Surfing in Northern Peru - for a month!

Hola!!!!!!!!!!!

Well not really ideal leaving it a month to update this, I have been getting slack on it, and if I don´t do it now, I will leave it for good!

Basically we are having too gooder time to hang around in internet cafes!!! But we still love all of our friends and family of course, so I hope no one has felt neglected.

Righto, so we left you in Pacasmayo, a surf spot where we ended up staying about 5 or 6 days with a bunch of Aussies. The swell finally came in on the 3rd afternoon we were there, just after Rod bought his wetsuit, and to cut a long story short, he caught the longest waves in his life there and absolutely loved it. After one surf when he was in a particularly good mood, I said, "how was your surf babe?" and his reply was that he had the best surf of his life, so that says something, cos he´s been surfing a while now!

Los Faroles, Pacasmayo, Peru

Our whole crew then moved onto another rather isolated spot which is not on the gringo trail, unless you are a half decent surfer. The place was called Lobitos, and we were told to go there by Pete, but he also said that we would probably get robbed by Banditos while we were there! So Steph and I, my girl buddy, were not too keen on the idea of Lobitos, and did a bit of research. It seems that a few years ago there was quite a bit of trouble but now they have quite a bit of military there and things have improved. We also chatted to others that had been there, so decided best we suck it up and take one for our men, after all, it was only going to be a few days of a 5 month trip! So after a nasty overnight bus with really uncomfortable seats we arrived in the town Lobitos. First impressions were not good! It was a big house called ´Nachos´(the name of the guy who ran it) and it was a big house with 10 bedrooms, hammocks out the front, and a shower you would never touch in your life (thank goodness for the outdoor shower). But we were tired and cranky, so after a wee nap, and once the sun came out, the place was actually quite lovely and the people we were with were great! I read a lot, lay in the hammocks a lot, yarned with everyone and we went out for dinners and lunches together. A great 3 or 4 days chillling out. Oh yeah, and the surfing was also some of the best Rod has ever had, and if you have access to his facebook account he has uploaded some photos on there that a pro photographer took of them. The actual beach itself looking out to sea is pretty cool cos it is an old oil rigging town, and there are about 350 oil rigs out at sea, which is a pretty impressive sight!

Rodreigo surfing in Lobitos, Peru

After Lobitos, and lots of relaxing while Rod was surfing (not much else to do in these small towns, not that I am complaining!) we moved onto my choice, a town called Mancora. This is quite a touristy town and is one of the last decent places to stop in Peru before you go to Ecuador. It was the perfect place for me to surf, and I was out there everyday on a long board having a great time! The water also got warm here, something to do with a different current to the one 2 hours down the road believe it or not, so I was in bikini and rash shirt and loving it! We also had a couple of big nights here with our Aussie friends at the Loki (a big touristy and very social hostel). This is also when we said goodbye to Brad, Steph and Mark which was sad because we had been travelling with them for 2-3 weeks!

After an amazing 6 weeks in Peru it is time to move on, we are very sad to say goodbye. Rodreigo is still pining for Lobitos, the surf spot he fell in love with. He and the boys were talking about buying a section, and Rod was talking it up about how he was going to convince the boys to go on a surfing mission in Peru sometime!!! LOL somehow I can´t see the girls approving a 3 week surfing mission in Peru without them!


The thing we loved about Peru was how diverse the place was. The first 3 weeks or so were spent up in the mountains at altitude, and the 2nd half was spent on the coast in gorgeous sunny weather. If someone had 1-2 months they wanted to travel for, somewhere not too expensive and with lots of variety, I would definitely recommend Peru.

In Mancora, we decided we did have the funds to hit Galapagos!!! So after Mancora we caught a bus onto our next country, Ecuador.....