I had to give El Presidente his own post but purchasing him was far from the only thing I got up to during my time in Encinitas. I had heard through the yogi grapevine that Encinitas was another haven for yoga plus it´s also home to 2 great surfing waves Swamis and Cardiffs. For these reasons I´d found an Airbnb apartment within spitting distance of the beach in Leucadia. Upon arrival you felt the instant chill which Encinitas exudes, there is a really nice feeling of community in this area with farmers markets, work outs in the park and lots of little bars and restaurants filled by locals making the most out of their town.
I´d asked around a bit but other than hearing it was a great place for yoga no-one could actually recommend a teacher or studio up in LA so I had to figure it out for myself. This resulted in the inevitable trial and error phase; I tried Bikram which confirmed my feeling it was not a form of practice for me, I then tried ´hot yoga flow´which I find a horrendous form of yoga practice more geared up as a money making scheme rather than actually practising yoga. Not to mention that in order to take part in these ´yogabucks´ community's you need to have all the latest trendiest leggings otherwise you can´t be a proper yogi. After several days and a good number of classes I was starting to feel disillusioned until I stumbled upon the most fantastic little studio tucked away in some gardens and a mere 5mins walk from the apartment BONUS! In a similar fashion to the great studio I found in SM (Power Yoga East) this was also run on donation basis. I really like this concept not only does it feel more inline with yogic philosophy but it also puts some onus on the teacher to run a good class and impart some knowledge as a true guru should. Two teachers here were incredible and I ended up going everyday for the rest of the week and since leaving the apartment I have made it back several times for their classes.
Just to spice things up I also took a couple of Barre Classes . They say that Barre involves a mix of ballet and Pilates, I would agree with this but it should also come with a warning that you will be made to do thousands of squats in one form or another; by the end of the week my arse was killing and it´s only just recovering now!
During my week stay the surf wasn´t really up to much but I did manage to get out at the local spot called Beacons; a pretty nondescript beach break, and the infamous wave called Swamis; although small when I surfed it was nicely formed and I can see the winter potential. On Wednesday I´d worked out that the forecast would be producing the best waves at a place called Oceanside so I headed to the harbour for a surf. I really loved surfing here the wave itself wasn´t amazing but the crowd was really friendly, there were huge seals surfing by the harbour wall and the harbour area was a delight. I surfed here for several days after finding it and each morning I delighted in sipping my coffee post surf whilst playing spectator to the seals as they cruised around the harbour generally trying to annoy the pelicans who were perched on top of the pontoons.
According to the locals Oceanside is supposed to be rather ghetto but I had completely the opposite feel for this place and really rather loved this San Diego Suburb. I passed a wonderful evening at a lively street fair with lot´s of live music and food stands from many different countries. I also witnessed the art of 'yarn bombing'; apparently a fun local pastime where by individuals sneak out at night and knit clothing for items of street furniture :-/
Better than cow tipping I suppose!!
