I did a lot of skiing, both in the back country and in ski areas. I also had some knee injuries when I was doing Telemark skiing, which is a knee-intensive style of skiing. I had to quit Telemark skiing for a while because of the pain. That’s when I started snowboarding.

Eventually I got the surgery and started the Telemark skiing again. I also back country ski a bit now and I love it, but it’s a lot like work.

The kayaking was the love of my life for twenty years. It’s the heart and soul of who I was, and what I did. While working at the outdoor store and also started a kayak school. I was a kayak instructor for many, many years. I have a friend who has accused me of being over certified. I have certifications in a million different things. He says I don’t use them enough, and he’s right.

I was a fully certified ACA Whitewater kayak instructor for many years. That’s what we did. Four or five days a week after work, we kayaked the rivers of Montana and Idaho.

We do a lot of multi-day camping and kayaking trips. We used to do the Selway River every year. This is a highly coveted river. It’s a permitted river, and there’s only one permit given per day.

However, if you go in before May 15, you don’t need a permit. The crux of this however is that there is a 7500-foot pass that you must cross to get to the river. In May, it usually has twelve to 15ft. of snow up there. We’ve found some wack-o who would take us up and over the past in his four wheel drive vehicle. So every year we would go into the Selway along with the Salmon River, the Grand Canyon, and others.

But the Selway was always the gem; it was the prize. The fourth or fifth time down the river I was at the peak of my kayaking career when I had a threatening, life-altering swim that changed my view forever. I lost my edge.

I came out of the kayak in a big, monster hole. There were five of us on the trip and we were all very accomplished kayakers. Only two of us just to run this one particular rapid. It’s only about ¼ mile long but it runs into one rapid after another after another after another. There is about 1 ½ miles of class four – plus rapids.

The other three were smart enough to walk around. The other guy and I chose to run this rapid. I went first and went into this monster hole. I spent a bunch of time trying to roll up. I hadn’t swum in eight years. In kayaking to swim means to come out of the kayak. I thought I was better than the river, but I was wrong. I probably swam a mile or more in water that was in the high thirties. Thankfully I had all the right gear and equipment. But it altered me. I’m deeply disturbed every time I tell the story.

I still kayak but I started to do other things. I started paragliding. In a kayak you surf all the time using standing waves. I had done some surfing as a kid in Florida. Everything was leading me to warm water. That plus I had done, aching for twenty years. My body is pretty beat up from it.

When you sit on the floor of a kayak and paddle forever and ever and ever, things just wear out. My lower back is toast. But surfing doesn’t bother it!

We Build a Home in Todos Santos, Mexico

So how did I end up here in the desert of Mexico? Somewhere along the line some of the guys in the outdoor store where I used to work started to talk about surfing. I had surfed a little bit in Florida, but not much.

We had been dealing with seasonal affective disorder while we were in Montana by doing the Caribbean thing. But I had also been on Whitewater rafting trips in Costa Rica in the mid nineteen eighties. I had done some sailing in Belize and Guatemala, and Latin American culture has always fascinated me.

What we learned from being in the true tropics was this: if you’re on a boat, it’s a wonderful thing. If you’re unsure it’s too hot and too buggy. It’s not as idealistic as most people think it is.

On board a boat though you can’t just dive over any second you want to. You don’t even have to walk to the beach. When you’re on short its body, hot, lethargic, and you can’t do anything.

I went to California to meet up with some friends who used to work in the Trailhead out door store, and we went to California and Malibu and blah blah blah.

The second time, we went to San Onofre and I bought a surfboard. The first few times it was cold and miserable and I couldn’t surf, but I still loved it. I may have stood up once.

The next time, we went on a trip to mainland Mexico to an on maimed spot in the Zihuatanejo area. This was a long left hand brake and it was really fun. I surfed; I mean I finally started surfing.

The next year a burned-out doctor friend of mine retired at age 50. I asked him if he wanted to go surfing. He said: “sure, what’s that?”

He had been a ski buddy of mine from Saint Louis; he didn’t know anything about the ocean. We made a trip to Panama and we had a great time. The next year we went back to that spot in Mexico.

Speaking of Mexico, the first time I was down there with my friends from Los Angeles was September 11. The September 11. We were staying in a little farmer’s casita in the middle of nowhere. At that time I spoke no Spanish and the farmers were trying to describe airplanes flying into these big buildings. I completely misinterpreted what they were talking about. I thought they were crazy.

Unfortunately they were right. So we got stuck in Mexico for a while. Eventually, Alaska airlines flew my friends out. But America West wouldn’t fly. I ended up down in Mexico by myself for three or four days. It was very unnerving.

So these surf trips led me to want to serve more and more. I was still doing the sailing trips. When my niece in Florida, who is an excellent local surfer, turned eighteen she called me up and said let’s go somewhere.

We went to Costa Rica. I got thrashed but she had a great time.

At this point it began to dawn on me that I would never learn this surfing thing by going one week at a time. I came down here to Todos Santos on a surf trip. I stayed at Jaime’s Surf Camp for a few nights, then stayed at a spot near San Pedrito and surfed at Los Cerritos every day.

Just before all this happened, there was a sort of premonition. One of my employees at the Trailhead when she got back she said to me: “Aldo, this place just reminds me of you!”

I took that to heart, which I often do. And she was right. This place fits me to a tee.

As everyone does down here, I did some recreational land shopping. I called Bequia and told her I was thinking about buying some land down here and ask her what she thought. She said that she trusted me.

So I bought a lot. She had never seen it. I picked her up at the Airport and when we came down the hill she said we get to live here? There was a tear in her eye…

I said to her: “that means you like it, right?”

And she does.

Then she left and I bought another lot. I called her and told her and she could only say with some resignation: “OK, go ahead.”