Am I Really Goofy?

Zdenek and I had agreed to go for a surf lesson, which started quite early. As usual it was really overcast so I didn't think any sun cream would be necessary. Typical: finally I get to a beach town and it's never sunny! There was about 45 minutes of "theory" before we headed out into the water. The guy who was giving us the lesson owned the surf school with his brother and claimed that together they had developed their own technique, unique in the world, for beginning to learn to surf.

To begin with he said he had to determine whether we were each "normal" or "goofy", the former meaning that you stand on the board with your left foot infront and the latter, your right foot infront. Any time I've tried a skateboard, which has the same distinction, and the few times I tried to surf in South Africa it seemed much more natural to put my left foot forward, so I was fairly sure I'd be normal. To test us, he asked us both to stand with our feet together then pushed us both forwards. I put my right foot out to steady myself and Zdenek his left foot. Normal he said pointing at Zdenek and goofy, pointing at me. I didn't think much of his test or see the relationship between what you do on a surfboard and his test, but I accepted that he was the professional and proceeded to learn to stand up goofy.

The surfboards were enormous and Zdenek and I had to carry one between us, while our teacher managed to carry the other one on his head. The surfboard I owned but hardly used in South Africa was pretty big, but it was nothing on these things: they were like boats. The instructor asked us to paddle out just next to the pier, which provided enough shelter to prevent waves that were too big. There he took up position behind us and counted down to the time we should stand up. He was also there to give us a push when the wave arrived, making it considerable easier to catch the wave than it is when you have to paddle up to speed and time it on your own. This was the first time in Huanchaco I had been on the beach, never mind in the sea, that's how unbeachy the weather had been, so it was a nice surprise to discover that the water was absolutely full of otters, which I hadn't even realised you could find in salt water. The instructor told me that they are called lobos de marina in Spanish.

Zdenek surfing

Us hanging out

Anyway his special technique seemed to do the business because I managed to stand up briefly the first time before falling quickly off, but the second time I stood up quite easily, despite the fact he had not chosen a very strong wave for me, which meant that I was standing on the surfboard, more or less motionless in the water. Of course I lost my balance quite quickly and fell off, but the fact that it was possible demonstrates just how ridiculously large and buoyant these boards were. Third time and he chose me a good wave again, allowing me to surf, standing up, almost to the shore. Easy peasy! Zdenek was doing quite as well initially, but was soon standing up on almost every wave. The badly chosen waves and some slips meant that I was standing up well on maybe half of the attempts, which was much better than my previous record in South Africa, where I twice managed to slip off as soon as I started standing up, and apart from that caught a few waves lying down. Maybe the instructor's technique was something special, or maybe surfing is just really easy on gigantic surfboards when you have someone else pushing you onto the waves. It was fun anyway.

Traditional fishing boats

My excellent position

Us with boards

Us with teacher in front of the shop

Only when I was taking my wetsuit off did I realise how hot my face seemed, at the same time noticing that the sun had actually been out for the entire time we were on the water, and I had no sun cream on. We went had lunch in the quite expensive ceviche restaurant next door to the hostel, but this time I stuck to pescado and steered clear of the raw mariscos. It was delicious as always. After lunch we had the option of returning to use the equipment to practise on our own, but I was already having to shelter in the shadows to prevent my reddening sunburn from hurting, so I had to give it a miss. Zdenek didn't bother either.

Ceviche de pescado

I spent most of the afternoon and evening looking for places I could sit without being in the sun, but the entire hostel seems to be designed to point at the afternoon sun. I suppose they were thinking of sunsets, but the roofs really should come down lower to offer some protection from the afternoon sun, since sunsets tend to be quite low on the horizon anyway. You can't get warm in the mornings with the sea breeze and everywhere being in shadow, then you can't escape the sun in the afternoon when you are burnt. When the sun was low enough for me to venture out we sat with Natasha and Sylvie, waiting for their taxi to arrive take them to catch their bus to Mancora. Meanwhile I sat on my nice Chinese sunglasses and broke them. I guess I am goofy after all.

written by

The Happy Couple on November 26, 2009 from Huanchaco, Peru

from the travel blog: Michael's Lonely post-Honeymoon

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