Diary of a Tournament... Day 2.

Juan takes a quick practice set early in the morning. Can you spot the foggy mountains in the back?

In the event that you missed yesterday's post then just scroll down or click here and things will all make sense. To put it concisely, I'm creating short posts recounting each day while I'm here in beautiful Lima, Peru for the Latinamerican tournament. This is mostly to shed some light on what international tournaments like this are like... And to share my adventures with a few people back home. Hi Sasha. Read on if this is of interest. 

The outside of our very Greek home on the beach.

Our host relaxing in the pool. That's the beach and the shoreline right there on the edge.

If I titled Day 1 "Traveling" than Day 2 would be "Scouting". Today was planned around exactly that; taking a couple practice sets on the lake and getting a feel for what the site was like. I also spent some time looking around our base camp for some photographic opps. We've slotted two days of scouting and practice: today's mission was the first of those days.

Our house is the bright orange one. We're literally meters away from the ocean. 

Like I mentioned in my first post we had a fairly early call time of seven am. I scarfed down some breakfast, grabbed my bags, and met up with our house crew of six—yours truly, Juan, our host, and three other Colombian skiers. We drove off towards the site, only a five minute drive. Our host is spectacular at keeping everything running smoothly. 

We're making it there however we can.

The morning sun is downright balmy. Sunny. Hot. We're kept cool by the constant ocean breeze which seems to run through the entire area we're in, definitely a bonus to being at sea level. The scenery seems unusually brown, hardly a tree around—at least until we arrive to the ski site. Lush green trees greet us as we drive underneath, the islands at the ends of the lake are covered in pines, and there's grass abound. Our diamond in the rough. 

I'm first on the water in a line of about twenty. We meet up with the rest of the Colombian team, a huge array of people, most of them good friends who I've skied with before. A nice bonus: my cousin's also here. Hugs and greetings abound. We've got to have everyone hit the water in an hour and a half, our allotted time for our team's practice. Suddenly I'm on the dock and in the water, now very much awake. The water's soft, slow, and warm. Very similar to back home. I'm feeling it.

We move through the rest of our team quickly and smoothly. Perfect. The time restraints aren't prime but we'll roll with the punches and deal with what we're dealt. I manage to catch a bite to eat and some connection to the outside world at the house on the lake, owned by some friends of ours who ski here often. So envious. 

Trick practice is up before I know it and I'm third in line on the water. I move quickly through my passes, steadily and near-flawlessly. Everything's feeling good. Juan even puts on my skis and deals out two old school passes. I'm loving it. We manage to finish up all the skiing at around noon congregate again for another team meeting. Everyone skied great and we're feeling good. High fives are dealt and we head out for lunch.

We, all twenty-five or so of us, settle into a restaurant to relax and recharge. A large part of these two days is making sure that everyone is well-rested and mentally on point for the tournament. We're all ready, now we've just got to perform. Go out and do exactly what we've been practicing for the past several months. We head back home to spend some time on the beach and in the ocean. It's all about rest for the rest of the day.

The same cliff outcrop where I stood earlier today.

The waves crash onto the cliffs as the sun disappears behind the horizon.

#FromWhereIStand: On the edge of the world.

Yours truly standing tall, pimping out the Miami Ski Nautique attire on the top of the cliff outcrop.

Tomorrow morning is an early one: call time at 6:30am. It's ten o' clock and there are still cards to download and blog posts to write before bed. I spend the night preparing some last minute things, editing and compiling all the pixels from today, and writing up this post. I'm awake until midnight before I finally zone. 

The sun sets as fishermen lay out their nets for the night.

We'll be on the water at 7:00 tomorrow morning. I hope you'll join me then.