Europe

Europe. 40 days ago” Pao,” Emma and I set out to spend some down time in the old continent and freshen up on our daily routines. Our destination was simple. Visit our relatives in northern Mediterranean and the Costa Rica of Europe, where my eldest daughter lives, Switzerland. Emma had never seen the snow and I wanted to do a little bit of snowboarding. Traveling without a specific program was our strategy and so we went about reaching our destinations and the people that expected us. Every time we could we would sneak and play the tourist. One place we went to was this incredible place they call The Eternal City. It struck me right away that if you spell the city’s name backwards it reads “Amor”. Insane. Anyway, the place is like three thousand years old and it has this giant arena where people would go and watch other people fight live huge cats and other people. Since I love confrontation I couldn’t help but feel the vibe of the place. It was really overwhelming what this people did back then. The Coliseum I think they called this place was finished in the year VII a.c. Can you believe if some rich fuck would come and say,”Ah, excuse me, you can’t built that here, that’s High Density” Oh Yeah?. Feed them to the kittens! Speaking of cats, they are hugely popular around the whole city. There are calendars and figurines dedicated to them and there is these people dedicated to feed them and such. They even leave their money to them when they die. One place we went to eat has a different kind of history. Remember the movie Fantasy where Mickey is a wizard wannabe and he makes this well swell up and stuff?
Well, we actually ate at the same restaurant where W. D. got his inspiration. To see it we had to go to a sub floor where we saw the well. It was actually quite spooky. Emma was a little hesitant walking down the stairs that led to a cavern like hall. This has been quite amazing for al of us. We’d never spent so much time together and it has been fun. I can tell Paola is not ready to go back but we must. We visited some surf spots since we were so close to the Mediterranean, in the region of Liguria. I wanted to see how other species of surfers lived and acted. We ended up at a place called Varazze. We spotted this place while driving since there was about halve a dozen guys sharing a nice little pick. I immediately jumped out of the car and moved to a look out spot where I could talk to a couple of guys as they where heading out. They where actually quite friendly and offered as much info as I could get out of them. As it turns out, there are no surfboard rentals in Italy. But there was this sign that suggested you must respect the locals. I guess some things never change.

Gilbert and Salsi drop by

Making surfboards is a tough business. Last year at the ripe age of 48 I went on the national circuit just to prove that my boards worked. Everybody knows I can't surf so if i made a couple of podiums it prove my point. Let me tell you, it was so much fun being around so much talent. It also gave me the opportunity to flirt with some of them with the promise of a free board here and there. I'd get instant publicity, My career would take a quantum leap. Bum!... Well, maybe not so fast but at least I'd be helping their carreer either way. One of the guys I recently gave a board to was Gilbert Brown. With him I knew I would not go wrong. If the board worked, great, if not he would not just sell it. The reason for this is I have seen some of the younger generacion caribean boys warming up at contest scences riding preatty decent boards. When asked them how they got them they would drop the name of their mentors Gilbert, Ronald or Nino. These guys have scored deals with big companis such as Quicksilver, Volcom and such. They have paved the road for the next generation and they are given. The greatest lesson in surfing is surfing it self. Gilbert is such a great guy. Him and Salsi Boy had the cortesy to stop by the shop after the trophy ceremony on Sunday . Gilbert had just won the contest and still had the courtesy to thank me for the board. Him and Salsi are classic. We talked some serious surfing and had a good laugh. At the end we wished each other good luck and best wishes. Salsi called me Pachequin and Gilbert called me Pachecon and that to me is gold.