and the waves just keep on comin!

The morning was filled with a 30 minute walk from our hostel, Los Feroles, to the surf break, "El Faro", also known as the gangster of all left-handers. It"s got punch like a wave coming in at Blacks"s and point-wave style similar to breaks in Baja. We awoke at 7 am to San Francisco like fog outside. The ground outside our door was damp and sticky. The air felt maybe 55 degrees. Let"s just say it was a bit "nipply" out. We gathered up our United Nations of a surf gang: Brazil, Japan, Germany, Australia, France, Peru, and the United States. It was quite the crew. Every morning lately we have all been coming out of our rooms in the early morning hours, groggie-eyed and sleepy, yet eager to see the days swell. We brew coffee and eat sweet bread before the adventure. And boy is it an adventure to get to this wave, which is a fast, punchy left coming off the end of a point. The outside is peaky and punchy. Once one makes it to the inside after having already been on the wave for 1 minute, one hits the inside. The inside section turns into a steep barallel, reforming for maybe another 200-1000 meter ride, depending on swell direction, wind, and so forth.

We would all leave camp and make our way to the point, which was where the surf break is. The walk was gruesome. This beach allways had a weird side-shore, off-shore, kind of wind. So when we would walk you would have to hold onto the board with 2 hands. The ground was covered in large, sometimes mossy rocks. Traversing the rocks was a task in itself. WE"d get to the surf break finally. Imagine a large desert point from the sahara desert. Now, place that in Peru, along with some amazing waves. The point jutted out about 1 km, with no houses or buildings of any kind. Just the howling wind, the blowing sand, and the soothing sound of crashing waves. The point could have peen a painting for one reason in particular. On the end of the point was a white lighthouse. The top of the lighthouse had a black roof that hung down about 3 feet from the top. There was also one window at the top. Everytime I surfed I always looked back, imagining an old PEruvian man in a Sailor"s cap, peering out the window towards the sea. The lighthouse most definitely gave the point an eery feel to it, especially along with the upper 50 degree water, heavy fog, and chilly breeze.

the days have been spent reading books from other surfers, laying back amomgst wide, soft hammocks and starring at the sky. The town is small. One can walk through it in 1o minutes. Past the auromatic bakeries serving fresh assorted bread, the old ladies selling carne asada skewers with one potatoe on the end for 50 cents, or something that took quite some getting used to: the stores closing every day for 2-3 hours. I suppose they have similar style to the Italians and Spaniards in this sense. Siestas must be the most highly vauled time of the day. 10-4 over and out..........

written by  kipmaddog on September 10, 2009 from Perugorria, Argentina
from the travel blog: adventures from down south
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