Its all about the kids..

I have been working at the same school now for 3 weeks called "Alto Trujillo". My Spanish is still far from pass-able, but I have a great connection with the kids and I love getting out of bed everyday. Its almost as if I'm starting each day as if on purpose. I teach them basic sounds, writing and maths. This has been a great help to my Spanish, English and sounds and I reckon if they don't get all the benifit, at least they have a load of fun laughing at my Spanish and crazy Zimbabwean antics. Naa, they're coming on nicely and its pretty rewarding teaching a "nino" how to write. One interesting story happen in school the other day. I was helping a little girl, Alexandra, learn how to write. She would continuously write numbers backwards and start letters from the opposite side to normal. Alexandra had been trying to write the number 1 for 4 hours. I noticed she was using her left hand. I also noticed that her mate next door, who was far more advanced than her, was also left handed. So I had a bright spark. I threw her a ball and told her to throw it at me. She instinctively did this with her right hand. So I decided that she had chosen her left hand not because she was left handed but because her friend had. So I decided to make her write with her right hand. Within an hour she could write the numbers 1 to 4. The school is very basic and as you can see the area is no Camps Bay, but it has character and lots of it.

Changing my surname..

I met a local guy on the beach who had an awesome hat made of coconut. With my new found love of these fruits I had to get it. Since the purchase, I have been likened on many different ocassions to a well known character in many Charles Dicken books (I think), called "Tom Sawyer". I've grown rather attached to the hat and it now goes most places with me. Hope you like my Peruvian pants too super comfortable.

The true multi-cultural surf team hits Lobitos

So if you going to make some surf buddies, wheres the best place go? Backline of course. It is here we managed to gather the first multi-cultural surf group from the four western continents (USA, South American, European & Africa) . Marc is from Oregon, Christen from Austria and Walter is the local dude. We were looking for a less crowded place. This turned out to be a place called Lobitos. It has five world class breaks surrounded by a ghost town. The team rose before the sun, made our way through the remains of the beach party upto the departure point outside the only surfshop in town. The sun rose as we were driving through the desert along the coast. We spotted a couple of guilas and sojos (eagle and desert fox) but otherwise it was very barren. The ruggedness and stillness made the road trip on its own a very cool experience and one I will not forget. The guru from South America, hit one of the most hectic barrels I have ever wittnessed, while the less experienced headed for a secret spot on some Military Land to the south of this. Before we could get in the water though we needed to obtain permission from the commando captain, which I found pretty funny and daunting. The early morning rise and run in with the Peruvian Military turned out to pay dividends though, as we shared the waves with the fish and birds. It was all we could have hoped for although we are still getting rid of some cobweds in out techniques and may not have done the olas as much justice as they deserved. The next trip is to the holy grail of spots Chicama. I'm nervous with excitement already.

Mancora - becareful you might not leave.

Mancora has an awesome viby beach, a pretty tourist main street and backed by the 3rd world Peru we are getting to know so well. The tourist bit is not like the norm though. Its full of very unique restaurants, street stores and fruit markets. All manned by a very friendly bunch, but learn Spanish before you go. We stayed at Luguna camp owned by a surfer Migueal. Very chilled atmosphere with hammocks, the beach and nothing but the sound of the ocean to disturb your sleep.Its a place where you go and may never leave. The wave is cool but its pretty packed. We were in the water at 8pm with the full moon, as apparently no-one here believes in sharks. Stick with the local knowledge I say, or just make sure you can paddle faster than the guy next to you.

Getting into the customs and hanging with the locals

Before hitting the waves, it is custom to pay homage to the wave gods (Kon-Olas) This is so you go with their blessing and don't end up being fish food. We then headed to Huanchaco. But first we needed to go on a little rec-ie to locate some: boards for the Europeans: some transport to get to the playa; and some chow for fuel against the olas.

Did the Peruvians discover surfing...our Tortora experience.

Just outside Trujillo, in a little town on the Pacific coast of Peru called Huanchaco, the fishermen of the village have been going out every morning in a canoe type craft called tortoras for thousands of years. These are made of reeds and have an upward front to make the fisherman's outward journey easier over the shore break. The paddle is made of a bamboo pole cut in half. This and the heavy weight of the water logged reeds makes the tortora craft a tough one to maneuver in the breaking waves. Needless to say Peaks and co. had to give it a bash and I'm happy to say I didn't let the Gringo's down until the ride back. But my efforts were overshadowed by a mate (Alex) who got caught in the current and ended up 200 meters down the beach, so we had a long drag/stumble/walk back to the starting point with chuckles from the crowds of locals on the pier.

A first glance of the Pacific

Even though it looks pretty much the same as any other ocean, it is quite special in my mind to be gazing upon this one now. Maybe its just being very far from everyone and everything that you know so well or just being on the other side of the world that makes it special.

However after enough sun set appreciation and after an exciting taxi ride into the centre of Lima, where my lack of Spanish became somewhat of a problem I found myself in a spot of bother. I ended up standing in place you don't want to stand, at a time you shouldn't be standing there, where characters you don't want to meet appear round every corner. However finally without incident, I managed to secure a ticket on a bus to Trujillo, home of Chan Chan one of the larger of the Inca ruins. It is not that well known for good reason. Its built from sand in a desert, so over time it has returned to its origins, the desert. They are rebuilding it now but it kind of losses its ancient feel with the newly sculpted sand castle vibe. However if one does decide to visit it, I highly recommend the "Laurel and Hardy tour guide franchise", i.e. the duo of Alex and Frank. They were kind enough to further our party's knowledge of the ancients with such facts as this:

"The main court square was not as we all believed, for religious or royal ceremonies, but was in fact where the Incas practised the ancient sport of "ultimate Frisbee". Apparently this sport died with the Incas as no current local Peruvian has ever hear of a Frisbee."

On the Canal in Panama

I think most can imagine what this is like. Surrounded by numerous, exceptionally large ships and even larger scarier Spanish sailors. The entry into the canal from the Atlantic side is through a town called Colon. I have no idea who named it, or whether they knew the meaning of the Ingless word, but its rather fitting. You are given strict advice not to walk anywhere and catch a taxi even if you are only going 200 metres down the road.The equivalent of a Cape Town taxi is not the small combi VW we all know, but are large old Amercian school buses. Thats no the funny part though, its how they are decorated that is. If you don't seem them coming because of the brightly coloured cartoon characters spray painted along the side, you'll definitely hear the music then. I think one of the speakers costs more than the entire bus.