"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost;"
J.R.R Tolkien

Friday, February 8, 2013

Chicama: The longest wave in the world and hairless dogs

Back in 2006, as a travelling nomad, I made the long journey to northern Peru to surf the longest left hander in the world, Chicama. At the time there wasn't much happening in Chicama itself and it was kind of dangerous for whitey’s, so I stayed in Huanchaco, a village an hour or so south. Huanchaco itself had a pretty nice left hand point break and some cool locals.

Out in the surf I started chatting in my broken Spanish to a local surfer, Juan Carlos. After my surf I went around to Juan Carlos’ house, he had some amazing old boards and was more than happy to let me surf them. He was also the proud owner of a traditional Peruvian hairless dog and puppy. They were pretty scabby looking but I really liked them. Apparently the Incas used them as hot water bottles.

I met some other travellers from Byron Bay and we spent a week surfing and partying. One bar in particular had a bunch of instruments and we spent hours jamming with the locals. I surfed Chicama a couple of times, we scored it big and clean on one occasion. Juan Carlos came with us as our local guide and navigated us through the local public transport network which was pretty intense. He even brought surf dvds to watch on the journey. Such a legend and really appreciated a local fella showing around some poor Australian surf bums.

Our man Huanchaco, Juan Carlos

Juan Carlos' Peruvian hairless dog and some of his quiver

Puppy Peruvian hairless dog

Huanchaco town and lineup, pretty good waves

Traditional Peruvian fishing canoes

Spot the Aussie traveller

Juan Carlos hooked us up with some surf films on the bus to Chicama, rest of the bus weren't as impressed

First look at Chicama, dusty lineup

Its a huge lineup, there are two more points around the corner

The 'end' section

Something about thieves will be burned

Another day Chicama, bigger and lining up nicely

Yew

Some bigger ones off first point

Famous Chicama personality El Hombre, he owns the hostel on the point

Post surf tales and beers

Loving life as a surfing nomad