While the Silencio crew was beginning a number of service projects, the Villa Huetares family had a day of surf and sun. After an early breakfast of eggs, fresh fruits, and cereal, we boarded the bus for our drive to Playa Grande, a famous surfing beach to the south of Playa Hermosa also on the Pacific Ocean side of Costa Rica.

We met up with Corynne and Ian, long-time Putney contacts who run a surf shop called Frijoles Locos right near the beach. We picked up boards at the shop and in just a few minutes we arrived at beautiful Playa Grande — a gorgeous stretch of sand with perfect waves. We almost had the entire beach to ourselves!

Although we were tempted to jump right in the water, we listened as Ian gave us a tutorial on how to paddle and stand up on the board. Then we were off! It was so impressive to see how quickly every stood up on the board, riding the waves like pros, as everyone else cheered each other on!