quite a lot more havoc than I have whilst visiting the region in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries respectively.

On his ship The Golden Hind Sir Francis Drake was the first person from Britain to circumnavigate the globe, and I suspect that feat was a tad harder than my own trip in 2013. He was also largely responsible for the defeat of the Spanish Armada when it intened to attack England in 1588, but that is just as well because he was probably part responsible for the Armada being created in the first place due to number of attacks that privateers like him made on the Spanish settlements in this neck of the woods. Under the sponsorship of the English monarchy Drake and others like him would sail into the ports and steal all the gold and silver warehoused here ready for transport across the Atlantic, which the Spanish had in turn largely stolen from the indigenous people here.

He also died off the coast of Panama after contracting dyssentry on the last of such voyages. The lead coffin he was buried at sea in near Isla Grande on the Caribbean coast is still being looked for by treasure hunters today.

Half a century later Henry Morgan, who was originally from South Wales, was up to the same sort of mischief. He is remembered as the greatest of the privateers, amassing huge fleets and attacking prominent targets. His three most famous exploits were the 1668 sack of Portobello (which is just down the coast from Colon), the 1669 raid on Maracaibo in Venezuela and the 1671 attack on Panama City. Most of this was done with the support of King Charles II of England but the attack on Panama City with about 1,000 men in which the city was destroyed, was undertaken after a peace treaty had been signed between England and Spain, so you can imagine that the Spanish were not best pleased.

Morgan was summoned back to London because the situation was at the very least embarrassing for the English too. However not only was he never punished, but he was feted by the gentry and commoners alike upon his return who were impressed with his exploits. He was also knighted by the king and then sent back to his base in Jamaica as Lieutenant Governor of the island, where he worked on improving the defenses of the island which was Britain’s jewel in the Caribbean crown.

He was guilty of the death and torture of countless innocent Spanish civilians and spread terror far and wide on the Spanish Main, but the English loved him. So much so that the Captain Morgan dark rum that you may enjoy today over ice with coke is named after him.

All of which means I have a lot to live up to in the time I have left here! What would they call the drink they name after me?

Congratulations to all those selected to be a part of this year’s tour of Australia, and especially so to Sam Warburton for being asked to captain the British and Irish Lions.

It makes him the first Welshman to be captain of the team since 1977. I can’t wait to get out to New Zealand and Australia where I can enjoy all of the tour later in my travels without having to get up early to do so. I will be seeing them play at least one game in the flesh too.

Being good enough to play for the team which only tours every four years and is made up of the best of the best of the home nations rugby sides, is the absolute pinancle of any player’s career if you are from the UK.

For that reason I think the press should be making more of the fact that anybody has made the team, rather than running the story with the headline that Jesus Wilkinson is not going because he didn’t feel up to it.

It is pretty insulting to everybody who does want to go down there and will be putting absolutely everything on the line for games which they may only get one opportunity to play in during their career. I can only offer my utmost support to anybody who has been selected.

The test match I saw with Genevieve and Clem in South Africa four years ago still remains the most brutal game of rugby I have ever seen. I’m looking forward to the same level of commitment this time around and no quarter being given by either side. However I can admit to wanting the Lions to win the series a tad more than I should, due to the two Aussies who abandoned me in the desert in Mexico.

It has been pointed out to me that I have not given Wrexham Football Club any credit for their achievements this year.

Adding more glory to a fabulous year for the Welsh sports fan Wrexham won the FA Trophy last month and I really should have given them the mention they deserved then.

I am sure I would have done so ordinarily, but checking my records suggests I was moving from Nicaragua to Costa Rica, which likely means another epic IT fail upon arrival in the new country.

However congratulations to the club closest to where I grew up. They have had a shocking few years, with financial problems, administration and the associated drama that goes with that.

I’m sure all those at the Racecourse will be suitably stoked about the trophy and hope it is the springboard to better times for the club.

A quick word of congratulations to Cardiff City Football Club for winning the Championship.

Their promotion and Swansea being already in the Premier League means that 10% of next season’s top flight football will be Welsh.

With Swansea winning the League Cup and Wales winning the Six Nations rugby tournament it has been rather a good year to be a Welsh sports fan, and I will admit to being a tad disappointed not to have been around when it happened.

Only a tad though, I am doing ok. 🙂

After a day of tearing my hair out once more at the all too frequent IT issues I’m experiencing on this trip I meet up with the family and drive us all down the dirt road to Playa Langosta which is just around the headland, but more exposed to the swell as a result of that. Doren is on child minding detail first, whilst Micheala who is two months pregnant grabs their board and paddles out with me. From where we have parked next to an exclusive resort we have to cross a fast moving stream to get to the break on the other side and I have a moment of mild panic when I think I have lost the pregnant lady to the strong current. Not to worry however because Micheala has just been washed out past me and then proceeds to catch about four waves before I have even caught one!

The wind is still howling offshore and paddling for a wave feels like people are throwing buckets of water in your face. It also blows the front of the board up making getting onto the waves quite difficult. I did bag a few shoulder high waves though, and this picture would suggest it was far better than it actually was.

Doren paddled out after the baton of child minding had been exchanged and the two of us enjoyed the fact that we could actually catch something unlike the session we had experienced at the start of the day.

Not the best surf again but the break gets a special mention for the sunset we were surfing under.

We all head back and after dropping off the others I spend the evening cooking for two Danish girls staying at the same place as me called Mie & Line who are skint. I had stocked my fridge with supplies and was glad of sharing them with the two teenagers, because I could never eat all the fresh stuff I had bought to ensure I enjoyed a decent home cooked meal for the first time in ages. They also liked the taste of some European food even if it did take more than two hours to prepare due to the crap electric stove in the kitchen here and the power cut we experienced half way through cooking!

A quick word to wish the Welsh boys well in the 6 Nations Championship decider in Cardiff later today.

I will be listening to the game via BBC radio online here in Monterrico in Guatemala, having test run the functionality on Friday morning.

I believe the roof is going to be closed at the Millenium Stadium so with the Welsh in full voice it should be an epic encounter. England with grand Slam ambitions, Wales needing a 7 point victory to take the title, the final audition for a place on the British Lions’ tour of Australia (for which I have already bagged a ticket to one of the test matches – thanks Chris) and that glosses over the fact that the two teams playing have the biggest rivalry in the tournament with the most championships between them.

A game I cannot miss even on the other side of the world. I will be wearing my Rugby Gogledd Cymru top with pride, and generally shouting encouragement at my computer.

Feeeeeeeeeed me now and evermore, EVVVERMOOOOOORE!!!!!!!

Cymru am byth!

My outstanding friend Neil has sorted out some business cards for me to hand out to all the people who are interested in my trip. It will be so much easier to hand one over than spelling out the webpage, especially because letters are pronounced differently everywhere I go.

Neil has done a wonderful job getting these produced back in the UK and sent them out to the Ambassador’s residence. They arrived just before I left for the coast in the diplomatic bag from the UK.

Dont you think they are fantastic? The small print on the back is a quote from Jules Verne that Neil thought was appropriate:

“The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides. The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the living infinite.”

I love them.

🙂