While the students studied Spanish this morning, Julie and I explored “downtown” Pichilemu and the beach. We spotted a llama that was unquestionably outside of its natural environment.

After Spanish class, group meeting, and lunch with their homestays, we met the students at the surf school. Everyone got fitted for wetsuits.

This was very exciting.

Lani even got a hood!

The exhausted-looking, late-twenty-something Swiss surf instructor led the group in warm-up stretching.

His Chilean counterpart walked them through three basic steps for standing up on a wave. (Paddle hard; do a push-up with elbows tucked at your side; hop one foot forward and crouch low, arms out.)

Each person demonstrated their mad skills for the group.

And I took portrait shots with Claire’s digital SLR camera.

The group headed out into the crowded Pichilemu beginner waves, a beach break with a sandy bottom. Three instructors accompanied them and I kept a watchful eye from the beach (I’ll surf later this week!).

Out they paddled.

Suerte chicos! Tomorrow, we do it all again.