Big White is AWESOME...! First/Third World Problems...

First World… Third World Problems… Mine, ours… theirs…

Okay, mine first; cos it’s about me… okay? Good.

So, I arrived in Mexico Saturday. Los Barriles; a hour north of Cabo on the Sea of Cortez – it is a place for kitesurfing and my only reason to be here. On arrival kites were flying everywhere; a promise of good times for the week.

FWP #1

Originally it was just Stan and I, a squash buddy and fellow kiting fan. A one bed apartment found on Airbnb would be fine. Stan brought his daughter (Maddy); we’ll make it work. FWP #1 (First World Problem) the place is small, not bad for a couple… three singles is a bit tight. 'Boohoo...' I hear you say…? Exactly.  

FWP #2

Sunday Stan and Maddy head to the Pacific side to see friends – I’m staying to catch wind; it's in the forecast. FWP #2 – No wind. No Wind…! WTF? No, it is not fantastic. No wind, no kiting, no fun, it is my raison d’etra… well, whilst here anyway.

FWP #3 

So I go for a run along the beach, but the sand is not perfect – it’s a bit granular, hurts my delicate toes and and and… the ‘break’ is a bit steep so I kinda run at an angle. Can you say “Awww… poor muffin.” Thanks.

FWP #4... 

The next day… (Monday) FWP #2, Again! I suffer another run after which I stay home feeling sorry for myself, I decide to do some work – at least I can be productive… but no… FWP #4 internet/wifi is down… Why me? Why me god? Yeah, yeah, I know you have billions of people without food, water, living in atrocious conditions under the threat of war or dictatorial violence… struggling just to survive, but c’mon – my internet is down. But I find my own solution (thanks for nothing god) I have to go to a bar with wifi – the beer is cold so maybe I will survive the day.

FWP #1(a)

Tuesday arrives and with it wind. Praise be… to the regular weather cycle. But my none complaint allows me to add another minor FWP. Let’s call it FWP 1(a) – water, the toilet water is none potable – I can’t drink it! Which means I can’t drink the tap water… I have to buy water… it is almost a two-minute walk… FFS!

FWP #3 - Cancelled. FWP #'s 5 & 6 added.

I start my day off with another run, getting used to this; I mean how bad can it be? The sun is shining, nice breeze, a beautiful part of the world… I’m getting great exercise; you know what let’s scratch FWP #3. I get back, jump in the clean, fresh ocean to cool; I get changed, grab my gear, assistant (Stan, normally a criminal defence lawyer… but my assistant today) and head to the beach. I get the kite flying, I’m up on the board, (Cool! I think) I turn the other direction and lose the board… (not cool...) does god not care about me? I think he is spending too much time looking after the billions struggling to survive again… he’s not helping, no, not helping at all. I’m gonna call this FWP #5. But it is worse, I need to add another FWP - #6, I’m a bit sunburnt… don't touch me!

FWP #7

I try and fail to recover my board… for a very good reason – I’m rubbish. I decide to get to shore, land the kite, hike upwind of my board and then recover it. My assistant (Stan) suggests I land the kite before walking up… hmmm okay. I’m in a big area, there is nobody around, the only obstacle is this tiny (‘dusty, please slow down sign’). I start to lower the kite, slowly… slowly... Now, if I made a dozen attempts, I couldn’t hit this sign… I wasn’t trying though was I... No. And even though the wind was loud, the sound of the kite ripping was distinct; a different sound than the one I made. FWP #7… Bugger. 

By the time my kite was untangled and I'd fired Stan, the board was playing hide and seek… I looked. I looked for three hours, I got to my running turn-around point, (250 million miles away) and looked, and looked and… I had lost the hide and seek game. I did manage to spot the top of a tiny, clear plastic bottle, floating 300m away… but not my bright white, yellow and black 139cm board with white foot beds. No. But, the three extra hours in the mid afternoon sun allowed me to upgrade my first degree burns to second degree ones... yay... not.

So those were my FWP’s.

What will we do without snow...?
Oh yeah, we can wait a couple days.

And ours? Our 'collective' FWP...? Glad you asked. 

Snow, or lack of, at Big White. Opening day has been delayed until Dec 3^rd. What…? FFS! That means this $600+/- ski pass is only going to be good for about 135 days, with only a 100 or so 11.5 hour days and 35 x 7.5 hour days – around 1500 (potential) hours of skiing/snowboarding. Works out to roughly $0.42c per hour. How will we cope with such overwhelming ‘lifestyle’ obstacles? I just, I… I just don’t know.

And ‘Theirs’?

My buddy, Robinson lives in the DR (Dominican Republic). They have had some rain. They have had some rain and some people have lost their homes. 20,000 people were displaced, including Robinson. They had warnings though, they had 25 consecutive days of meteorological weather warnings.

When your wife is on the other side of a torrential,
impassable river... but you got your dog.

Perspective.

20,000 represents 0.002% of the population. When hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf in the USA 400,000 were evacuated; if 0.002% of Americans lost their home, it would equate to 660,000 people. The ‘rain’ in DR is a far greater natural disaster than Katrina. Did you hear about Katrina? Yeah, right? Rain in DR…? Not so much...? Thought so. Of course the US have CNN. And FEMA. And the rest of the Western World saying ‘poor America… here are $100’s millions to help rebuild your world class infrastructure, and get people their homes back with their vehicles and multiple tv’s and state aid, and electricity, water (fresh), sewer, cable, internet, gas, cheap food (how else can we get fat), state of the art medical treatment… here, more money.

My buddy Robinson lost his home, has no insurance, no state aid, no FEMA. Fortunately, the infrastructure never existed in the first place so they don’t have to rebuild that – fwoosh… what a relief… and the swamp he lived on… I think it did okay.

So… we have no skiing for a week, I ripped my kite and lost my board… boohoo. Tough life. But the thing is these first world problems we have, one way or another they get resolved. The wind came, someone found my board and returned it, my kite – repaired and flying the next morning… And snow at Big White? It is snowing hard, will continue and the delayed opening... reconsidered?

Third World Robinson? He lost his home, and is now living in a school with his wife and two-year old daughter… and that rain? It keeps going, there are still 18,000 people displaced; homeless since 7^th November. Robinson needs to finish building his house to find a permanent solution… he does get bragging rights tho... "my problem is bigger than yours." 

First World Problems… we are lucky to have them.

Sólido Properties... enjoying FWP's at Big White since 2000.