I believe a true adventure writes its own book and the only way to discover what the word means is to get out there and experience it for yourself. I have an absolute passion for travelling and spend most of my hard earned cash to fund my trips around the world. The globe hosts so many different cultures, food, music, people and natural beauty just waiting to be discovered.
Then there is that one thing that brings it all together and gives a greater reason for choosing the next trip. This is something that can only be understood by a handful of people walking on this planet. You think about all the hours of reading about how to get there, following your plan to the “T” while dealing with all the hiccups along the way, then, after driving through the desert for hours, it all comes together in that one moment of supreme joy when you walk over that dune, greeted with the most perfect barrelling empty lefthander you have ever seen in your life. That is when you know being a surfer brings reason to it all.
My latest adventure took me to the amazing country of Peru. It has so much to offer everybody, from the package deal tourist to the small budget backpacker.
From Inca Ruins to some of the longest and most perfect waves on the planet. I organised my whole trip within 5 days shortly after I finished a three month filming contract that paid pretty well. One of my best mates from University (a non surfer, important for later) was in South America, so,I could not resist the temptation to join him for an adventure.
The cheapest flights to Lima would be through Buenos Aires. Air Malaysia flies to Buenos Aires pretty cheap. Once there you have many different options to get to Lima. The best South American Airlines are Taca or Lan. These flights are a bit more expensive than you might think and the total cost from Cape Town to Lima return would work out to around R 12 000.
I ran into a bit of trouble in Buenos Aires airport with my board. They charged me $95 handling fee to get the board to Lima. This is something that cuts quite deep into a budget traveller’s pocket. But hey, I was not going to leave my board with the grease ball mullet behind the check-in counter, so with a lot of pain I handed over the $100 note.
Buenos Aires
After 20 hours of travelling I arrived in Lima and met up with my friend Christoff Krige. He informed me that he had met the love of his live a week earlier in Chili and that they were planning to get on a bus that same evening to Arriquipa (Peru’s second biggest city) far in the south and very far away from the ocean.
Since we were planning to go inland anyway, to do the touristy things and see the world renowned Machu Pitchu, I figured that we might as well do this at the beginning of our trip rather than at the end. Murphy had a little plan up his sleeve, that would come to haunt me a few days later.
So there we were on a bus traveling for 18 hours South to Arequipa, Christoff was smiling, I was just tired, very, very tired. Just before we left I checked the internet and saw that a big swell was hitting Peru in two days and I knew I was going to miss some epic waves, but I would just have to deal with it.
Tourist busses in Peru, as in most of South America are of excellent quality. Your whole seat turns into a bed and they serve meals and show pirated movies the whole night long. Very unlike an Elwierda tour bus in South Africa. We figured that if you travel overnight on these busses, you get your accommodation and food for free and when you wake up you are in a new place. What a bonus! The only drawback comes in the fact that they are not the safest way of travelling.
In the 3 weeks that I spent in Peru there were 5 bus accidents. Even some of the most larney and expensive ones tend to crash. Within one night we passed three accidents! Chilling thought….
Cruz del Sur is the best bus option
As I woke the next morning I got the first glimpse of pure Peruvian glass! The bus was driving through the ongoing Peruvian coastal desert, overlooking wave after wave breaking like a perfect autumn day at Derdesteen. I don’t even want to know how many empty perfect waves roll by, day by day along this coast, but we were heading inland and I had to put the thought of surfing out of my head for a week and become a regular tourist.
Ariquipa
We spent one night in Arequipa, Peru’s second largest city. We ate alpaca meat, quite tasty and cheap and had our first cervesa (beer) of the trip. It came out in 1 litre jugs so the rest of the afternoon I floated through town. We saw a 500 hundred-year-old frozen Inca mummy called Juanita; I’m still convinced she gave me a little stare. It was interesting, but very creepy.
Floating Islands on Lake Titicaca
The next morning we were on a bus to Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, one of the highest lakes in the world sitting at 3858 meters above sea level. It takes your breath away!
Since we took a bus here we acclimatized on the way up, but flying in can give you some problems with altitude sickness. The locals chew cocoa leaves and believe that it helps prevent the sickness. It has become quite a touristy thing to do and you see hoards of travelers walking around with green leaves sticking out of their mouths.
I went to bed early since I hadn’t had a proper rest after my flight. I dreamt of carving up empty walls the whole evening. And rightfully so, 2000 Km north people could not sleep as a result of the noise of the waves running endlessly along the point in Chicama.
I was missing the swell of the year…
I woke up feeling much better after mind surfing the whole night. We said goodbye to the girls who were heading into Bolivia. It’s really easy getting to Bolivia from here.
But with the ‘groen mamba’ (our legendary RSA passport) you have to pay $100 for a visa. Something neither Christoff or my budget allowed.
So we hopped on a boat and explored Lake Titicaca. One of the most impressive sights of my whole trip (except for the photo’s of the waves I missed), were the floating Islands.
These islands constructed out of reeds, houses over a thousand permanent residents. It was originally build when the local tribe was driven from their land and they decided to find refuge on the water.
There are many floating islands each housing around 5 families, with their dogs. They fish from the lake and sell souvenirs to tourists to make money to buy fresh food from town.
This is something to see for sure. We visited some more islands and had a fantastic meal with an extraordinary view of the lake, before heading back to Puno, with the full moon rising over the lake, sheer magic!
Cusco
Later that evening we hopped on a bus to Cusco. Cusco is tourist central and perfect base to visit Peru’s biggest tourist attraction, the famous Inca town Machu Pitchu.
Cusco used to be the Inca capital and the amount of ruins and original structures in this town is truly amazing. Mixed with all the Churches the Spanish build it is one of the prettiest towns in South America. From Inca capital to party capital. If you are into having a few dops this is the place to be.
Take it easy on your first night though, as you are still very high above sea level and it is quite a shock to the system.
Christoff and I ended up in the Mandela lounge, a very random South African restaurant/bar owned by an Argentine living in Peru, strange… It happened to be on Madiba`s 90th and we got some serious discount after flaunting the `groen mamba`.
We sang Nkosi Sikele with the local band and left the place like heroes!
Machu Pitchu
If you didn’t reserve 3 months in advance to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu you will have to make your way to Agus Caliente to visit the spectacular site.
Leaving from Cusco you have two possibilities to get to Agus Caliente, the town at the foot of Machu Picchu. You can either get on a train straight from Cusco, it takes about 3hours or you can take a taxi to Ollantaytambo and get on the train from there. This will save you about 2 hours and $20.
We opted for the latter and had a tour of the Incas sacred valley before getting on the train to Agus Caliente. The train is quite fancy and offers a very enjoyable ride through the forest surrounded by massive cliff faces on both sides.
Agus Caliente itself is very plastic and has a bit of an American theme park feel to it. From there you can hike up to Machu Picchu, which takes about an hour, or buy a ticket for a bus. Make sure you buy this ticket the night before and get up at 5 so you can see the sunrise from the top. This place is loaded with tourists, but the magic of the sight makes you forget about the hoards of people around you. There is a second mountain to climb called Wanu Picchu, giving incredible 360 degree views of the area.
They only let 400 people on this path per day, so make sure you are first in line, to avoid disappointment. We spent the whole day at Machu Picchu before running down the mountain in record time, for a reason not yet all that clear to me, but it was loads of fun!
The next day I woke up with a missive smile on my face.
We had finished all the touristy stuff and were heading up the coast!
We took a flight back to Lima from Cusco, and went straight to the bus station to get on a bus north to a place called Trujillo.
Huachuca
After a 10-hour bus ride, we got a taxi to Huachuca, the first place I would get in the water. The town is supposed to be one of Peru’s best beach towns but this is quite an insult to any beach town around the globe. Like the rest of the coast everything is very grey and if I wasn’t a surfer, I would be pretty bummed ending up anywhere along the coast. The waves, on the other hand are definitely something to get excited about!
Huachuca is not the best wave in Peru, but it picks up a lot of swell and offers a very decent left hand point break that runs along the beach. It gives you quite a number of solid sections to hit and runs for a good 300m. I was just so stoked to get in the water. My first wave was a bomb. Solid 4ft and it just kept on running and I knew this was going to a great two weeks of surfing! This was also the first place I got to meet the Peruvian current. The current down the point at most of the spots north of Lima is so strong that paddling back is not really an option. Run arounds are the order of the day, and ends up taking way less time and saving loads of energy. I ended up surfing for about 3 hours before I started feeling alone surfing all by myself for so long and went out to take some pics. Session one, great success!
That night we met a fellow SA traveler named Giorgio on his way to Equador, who joined up with us.
The next morning we were in a chartered surf van on our way to the famous Chicama!
Chicama
Chicama is about 45min north of Huachuca. The first glimpse of the point is something I will never forget. The point is about 1 and half times the length from Bone Yards to the end of Surfers Point at Jbay. The difference being that once the swell starts pouring in it runs all the way through on every wave.
There are no un-makeable sections, it just keeps running like a machine. It’s unbelievable, the current is ridiculously strong though and paddling back after a wave is not an option. You have to make the 15minute walk around. It takes quite a big swell to work properly and does not happen that frequently. We got it at about 2ft with a few 3ft waves on the outside sets.
I walked all the way up the point to the top section called the Cave and surfed wave after wave down the point for over 2km. After a wave you simply paddle into the next one and keep surfing down the point.
After about a 3hour session I went for lunch and it was there that I saw the pictures of the 6ft Chicama I missed the previous week. A feeling of nausea overcame me, but I will go back to get it when its’ on. During my second session I got a few more and came out in the dark.
We stayed in a place called El Hombre and I’d recommend it to anybody who travels here. It is very reasonable and has a perfect view of the point.
Pacasmayo
I got up with first light the next morning, but the swell was completely gone. We caught a bus to the next town on the map called Paccasmayo. Driving with your own transport, Pacasmayo is probably about 25min from Chicama, but traveling with local transport it takes about 1 and a half hours changing busses and grabbing taxis.
We ended up in a place called El Faro surf camp. This is a little piece of paradise in the middle of a town that reminds me a bit of a documentary I saw about Liberia.
The actual wave is about 20minutes walk or 10 minutes taxi ride from the town. It is truly world class. It picks up way more swell than Chicama and on the right day it ends up being longer than Chicama. I had a few waves that with out a doubt were the longest waves of my life. It can get quite windy, but for some reason it does not affect the wave face.
The wave’s shape is very similar to the inside section at Elands, just much, much longer. We stayed there for 5 days. I started feeling a little lonely, surfing by myself all the time again. Since the waves are bit heavy, my two mates never made it to the backline and I was surfing by myself the whole time. When there was somebody else in the water they only spoke Spanish, which made a conversation quite difficult. I ended up spending hours with only my own thoughts. I realized that I am definitely no Tom Curren, since I really missed somebody in the water hooting on one or two of my backhand hooks. Surfing alone is like dinking a beer by yourself. It is not about the beer, it’s about the company. Never the less, it just highlights the perfection of the place, if the only thing I can complain about is the fact that I had to surf alone.
Travelling here on a surf trip with a bunch of surf buddies is highly, highly recommended! It is a great place to get world-class waves everyday and when it gets too big, you head to Chicama 30 min away. Pacasmayo is also a world-class kite-surfing spot. There is a second reef down the point where the wind hits more cross-shore. It offers a seriously good wave riding setup. So if you are a surfer/kiter type, this will be heaven.
Labitos Northern Peru
After having 5 days of the best waves of my life, Christoff and I were on our way back, 12hours south to Lima. We said cheers to Giorgio, who got on a bus north to Mancora. It was the end of a public holiday and all the busses back to Lima were full. We decided to follow Giorgio and got on a 10hour bus north to Mancora, 20 hours form where we actually wanted to go. It’s all part of the adventure. We ended up getting a faster connection in Chiclayo and arrived in Mancora before Giorgio. When he arrived there the next day he almost fell down laughing when we bumped into him on the street.
Mancora is the premiere beach party town of Peru. It’s way different to anywhere else on the coast. It has one main street with pubs and clubs, crowded by backpackers and locals having fun. The actual beach is packed with sunbathers and little gazebo restaurants. From October to May the north swells hit Peru and the north coast starts firing. Mancora has a pretty decent wave during this season, but it gets chronically over crowded! Cabo Blanco is probably the best spot during the north swell season. It’s very powerful and “gooi’s” ! About 45 minutes south of Mancora you’ll find Labitos. We did not go there, but I saw some pics and it is another world-class wave that offers some serious barrels during the south swell season.
Lima
After having fun for 2 days in Macora, we got on a 20-hour bus back to Lima. We met a random guy in the street in Pacasmayo who said we could come and stay at his house when we got back to the capital. He offered to take me surfing south of Lima, so we took him up on his invitation. There we were in a mansion in Lima, Alexander who invited us left a message that he would be working till late and we should just make ourselves at home. It was quite an eye opener to be back in civilization. It was almost like spending a week in a township and then going back to your own little bubble. Travelling is a real eye opener.
The next day Alexander took us surfing. There are so many spots around Lima it’s mad. Comparing waves around Lima to waves up north is like comparing Cape Town to the East Coast. Lima is very consistent and there is always a wave to surf, but it is much more wild and not as clean and perfect as the waves up north. 20 Minutes south of Lima is a town called Punta Hermosa. This is a great place to base your self. There are about 5 very good waves all in walking distance from one another. All the waves are quite meaty and this is actually a good place to come and get used to the vibe in the water before heading up north and enjoying sheer perfection. You are almost guaranteed waves everyday. Whereas almost all the waves up north are lefts, around and south of Lima most of the waves are rights. We had a really good session at a place called Punta Rocas. The wave reminded me alot of Yo-Yo’s at Lamberts bay.
Our time in Peru had run out and it was time to face reality again. I ended up selling my board for $200, because I was not going to pay the $95 to fly it back to SA. It ended up being quite a good deal.
So here I’m sitting on the plane, thinking back on three weeks of adventure. The people you meet, the places you stay, the music you hear, the transportation you use, the decisions you make and the waves you ride. All these things are the ingredients to adventure. My mission is not to make my adventure yours but rather to get you out there defining the word adventure for yourself.
