Tuesday, Dec 27, 2016

I woke up and decided to run on the road that follows the beach. The tide is up a bit too much to make for an unencumbered straight run on the beach itself. I’ve traded running alongside a river for running alongside an ocean. I’ve also dropped 8300 feet in elevation.

I am anxious to see if I can run easier, or at least breathe easier here. After 15 minutes I can tell my breathing isn’t labored. Makes sense of course, but it’s just nice to prove it to myself. My legs are getting tired and I’m feeling some shin splints but I am breathing pretty well.

Where we are staying is actually in a place called San Alejo. It is midway between San Clemente and San Jacinto. These three villages essentially all run into each other along the ocean. I went in the direction of San Jacinto on my run and it is a quaint little village. It has an old concrete statue of the tail of a whale breaking above the ocean surface in its square by the ocean. I love these small villages on the coast.

The coast between San Jacinto and San Clemente is nice. The beach disappears at high tide in this area, but there are several beach areas along the rocky break wall when the tide is out. In several spots there are steps that lead from the street down to the beach, and even at high tide the kids know how to have fun.

https://youtu.be/8XIBcjaZtsM

When I lived in Bahia I met a man, Carlos Frias who had moved here from the US . After the earthquake he and his family moved to San Clemente. Carlos opened a gym in San Clemente called Infierno…or Hell as it translates in Spanish. The Infierno is open for group workouts at 7 am and 5 pm. Since I have loaded up on calories during this holiday week, I decided to go at 5 pm and try it out.

https://youtu.be/0-nB0kr357I

There is a mix of men and women, in various degrees of fitness. I am the oldest one here today. As Carlos is explaining the workout routine to me, my heart begins to race wondering if I will cardiac arrest in Hell, I mean the Infierno.

Carlos didn’t just explain the workout routine to me; he also shared his philosophy behind his workouts. He creates a routine that requires 30 minutes of maximum effort, but it is your own individual max effort. No comparisons, no bars to meet other than your own personal best each day. I can do that.

Today the workout is a series of sit ups, mountain climbers, donkey kicks, shoulder wall holds, and tornado climbers to name a few. Each exercise is one minute, 10 in a set, then repeat each set twice. After a short 30 minutes, I was walking out, refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to go! Well, that may be a bit of exaggeration. It was more like wobbly, weak, and winded. But hey, I survived. 😉

Infierno Workout Group

Tonight we decided to eat dinner at Ciebo y Bambu restaurant. On our walk there, the fisherman were getting ready to go out night fishing. It seemed like the whole town was along the road, several men helping each other launch their wooden boats from the street, down the ramp onto the beach. Even Roy jumped in to lend a hand. When the boats are on the beach, the men then use tree trunks as rollers to push the boats over the beach and into the water. It is quite a process.

Going out to night fish

Launching the boats

Dinner at Ciebo y Bambu

Ciebo y Bambu has great pizzas with homemade crusts, cooked in a wood fire oven. Our pizza was great, and a nice change of pace from all the seafood I have been eating. We tried a freshly squeezed passion fruit juice laced with rum. The passion fruit was so tart I couldn’t even taste the rum, but by the end of my drink I could tell it was there. 😉

Another great day on the coast. So lucky to be here.

Chau.