Cuzco

Day 9:

Today Was my first day in Cuzco and all I have to say is amazing. This city is beautiful it is almost totally built out of stones and mud. I spent the whole day walking all over town talking photos and seeing the sites. I took over 100 photos but I cant decide what to post so you are only getting this one to start with.

Tomorrow I go to Machu Picchu!!!

Last Night In Chicama

Day 8:

Today was the last day at the surf resort. I am a little sad to go only because surfline is saying the swell that is showing up late saturday is going to be the biggest Chicama has seen in 3 years. But none the less I am still stoked because I am on my way to Cuzco for 2 day well 2 and half if you count the day I go home. But back to Chicama being it was the last day I had to surf as much as I could. The day started out with a quick drive to Puemape.

(Me, Pete and Forest in the van on the way to Puemape)

(Waiting to see if Puemape is going to be any good.)

Its the same place we surf the first day I got here. It should have been bigger but the tide was super high here so I was a very long wait between sets. So we quick jumped back in the car and raced back to Chicama.

(Board in the car on the way back to the hotel. You travel the Pan every time we go check a new place.

This road runs from Mexico all the way to Chile)

As luck would have it when you in a hurry you will get pulled over by the cops. Now let me explain how this happened. We were not speeding or doing anything bad. What we had going against us was the 12 surfboards on top of the car when the police see that they see MONEY. So they pulled us over gave us crap said we had too much stuff on top of the car that people were not wearing their seat belts. They were going to give us a ticket unless we paid them $300 Solas ($110 US) This really pissed off the camp director he said no you take us to jail then. That made the cop change his amount to only $40 Solas ($14 US) just enough for him to get lunch as it was around that time. Anyways we made it back to the resort with lots of time we had a quick lunch poolside then headed out for what would be my last session. It was about head high on the sets. On my second to last wave I scored the bomb out the back and got a little barrel I was amped.

The night ended early with a great dinner and a slide show of photos from the whole week.

This trip has been amazing so far I cant wait for the next leg in Cuzco.

Nose Riding

Day 7:

Tonights post comes to you from the Hot Tub.

Today was a great day as you can tell from the smile on my face. To we stayed here at the resort and surfed Chicama. It was about 4 foot and was looking really fun. I decided to take one of the resorts longboards out today. This turned out to be a great choice. I got some really really long rides. But this was not all I wanted to have some fun so I challenged myself to learn how to nose ride. And I am pleased to announce that I may not be pro at it but I can now say that I can nose ride. I never got all ten piggies over the edge but I did get five, and I did get a good 30 to 50 yard ride standing on the nose going down the line. I was super stoked. I wish I had a photo to show you but the photographer is slammed getting photos ready for tomorrows slide show of the trip. Tomorrow we are going back to Mummies to surf and to take the tour of the temple. Its going to be a great day.

Chill Day

Day 6:

Today was a super mellow day. I woke up around 7 check the surf from my balcony, it looked small but kind of fun.

Around 7:30 I headed over the the dinning room for some Bacon and Eggs with some wheat toast. After that I went down stairs to the boardroom, got suited up, grabbed my board and started the mile and a half walk to the point.

I ended up surfing for about 30 mins by myself out at Chicama the sets were about chest high. It was fun until the rest of the crew showed up and then it got a little to crowded for how small it was. After I paddled/drifted back from the point. I decided it was going to be a relax day. I started with the hot tub for about an hour.

After that it was off to the gym for a light work out and some light Yoga.

Next I used the steam rooms that are so amazing here I would have to say best steam rooms I have ever been in. Last thing was to get a hot rock massage for about an hour.

It was a perfect day all this happened before 1 and I spent the rest of the day napping in my room and listening to the waves. This place is a perfect location for some much needed R and R.

Mummy Beach

Day 5:

Today we took off to "Witches". Well that was the plan. It was another beach/point break about an hour away. It is also home of the architectural dig site "Huaca Cortada and Huaca Cao Viejo". This place was discovered in 1990 and has been dated to any where between 1 and 600 A.D.. It was kind of crazy to stand there and know that these people had running water and knew how to build stuff this big and more important how to make it last.

This photo is taken from about 6 miles away and you can just see how big these things are. The one in the front is Huaca Cortada. They have not even yet started to unearth this one.

As it turned out the surf was not to good here so we headed about an hour up the beach. We found this sweet little beach break, that at first looked really bad. But we still paddled out and turned out to have a great time. It turned out that we may have been the first people to ever surf here, at least that's what the local told us. So as it goes we had to name it, being that there are two architectural pyramids here one that has not even been unearthed yet we decided to call it MUMMY Beach. I had a really good time and really hope we go back.

New and Old

Day 4:

Day four was spent surfing back in Trujillo at a beach break and hanging out in town. The beach break was fun and as alway no one out. I was the first in the water again only cause I was amped to surf a beach break and go right. Little did I notice that even though this was a beach break it was really a point break and was mainly lefts. The Rights were against the grain and were quick and short one or two pumps then a crack off the top on the section or an air. But none the less still had a great time.

After the surf I went for a walk through town.

Local Church

Taxi

Tat any one

Cool door

Urban

Peru is so artistic I cant stop taking photos. After I was done touring the town I had lunch on the patio of this cool place right on the beach.

Lamb, Egg, Rice, Fries, Bacon and Fried Banana

Next on the list was to try my hand at surfing the "Caballitos" or reed boats. It was way harder then anything I have ever done in my life that I can remember. I have a true respect for the fishermen here who still use these daily.

Sunday Lay Day

Day 3: Sunday

Too day was my lay day I didn't surf. I just took it mellow and hung out. Everyone walked to the cape today its about a 2 mile walk from the resort. Since I didn't surf today I offered to snap some photos for the photographer so her could get a surf in and so he could also have a shot of him surfing here. The cape is super cool you can get 600 yard long rides here. You start way up behind that last pointy rock, and come all the way down past the big rock in the foreground.

Up on the hill is what we are calling the great wall of Peru.

The locals built it for birds to perch on and crap all over. Then they would come and harvest it and use it as fertilizer. Well as all good free things go in life the government found out about it, came in and took over the land and do the same thing now and charge people for it. Tomorrow we are heading south to a new wave suppose to be a little more skaty and punchy.

Everyones Burnt

Day 2:

Today was a hard day. I started the day with a wake up call at 9am saying cars leaving. So I grabbed my board my suit and off I went (with out breakfast). We pulled up to Puemape a great left hand point break. It is in a ghost town that was washed out by the ocean. It was about 8 foot kind of fat and no one out.

(Yellow line was my longest left ever photo below is from the ride)

So I don't know how it happen but some how I was the first in the water. Let me tell you about how this went down. So you have to jump off a rock to get in here (or) paddle about 400 yes hundred yard from the beach in the bay around the rocks. Well me being the genius that I am didn't really watch the sets and what I thought was a break in the sets wasn't. So I had a fun time getting out the back. The placed turned out to be fun had a really strong current so you spent most of the time paddling to stay in position. But I will have to say that I did get a good one about 400 years did about 8 turns. This is truly the land of lefts here.

After we surfed we went more north to the town of Pacasmayo to have lunch. The town has a another great surf spot really big with kite surfers. After lunch we were hanging around looking at sites and taking some photos when this little old lady asked us if we could help her move something. We said sure and followed her, as she lead us into a church. Thinking we would have to move some benches or tables turned out to be a 9 foot tall Virgin Mary shrine.

It took 8 of us to carry it out the church down 3 stairs then up four stairs and into the back of a pick up truck. It turned out to be very funny and ended with a round of applause. All we could say was we are going to get great karma from this. As for the title of this post "Everyones Burnt" thats because when we left it looked like rain and no one put on sun screen so we all have red faces now.

A Long Day

To was a very long day.

But I have made it safe and sound to my bed. Let me give you the run down of how the day went.

Thursday:

Departed for LAX at 9:30 pm. Still not sure why I did this. I have been on 3 international trips and I am 3 for 3 with checking in and getting through security with in 30 min. not 2 hours like they say you need. Since Check in went so fast I decided to leave the airport and walk and get some food and kill some time. When I got to the X-ray machine I was the second person in line to get one of these full body scans. But nope lucked out of that also and only had to do the walk through one.

Friday:

1:30 am plane leaves LA headed for my first stop in El Salvador. Things went good, got some sleep until the sun came up. The guy across from me didnt put down the shade only until after I got up, got my carry one and put on my sunglasses. After that it was back to sleep. In El Salvador I changed planes and was off to Lima, Peru. Now here is where things get fun. Once I land in Peru I have a 9 hour lay over in Lima before getting my last flight up north. So I have time to walk around and see some stuff. Originally I was going to try to get picked up by a friend and get out and see the city, but our schedules didnt work out. So when I was just sitting around in the food court area, an older man approached me and ask where I was heading or coming from. He ended up being from Canada and has always wanted to try surfing. After talking to him for about 30 mins. I found out he had just came from Machu Picchu and he was so nice and gave me a bus pass that he had not used that will end up saving me thirty dollars.

Next I saw another loan surfer by himself so I walked over and asked if he wanted someone to talk to. He turned out to be from Brazil and had been in Peru for 20 days already. He was on his way home. He didnt speak that good of english and I dont speak a word of Portuguese. But we did both speak surfer. We sat and talked for 3 hours about surf spots and waves and where we had been. We traded info and if I am ever in Brazil I now have a floor to sleep on.

Finally came the time to check in for the last leg of my trip. When I got to the gate they informed me that they dont take surfboards on there planes. I asked why not you had brought it this far. They were nice and booked me on another flight and up graded me to business class. After a quick flight up north it was into a van for an hour drive to the resort. And now its off to bed to be rested for the first day of surfing. Swell is solid 6 foot. Here are some photos of my room.

Stay posted for more as the trip rolls on.

Land of the Incas

If you didnt know you do now. On friday at one a.m. I flight out to the only country that has everything.

Peru is my next surfing trip location.

I am heading to the worlds longest left hander.

Chicama

On any given day you can get a ride that will take you a mile down the beach.

But this trip has more then just surfing in store for me. While I am there I will be visiting 2 ancient temples. One being The Temple of the Sun and Moon.

And the second being one of the seven wonders of the world

Machu Picchu.

Besides going for the surfing I am most excited to go here. I will be taking a train to Machu Picchu, here is what my train looks like. The views and the photos are going to be amazing.

Well I dont want to spoil to much of my future blogs but just know this I am amping on this trip and it cant come soon enough.

Check back all next week for daily updates.

I will be back on the 1st

Back To The Roots

A long time ago a sport of Kings was crafted in the warm waters of the hawaiian islands and it was called he'e nalu or surfing.

These were the days when a surfboard was made from just a plank of wood.

Well after my trip to Indo and watching first hand my friend Rasta surf one of these, and then giving it a try myself. I was hooked and needed one myself.

When I got back to the mainland I started looking into them. I was not happy with what I found. These planks of wood run about $200 to $300. I was like hell no I can pay that much thats what a modern day board cost. Then I said to myself well Troy you always wanted to shape your own board, here is a perfect opportunity. So with that I was set to do it and here is a little story of my journey of the making of my

ALAIA

First thing was to get my hands on the wood. After research and talking to some people that I know who also make them I went with some pine. $20 was about the cost of the three pieces of wood.

Next was to prepare the wood. I used a jointer to get the side nice and flat. After that I put a grove in the sides so I could make a tongue and groove joint. This would help make the wood more strong. Next was to glue it all together. I let it sit for 3 days to make sure the glue was all the way dry.

Next was to draw my shape. I decided since this was my first one I was going to go simple and true to form or the original ones.

After I had the shape I cut it out using a band saw. Then it was off to shaping it. I used a router to get a nice round rail start. Then I used a hand grinder to shape the concave in the bottom and the curve of the nose. After all that I took to it with a sander (electric and hand powered) to get it all smooth and do the more fine tuning elements.

Last was to sign and seal it so I wont take on water and swell and break. You may ask why sign. Well a surfboard is a piece of art if you think about it. They are all 100% hand made and artist always sign their art. So that why we shapers sign our boards. When I look back I wish I would have numbered it also.

So here is the finished product $30 and two weeks later. I took it out today at newport. Its always funny when you bring something new to the beach. People want to see it and talk to you about it. Today was not the greatest day to use it mainly because it was mainly lefts and with alaia's it always easier to ride them front side or facing the wave so that would mean I go right. But I still had fun, noticed some things I would change on my next one. And yes there will be another one or two or three.

I would like to last add this little insight about me.

"It has been said that we are living asleep, only dreaming we are awake. With surfing I get the feeling of being awake. Surfing is my great escape from the world and into the world. It helps keep me balanced and in-tuned with my body and mind. I will never stop surfing"