SURF ADVENTURE: Peru Part 1

I just got back from the most incredible travel experience I have ever been on. I went down to Peru with Yvo one of the owners of Punta Tur Eco Surf Camp. I worked with Yvo earlier this year teaching him the tricks of the trade to be a successful surf instructor and he shared his dream with me to start a very unique surf adventure tour in his native country of Peru. He asked if I would be interested in joining him map out some new routes from the ocean to the Andes and teaching a surf clinic down there for the local children.
And this is exactly what we were doing down in Peru this November. This was our pilot trip and with a strong desire to share this kind of experience with others I am sure there will be many more to come. This expedition was truly the adventure of a life time and had all the elements of success. We surfed pristine virgin waves in the middle of nowhere and then traveled high into the Andes to visit ancient ruins of the Cloud People and hidden waterfalls.
After arriving in Lima we met up with Miguel, the videographer of the trip, took an 8 hour bus ride North to be picked up by Juan ( Yvo's business partner and Punta Tur Surf guide) and headed straight to Chicama, the longest left hand wave in the world, to catch the last of a dying swell before even starting the exploratory journey. The waves were only about 4'-6' (Not quite big enough to produce the mile long plus waves that this left hand point is capable of) with the direction of the swell slightly off causing some close out sections. But what can I say, we still got rides over a half of a mile long with the point section creating some very hollow barrels! There were lots of very speedy sections backing off occasionally enough to do some insane cutbacks. The currents are very strong and it is a lot easier to walk back up the beach than try to paddle back out. They were only about another half dozen surfers out there besides us so there was an abundance of waves for everybody. In fact it was so wide open we rarely even saw each other in the line-up! We surfed until dark then headed a couple more hours North arriving in the town of Chiclaymo where we had our base camp, Juan's house, late in the evening and would plan, shop and pack our supplies the following day for who knows what!