Surfing Fix Acquired

Puerto Chicama surf: the longest left point break in the world.

Apart from some mild homesickness from all the solo time, my time on the coast was exactly what the doctor ordered. I ended up staying the the beautiful, though often overcat, Huanchaco for the better part of two weeks, surfing everyday except one. I took this past Wednesday off to rest my shoulders and body so I wouldn´t be too tired for the record long wave in Puerto Chicama. Luckily, Thursday the swell picked up and myself along with Frenchman, Simon, and Deutchman, Ruud, took a cab to the world famous surf spot. The town was crawling with surfers that day (including South African friend, Rowan, who we met in Quito back in April) because the waves were working wonderfully. It was a lot of paddling and walking, but well worth it since I managed to get my longest ride EVER! It was oh so sweet, that moment when it officially became my longest continual time working a wave. Perma smile for sure. The sky was even clear and the sun shone strong. The only down side was some foot injuries from being barefoot.

The one and only sunset I witnessed in Huanchaco.

After spending about 5 hours surfing, we returned to a bizarre scene of sunshine and blue sky in Huanchaco. We arrived just in time to grab some large beers and watch the sunset. It was my first time seeing the sunset in the coastal town in my whole time there, and what a wonderful way to end my stay there.

A favorite lunch: ceviche, cicharron & Inca Kola, all for 9 soles ($3.25)!

That night, I hopped on a bus from Trujillo into the Andean city of Huaraz. The sky is blue here, though a bit colder because of elevation. It is similar to Cuzco in the sense that it is crawling with tourists and tour companies in a mountain setting, though not quite as hectic. With that said, it was tough for me to find a hostel that had room for one person, so with surfboard in tow, I zig-zagged through the streets searching for a desirable accomodation with a desirable price. After a solid half hour of bouncing back and forth between hostels and hotels, I scored a private room on the main drag for 30 soles per night. However, the owner decided to jack the price up today to 100 soles because of the local holiday! I was very unimpressed and quickly went to search for another place. Fortunately, I didn´t have to look for as long as I had the previous day and though the room I found wasn´t quite as nice, the price sure was.

Some festive costumes in a parade on the main drag of Huaraz.

Anyway, here in Huaraz there are plenty of things to do from rock climbing to treking to mountain biking and mountaineering and of course admiring some ancient ruins. I am going to start a 4 day trek in the Cordillera Blanca tomorrow before heading back to Pisco for another month of volunteer work. It is said to be some of the most beautiful scenery of the Andes with several snow capped peaks over 5000m. Hope the weather holds up as it has so far.

Oh, and on another note, once I got the word from Matt that he got a trim on his goatee, I went ahead and got a trim on mine. 6 months of growth was getting out of control, so I trimmed it rather than taking it off completely.