My Peru trip

 

PREFIX.

I'm assuming you readers have figured out by now that I'm not into blogging as much I used I to be.

Well, that's actually not true at all.
I'm still into blogging, or posting, or reporting, just not on this blog anymore. Facebook has a much easier interface to deal with when posting from a smart phone.
Plus, the fact that all the people you're friend with immediately receive your post in their news feeds makes it a way more interactive way of communicating with them.
The author immediately gets comments and likes, the readers don't have to go on different websites and check if there's updates.
In other words, IMO, facebook is overtaking ALL blogs. Rightly so, let me add.

Overtaking but not killing. There is something I still like better about blogs. They look like a more permanent place where to write your online diary. And the archive and labeling system are far superior than FB. Last, you don't need to be my "friend" to read it. It's out there on the internet and everybody can get to it.
That's why I'm going to keep updating this blog, but not as frequently as I used to. For that, if you want to follow me, get a FB account (with a fake name if you don't like being on it), don't friend anybody (me included please) and just subscribe to my updates. You'll receive a notification each time I post something that will link you to the post.

Stated that, here's a long post about my Peru trip.
I'm going to use the posts I did on facebook and put them all together here. Not much added info for my FB friends, but a lot of stuff to read and see for my other readers. To facilitate the reading, I used italic fonts for the stuff I posted on FB.
Hope you guys enjoy, please leave comments to let me know.

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I usually take a surf trip in summer time, when the waves in Maui are not as good as the rest of the year.
This year, with the excuse of my 50th year of life (couldn't care less about age and birthdays, but I opportunistically used it as an excuse), I took two.
The first one I booked was the Peru one. I checked with the coworkers at Hi-Tech our busy vacation schedules and there was a one month window in July.
Later on, I also found out that there was a three weeks window in May and so I booked another trip to Indo. I posted plenty stuff on FB of that trip too, I might do a similar post if you guys like this one. But don't forget to let me know.

I absolutely love to book my own tickets online. I know I can do a much better job than a travel agent, because I am the one who is going to travel and I will be much more motivated than him/her to find the right deal.
In this case, I found a ticket with Copa Air from LA to Lima for $680.
After having checked that I had just enough Hawaiian miles for the Maui - LA leg and just enough United miles for the LA - Maui leg, I proceeded to book it.

And here's the first post I did on FB from the Maui airport.
Remember that, since a blog post is read from the top to the bottom, my brain finds more logic to put the captions above the photos.

Post 1, July 9.

Four weeks in Peru and two in Italy with a full wetsuit, surf accessories, laptop and a couple of cameras. Not a bad packing job.

That's how the original plan was: travel with no boards, buy a surfboard there and eventually rent windsurf g...ear for the Pacasmayo part of the trip.

After talking to a few windsurfers, i then decided instead to bring some old gear with me and sell it for cheap over there. In this case I would have gone straight from Lima to Pacasmayo, park the widsurfing stuff at the hotel and take surfing trips from there.

I was all set to go when i called Copa airlines to tell them that i was going to have a big box with me.
"Sorry, no oversize baggage of any sort starting July 1st"!

So now I'm back to the plan of a trip that will be mostly about surfing and with much more freedom of deciding where to go.
I feel relieved. I would have hated to travel alone with so much stuff.
And if I didn't think about calling Copa, I would be right now finding out that i was stuck in LA with it and probably stressing out a bit...

Instead, i just enjoyed a delicious Mana Foods salad waiting for the check in to start (quite possibly the best food ever eaten by a human at the LAX airport), and I'm smiling thinking about the first thing I'm gonna do when I arrive in Lima: buy a surfboard. How fun!

 


Post 2, July 10.

this is the first thing i saw out of my window upon waking up in Lima. Not exactly stunning.

my host (the brother of an italian friend of mine) took me to the cliffs in Miraflores overlooking the ocean. Better.

and i flew all the way across the ocean for an imitation? Of course not. But i had to take a pic.

coffee shop with a view where i enjoyed a lovely cappuccino.

Today i sorted out the phone/internet thing. Not as easy as in Indo, i must say. I also saw a few boards to buy. There's a sick used JS Parko, but at 6.6x18 5/8x2 it looks way too small for me on these waves that overall looked kind of soft. Anybody feeling like making a little google query for my to find out what the volume of such a board can be?
Tomorrow i will try a 6.4x19x2.5 that sounds like a better volume. I haven't seen this one yet (local shaper). But that JS was very, very slick... it's going to be like going to a blind date knowing to be in love with another one.
Ah, my favorite kind of problems...

First impressions: yes, i did think what the hell am i doing here? Yes, I'm stoked to be speaking spanish and to be doing an overall very different experience.

Post 3, July 11.
And after a strict wheat free month in Maui, I'm now ready to enjoy whatever food they eat over here.
I lost 9 pounds in Maui and got compliments like:"dude, can i wash my clothes on you six packs?"... well, that's what dear female friends are for. 
Let's see what happens to my body now.

Here's something I can add now that the trip is over: I got those pounds right back. The six packs is gone, but it will soon come back when I'll be back to Maui (I'm posting from Italy) and will start eating healthier again.
This was a great confirmation of how important food is for the body!

Post 4, July 11.
Things I bought today

The wax is probably the only good thing I found about cold water: it doesn't melt in the sun (which sun?) and it stays beautifully on the deck.
At the moment, I haven't read that book in Spanish yet. I had another one on my kindle and started that one, but struggled. I'm not sure if it was for the language or (most likely) for the book itself that wasn't particularly catchy. Oh well, my Spanish did improve. Let's see if I can keep speaking it with all my Argentinian friends in Maui...

Post 5, July 12.

This is the board I bought: 6.4x20.5x2.5x36l, quite a few repairs: $250 with a brand new bag. The other one I tried was a JS Parko 6.6x18 5/8x2x25l, almost new, not a single repair, super light. That one would have been $350 with a brand new bag.
I buy and sell boards all the times (it's also part of my job) and I'm very aware that in terms of value the JS would have been a MUCH better deal. But I'm not here to make money with surfboards, I'm here to have fun. And with this kook board, I'm going to have much more fun in the strong current spots. Plus I've never been a fan of narrow boards really...See More

 

 I can now confirm that the board was great. Glad to have sold it to a friend before leaving, he's gonna enjoy it too.

Post 6, July 12.
Today I left Lima and moved 50km south to Punta Hermosa. The guide said that there's many waves and the best one from the description seemed to be the one called Senoritas, which is the one in the first photo. I had to wai...t quite a bit to see a decent set and it still didn't seem ti be particularly epic. I'll surf it tomorrow and i'll know better.
Overall, my first impression is of a remarkably ugly place. Completely barren, it's like a huge development site: tons of cement setting up ugly condominiums for the summer season. For the Napolitan friends: it's like i went in vacation in Baia Domizia in winter time. The only difference is that it's on the Pacific ocean, so there's waves.
Still, I'm in vacation and I'm enjoying the fact that I'm in a place where most people (specially from a true paradise like Maui) wouldn't go... Griffin excluded, of course.
I'll probably stay here a few days and then head north to Pacasmayo.

Close up of the neighbors from my hotel room.

View from my hotel room

One more from the hotel

My hotel

The street of my hotel

Two buildings perfectly blending in the environment... don't you think?

Buildings overlooking Senoritas

What can i say...

Developments overlooking another spot called Caballeros. Senoritas is around the point.

Looks like they built the whole hill so that they could build condos with a view

In the end, I only surfed three of those spots. That should already tell you something of how the trip went surfwise...

Post 7, July 13

Today i surfed Senoritas. Kinda big with a heavy takeoff. The board felt really good except a spin out in the bottom turn on the biggest wave. But i had the plastic G5 fins it came with. Tomorrow i'll use the K3 i brought with me and those ...

have more drive.
In the afternoon i moved to san Bartolo, 2km south. Much nicer place.i found a lovely hotel overlooking the beach. I guess those buildings on the ocean are not too bad once they're finished... always been very good at contradicting myself ...
Even went for a sunset session on the wave in the middle of the bay and managed to have some fun ('bout time! ).
Tomorrow i might try another spot called punta rosa and then head north to Pacasmayo unless it's really good here.
I'm enjoying the newity and searching for beauty.
things i enjoyed today:
- some pelikans were flying very low over the waves at Senoritas
- the board I bought is awesome
- i can move around no problem. Not speaking spanish would be a big handicap
- the freedom of being in vacation in a new place with no plans and just going with the flow
- i used up all the layers of neoprene and i wasn't too cold (wish i brought more though)

My room is the first pn the left. Same price of the other hotel...

 
Surfer and dog

 
That's the mushy wave i surfed. Kinda like hamoa beach. Very shifty, but not left or right, more like inside outside

 
Fishermen taking off

 
Room with a personality

 
That's the vision from the kitchen. The bedroom is on the left.

 
Smiling before the session. This time i was smiling also after the session. Just a bit colder.

 
After session relax

 
Very cool skate park

 
Allegedly there's a few discos in this place and i might go check them out in search of other senoritas. I have zero expectations though. Specially if they all look like this one! !!PS. I found out later that that was the birthday party of a 15 yo lady...

 
Can't resist a wood oven pizza... specially after a month without any wheat

 
The inside of the pizzeria was pretty cozy

 
And most importantly, the pizza was good too!BTW, I always say: pizza is like sex. When it's great, it's great. But when it's not that great, it's still good enough to eat it...

 

Post 8, July 14.

Just one picture from Google Maps today to illustrate my day.
I drew a red line to show the kilometer I walked to search for the spot I wanted to surf. You can see the left on the upper left corner of it (I marked it with the number 1). It'...

s actually a bunch of spots, since the wave doesn't connect all the way.
I found myself walking in a landscape in which the presence of a surfer in wetsuit with a yellow board under his arm must have looked pretty surreal to the eyes of an eventual observer. Too bad there was none. It looked like a lunar landscape, with, once again, no vegetation whatsoever, but I'm now used to that.
When I finally got there, the waves were big and menacing. Solid double overhead, no one out, no one on the coastline either. I felt a bit like Kepa Acero. Youtube him, if you don't know who he is. A true legend, in my eyes.
Too bad I didn't have his cojones (and his surfing skills more than anything!!!) and I didn't go out.
I went back to the spot in the middle of the San Bartolo bay that I surfed yesterday (marked with number 2).
A lot smaller, a few surfers out, but really not the quality wave I came down here for.
Once again, a bit of a disappointing day, but once again, I enjoyed my spirit of adventure (really, you guys should have seen me walking in that deserted land all wetsuited up...).
On the way back to the room, I got to talk to a nice surfer from Chile who is in vacation with his family. He's got a car and we agreed to go surfing tomorrow early morning to yet another spot called Puerto Viejo, 15 km south.
Here's a link to it: http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/South_America/Peru/Lima/puerto_viejo/
That's going to be my last attempt to have a quality surf before I leave. In fact, I finally booked a bus to Pacasmayo for tomorrow (Monday) night from Lima.
I will also collect some windsurfing gear to take with me from the guys at peruvianwave.com, so I will have that option too in the windy afternoons.
This first week could be described like a bit of a failure from the surfing point of view, but nonetheless I just can't help being happy that I'm doing what I'm doing. My life experiences have taught me to always be happy no matter what. The ability of having this kind of attitude is going beyond my expectations and I am really stoked about it!

 

 

Post 9, July 15.

Celebrating the buy of a 4/3 wetsuit (3/2 just wasn't enough for my skinny me) with a beer and a pastel de acelga, which lasted 30 seconds. Soon to be joined by lovely Carolina who will give me the windsurfing gear and take me to the bus station. Possibly an album of the day later from the 180 degrees reclinable seat...

 

 

Post 10, July 15.

Report of the day.
It started with a surf session at Puerto Viejo. It was the best session so far, but still kind of mediocre. The chilean surfer with whom i went surfed it two days before said it was perfect back then. Not having my prover...bial good goos luck, but i feel it's gonna change soon.
After that i caught a taxi to lima and went to buy a 4/3 wetsuit. Then i met Carolina who gave me the windsurfing gear and took me to the bus station (thanks a lot!).
Now I'm about to leave and found 5 minutes to post this. Chapter two of the Peru trip is about to start. Pretty excited.

Puert Viejo. Nice sandy bottom

Daniel, good surfer from chile and very nice guy

Guess there's sun in summer time!

Longest wetsuit trying session ever. Didn't get this one, sleeves a bit too long. But it looked the coolest and it was hard to let down ... :)

 Dish n.3 of yesterdays dinner. Nothing beats a fresh healthy salad in my new world.

Fried fish with potatos, tomatoes, rice and other stuff. Very good.

Didn't know what chorizos were until i saw (and ate) them. The english word escapes me... muscles? Cozze in italian. I'm still alive and they were delcious

Great idea to bring with me the instant coffee from bali.

 

Post 11, July 17.

And at last I'm in Pacasmayo.
This place should be used on any surfing dictionary as a definition for "long, perfectly shaped headland that defines a point break wave".
I've never quite seen anything like it.
The waves today were forecasted...

to be small and so they were. Nonetheless, I had the best surfing session so far.
Some of the credit actually goes to the new wetsuit, that proved to be really good. Could still easily use a 5/4 or some thicker booties, but it's a lot better than the 3/2 I used so far.
The other great news is that, FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE A WEEK THAT I'M IN PERU, this afternoon I saw the sun! And felt its heat on my skin... man, did that feel good or what!
Geez, how do people in Lima survive their winter?!?! I guess you get used to everything, but that's something I don't think I'd like to get used to, really.

Best session so far, I was saying. The waves were shoulder high, not really lining up for long rides, but I had a couple of really fun ones. I always try to find a wave to compare to a new one I surf, and in this case it was without a doubt Mala ramp. It also had something of the UNS in Indo, but not quite as perfect as that one... and clearly not as blue and warm! But there were only 4 other guys out...
Friends, this CAN BE the longest wave in the world. Chicama (one hour drive from here) is a longer headland, but you can't connect it all the way like you can here. Hopefully I'll see it do its thing and hopefully I'll ride one all the way.
Didn't sail in the afternoon, but I took some pics instead. Which I'm now going to illustrate. I'm posting using my computer this time, so I should be able to place the caption in the appropriate spot.
The first week wasn't too fortunate from the surfing point of view, but I bought a surfboard, I surfed new waves, I explored new places, I tuned my gear (read wetsuit). I did a lot of good things.
Time to hit some lips now.

imagine riding a wave all the way from the point with the lighthouse to well past where I'm sitting...

 
the bus ride with Exclusiva was very comfortable. Those seats became pretty much horizontal. I wish they has something like that on the planes...
Duh, I guess that's what the first class is like.

 
my ride from the bus station. Love it

 
smile... you are on the beach of Pacasmayo

 
that's where I'm staying

 
observation and shooting point right in front of the house

 
not sure what he's picking, but it must be worth it, seeing how wet he's got to do that

 

 
lots of moto taxis like that. 5 soles ($1.5) to get you to the point with your surfboard. I walked instead and it was only 15 minutes.I later found out that that was clearly the price for tourists and was able to negotiate rides for 2-3 soles.

 

observation and shooting attire. You can see the sky!!!! A bit windy, but I make it look colder than it was. I just don't do good with cold.

Post 12, July18.

Biggest day and longest surfing ride so far.
My surf session lasted 3.5 hours, but only during the first hour i did good. Then it got a bit crowded and my arms were tired from all that paddling. This place has a serious current and they sa...y that today was nothing compared to what it can be... nonetheless, if you get caught inside by a big set, you know you'll have to paddle a lot to get in position again.
Man, are we lucky in Hawaii with all those lovely channels (and everything else)?
In the afternoon i was looking forward to my first sailing session, but the wind never got strong enough. It was probably a good thing because i was too exhausted and took a rejuvenating nap instead.
yesterday afternoon the conditions for sailing got really good around 4pm. I thought it was a bit late and it wasn't going to last and went surfing instead. Of course the wind stayed up till late and i watched the windsurfers and kiters have epic rides. Oh well, i don't know this place well enough and I'm paying my dues.
The other photo is todays weather map of the south pacific. It shows a strong fetch of wind oriented right towards us. Not sure how long it will take for the waves to get here, but they will at one point. Forecasts call for 6f, 18s for the next weekend. Might have to go to chicama... we'll see.
All is good from Perud!

 

 

Post 13, July19.

19 turns.

Today i finally sailed this place. The wind was super light and it got lighter and lighter. I immediately decided it wasn't worth bothering with the waves in front of the launching spot and slowly sailed upwind to the point.
Caug...ht two waves that were long enough to make me want to count the number of turns i was doing.
So i did - laud - on my third and last wave.
By then i was the only windsurfer left together with 10 surfers. Just like a normal day at hookipa...
I was downwind of all the surfers picking up the scraps (as a windsurfer should do).
This big one came. The deepest surfer took off pretty late and got nailed by the lip. The other ones paddled for it, but were a bit too wide. I pumped my way into it and it was the start of the most memorable wavesailing ride i have ever had.
I wasn't pushing or anything just to set a record. There just were 19 turns on that wave. And all of them on a surprisingly steep enough face to make me throughly enjoy each single one of them.
When i hit the last one, i had no idea of the distance i actually covered. With much surprise i found myself in front of the hotel el faro, the launching spot.
The picture shows that the distance between my house and the hotel is 350m. From which you can kind of guess that from the point of the headland to the hotel is roughly 1km.

Oh, it also was, by far, the glassiest wave i ever wave sailed on.

I know that this place can get much better than this, but I'd be stoked to get just only another one like that.

Wouldn't mind a 20 actually, but I'd also settle for an 18...

 

 Post 14, July 20.This is my favorite lunch place because i can have a big salad instead of the local dishes of rice with fish, chicken or meat that are pretty much the only options at the other places. I eat those for dinner, when I'm done with the ocean activities.
It's already setup for the big national holiday of July 28.

Post 15, July 20
Still plenty 14 seconds lines left in this swell. This morning surfing was pretty fun, i got a bunch of head high ones.
It's pretty windy now, so windsurfing should be fun in the afternoon.

Post 16, July 20
Well yesterday it to was 19. Today it was 23. Not as big and steep as yesterday 's, but stll top 10 waves of my life.

Post 17, July 21
The waves were small today and i decided to give my sore body a rest.
Plus it was a perfect day for a visit to what I found out to be one of pacasmayo's most pleasent places: the cemetery. Which i also renamed the cementery.
Descriptions in the comments and let's hope the waves will be better tomorrow

The coffee came in the small thing where usually is the milk. You are supposed to pour it in the cup and add the hot water that came in the thermos. There was no way to have a freshly made one. But it wasn't too bad and the view was nice.

Right.

In the background is a big cement factory

Looks like the factory has done a good job

What do you think it's written in the message brought by the dove?
My guess was:"you're dead


Cubicles

More cubicules

Last, but most definitely not least, the slaughter house.
The poor animals leftovers flow out on the beach in a red stream of blood. That keeps the local large community of voulters happy.
I'm eating a salad tonight.

 

Post 18, July 24.

Don't be fooled by the first photo... I'm not gonna brag about it.
Despite the fact that the dinner was actually delicious, I'm not here to eat fish (for that I'd be in Italy already). I'm here to surf the longest lefts on the planet.
And t...hat (with the exception of those two epic windsurfing waves) has been totally escaping me so far.

Right now we're in the middle of a particularly "shitty" week with short (10-11) period waves from the south. Definitely NOT what these point breaks like, which is instead long period swells from the SW.
Yesterday morning I was surfing (or trying to) small mushy shitty waves and caught myself dreaming about a session on my little 6.6 standup with knee high waves at sunny 1000 peaks... not good!!!

"Ok, four days of bad waves, let's get out of here and come back later", I said.
Macchu Picchu is a bit of logistic nightmare, 3-4 days, almost a thousand bucks kinda trip: screw it.
Chachapoyas is a much closer destination in the Amazon with waterfalls and ruins. I checked all the bus schedule (not an easy thing to do here, trust me) and had everything lined up for a 2 days trip, when I thought about checking the weather forecast: rain until Friday, sunny after that: screw that one too.
There's other archeological sites to visit in a one day trip, but my knee is still a bit hurting from all that walking in Lima, so I'm just going to chill here, in this place in which there's absolutely nothing to do and wait for a proper swell.

The reason I'm hanging on, in fact, is shown in the last two photos. A long period decent size swell is supposed to hit in the weekend and after that it's supposed to stay good all the way to the end of my trip.
It better be.

  Post 19, July 27.
And while the waves still fail to line up properly (but at least there's some!) on this sunless Saturday morning, I can't help noticing how many good south swells Maui is getting this year.
The map shows a beautiful N-S fetch forecasted for July 30. Related fun size swell should hit around August 6.
Allright, time to put that wetsuit on!

Post 20, July 27.

Surfing was fun this morning, but i still struggle to fully enjoy a session in which you spend a couple of hours paddling against the current in cold water and you catch 4-5 waves.
Hopefully windsurfing will be better this afternoon.
Laying... on the bed, waiting for the right tide, checking the conditions and watching the on demand stream of the us open of surfing from huntington.
I like my new observation point!
Waves are starting to pump (i mean here)... will i set a new record number of turns?See More

  Post 21, July 28

I know this place well enough now to be able to state that windsurfing is WAY more fun than surfing here. That's for the following reasons:

1) big difference in how cold your body gets. With a 4/3 I'm totally fine sailing, still a bit col...

d surfing. BTW, the owner of the hotel El Faro, told me that this is a particularly cold winter. For the first time EVER, he had to get out of the water because of the cold...
2) the bigger it gets, the longer the rides get, but the stronger the currents gets too. Yesterday in two hours surfing I caught 4 waves. And spent the half hours between them pretty much paddling to get back or just to keep my position. Not too much of a problem when sailing instead.
3) the rides are longer. Yesterday I caught three waves from the lighthouse to the hotel El Faro (plus a bunch of shorter ones). I counted the turns on the first one: 22. After that I didn't bother counting anymore... I know it's around 20 turns and that's amazing for me. None of those waves were doable all the way on a surfboard, because some sections required the extra power of a sail to be made.
I know it can be doable on a surfboard too (actually it is all the way to the pier), but it takes perfect swell direction and size for that and I haven't got that yet. Hopefully I'll be able to shoot the pier while sailing before I leave.

 that's how it looks this morning, Sunday July 28. Pretty damn good!

like everywhere, waves look a lot smaller from the shore. These are solid logo high.

 

it wasn't easy to score this room with a view, but I managed to. I'm loving it up here...

 

today's forecast on the right. This place likes mid tide (or better: I like this place at mid tide). That means that the two good time frames today will be 11 to 1 and 4.30 to 6.
Mmm... it's 10.30 and there's no wind yet.
Oh well, I'll keep watching the Huntington contest I guess. BTW, please don't spill any result on me.
I'm watching yesterday's stream while the finals are on live right now. That's how my brain works and I'm pretty happy with it. Thanks.

 

yesterday (July 28) was a national holiday. I got to enjoy some live Peruvian music in the streets and that was pretty cool.

 

Post 21, July 28

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain."

I've ridden wave...s today you people wouldn't believe. And for me too, one day, all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

But until then, I'm going to try to bring back to my memory what I experienced today as often as I possibly can. This post is part of the plan.

It was so good that I was missing my flexier fins. 'Cause I could feel then ones I had not flex enough.
It was that glassy.

Yes, this is a perfect example of a facebook bragging post. I don't only do that kind, and even though I might do a hell lot of it, forgive me, but this time I really have to indulge. It was really special and unique.

When I was out there, I thought about two friends that would have enjoyed as much as I did.Glenn, I wish were out there with me today. Pascal, I would have loved to watch tear one of those mast high 1 km long EASY, playful, unbelievably standing forever walls of water.
One thing I missed in fact (other than my fins), was to have someone to watch while sailing out...

It was really special today. I know, I said that already.

 

Post 22, July 29.

One of the beauties I rode yesterday.

That magic combo of turns down and up the wave went on for 20+ times and a kilometer on each single wave from the lighthouse to the hotel.
I think I caught 3 or 4 waves like that.

Thanks a lot Jad for the photo!

 

Post 23, July 29

Kiting not a bad option either here at Pacasmayo! This is still from yesterday.

 

Post 24, July 30

Yesterday it was sunless and windless. Still big waves, but i'm not interested in surfing in this water/current anymore.
Today it's smaller (but definitely not flat) and it's blowing about 10 knots right now. Should be enough for me on 4.5. Definitely not enough for a 4.7 or 5.0.
Go figure that one out! 

 

Post 25, July 30

Kinda like that effect. Didn't do anything. It came out like that.

 

 

 

 

Post 26, August 2

Chicama

Post 27, August 3
From yesterday's trip to Chicama

Post 28, August 3
Today I rode this wave for Andre

 

That was the last post from Peru. Actually, the last post related to Peru... I spared you all the other stuff I posted/shared on facebook (other great feature of it) while I was there.

I'm just gonna add a quick feedback on the trip and I'm gonna be straight: other than the fact that I was exploring a new place (which I always like), I didn't like it much.
Those few days of epic sailing conditions at Pacasmayo are going to be forever stuck in my memory (aging neurons permitting). But those were 4 days out of 30.
I was expecting more consistency. I guess I didn't get lucky this trip.
I could have lived with the cold water, lack of sun, lack of vegetation and strong currents a lot better if it was epic more often, but it wasn't.

I admit I did one big mistake in this trip. Monday July 29, the day after that absolutely magnificent sailing session, as I wrote, it was cloudy and windless. But I had so much fun the day before that I preferred to wait hoping for the wind to pick up. Only later I found out that that was the waste of an epic day of surfing at Chicama.

 

In fact, I didn't know yet that I could have gone to Chicama in the morning, surfed waves that were totally epic (so I was told) without having to struggle too much with the current (because over there, despite the fact that the current is even stronger, there's two easy options: walk back or get a boat back) and go back to Pacasmayo if one of my new friends would have texted me that the wind was picking up.

 

That's exactly what I did later on in the week, when the waves weren't as big/good anymore and it worked out perfectly.
It's a bit of a bummer not having surfed such a beautiful wave on an epic day while I was only one hour taxi drive away, but I was really kinda done with the surfing by then.

I doubt it would have changed my final judgment of the trip though.

Hope my Peruvian friends won't get offended by it (it's a very personal thing anyway). My "problem" is that I'm awfully spoiled.

I live in Maui, where for 8 months a year I enjoy the best mix of surfing and windsurfing conditions I can think of, in warm waters and in a lush, stunning environment.
In summer time, I travel searching for new waves to explore.
Just before this trip, as I said, I went three weeks to Indo where I scored awesome waves pretty much each single day.
Plus, like if that wasn't enough, the summer days I spent in Maui other than these two trips have been pretty good too!
In other words, the competition was pretty tough for Peru.

 

 

Would I go back there? Probably not, but it's not impossible.

I would go back only if I find a flight that's cheap enough and I see a forecast that is epic/good for at least two weeks.

Allright, that was a hell lot of copy and paste. I hope someone will read this...
For sure, I bet the little post I will make on Facebook announcing and linking this blog post will receive more comments than the blog post itself. Hard to measure the reads though...