Travelling with the third man...
hey kids,
Hope this note finds you well. Life is great over this side of the world, happy, healthy and heading north towards the sunshine and warm water...yeeew!
Jasmine flew out of Lima to New York a few weeks ago. I was pretty keen to catch a bus to the airport and save about 10 times the amount of taking a taxi. Only problem was that when your looking for a certain bus it never seems to come. We ended up taking 2 and switching halfway, a great plan as it worked out cheap; but also not so great as it took ages and cut Jasmines quality airport time down a bit. She ended up having a few complications with her ticket (ask her) and only ended up resolving them 30 minutes before departure time. Then i saw her being pushed out in a wheelchair(thought she may have stacked it down some stairs or something), but no it turns out it was a time saving ploy to rush her through security and immigration. Thats fantastic...think i might leave my next run to the airport a bit late and see how i go...
Again the lone ranger, i set out to find a surfboard and then some waves. Spent 2 days going to EVERY surf shop in Lima, struggled to find what i was looking for, and boards over here are really expensive and locally made ones were pretty poor quality. Was pretty keen to get out of Lima (read previous post) and had arranged to meet sambo (read a few posts ago) 3 months late in a surf spot "punta hermosa", 45 mins south of Lima. Eventually made it to a surf house and met some cool dudes, one of which was selling a good board for 100 bucks (with a broken fin plug) pretty much because he was too lazy to fix it. The repair ended up costing 10 bucks. You little ripper! Also managed to buy an oldschool 70´s wetsuit, which seemed like a bargain at the time, but upon actually wearing it, i realised it had left all its warmth in the 70´s.
Sambo rocked up a few days later and we have spent a great (almost) 2 weeks, heading north to various surf spots on the Peruvian coast.We crammed both boards into one bag, but usually still get hit with paying for an extra person, for the room in the bus it takes up. So we now have a new friend we have to take everywhere with us "the third man". We also have to carry him everywhere, were paying for him, the least he could do is carry his own weight. We have surfed Punta Hermosa, Huanchaco, Chicama (one of the longest waves in the world, when its cranking you can ride for up to 4 minutes - look it up on google images) and pacasmayo. We havnt had the best swells, but still got a some ripper waves. Waves here are a lot more tricky than the ones i am used to in Aus. Heaps of rocks, you either have to walk over them (always with barnacles) paddle around them, surf around them, try not to get dumped on your head on them. There is usually a massive current (especially the points) so you are constantly paddling, but with a water temperature of about 16 degrees( and dodge wettie) you need it to stay warm. It had been 8 months since my last surf in Aus, and to be honest im a bit rusty and dont quite have the best paddling fitness, but have still had a great time and look forward to coming back in a few years (when im in my prime) and shredding some more...
My 70´s wetsuit also had a 70´s plastic zipper, which decided to pack it in one day. All the teeth were slowly falling out and it was only just hanging together when it just carked it. There are quite a few strong industries in Peru, wetsuit zipper repairs isnt one of them. Eventually wound up at a shoe repair man, who only had a small size zipper (like what you would need for a purse) not the tough type i would need for my extreme sporting action. This is cool... he went around the back of the shop and came out with his oldschool sports jacket (containing robust zip) and offered to cut it off his jacket and sew it onto my wetsuit. I didnt want to ruin his jacket, but he insisted. So one hour later i rock up to find a hardcore metal zipper perfectly stitched onto my wetsuit. What a legend! and how much did that set me back?... $3. ACE!
Have met some great characters on my travels from Pot smoking Brazilians(and pretty much every surfy dude) right up to a surgeon from Florida. The Surgeon said the place we were staying was the worst place he had been; it was the best hotel i have stayed in, in all of South America...serious. Sam mentioned that we were living on $10 a day (don´t worry, it buys a lot mum) he said he was spending us$10,000 on his 2 week holiday. We met him at Chicama, the long wave, usually you walk out to the point about 1km, then catch waves back to the start(also mega strong current) then walk back to the point again. Not Doc. He hired a private boat to pick him up at the end and drive him back out to point. Nice. haha. Total other end of the scale to the way I am travelling. To be honest, Ill be thankful if i get back to aus with $10 in my pocket. Thats one of the things i love about travelling, the variety of places you visit and the variety of people you meet, from all walks of life, all religious backgrounds, all financial levels etc. Love it.
(Doc also got his surfboard caught in a finshing net. Funny as. Theres some things money can´t buy! Even the Doc couldn´t afford that...haha)
Anyways my quest for sunshine and warm water was off to a rough start. I was supposed to be in ecuador 2 days ago, but am still 10 hours south of the border. I had a ticket up there, then i was waiting for the bus, and it turns out there wasnt even a bus there. The guy a bought a ticket off was about 75, so maybe he had his times mixed up. Anyways second attempt is tonight, im heading up to the border, and Sambo is heading south to cusco. Righto, thats about up to date, so many small cool things have happened, i dont have time to mention the here, but thats a snapshot of what ive been up too in the last few weeks. I shall send a new report from the country of the equator in a couple of weeks. Take care kiddos. andy
posted by andy_b @ 3:13 PM
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