Lefts and Raves, Last Days in Peru

Starting where I left off below, we spent an afternoon in Ica, the city next to Huacachina, in a search to satisfy our cravings for Huesos (bones) and ancient junk like rock carvings and artifacts. There was a cool museum said to house a collection of strange carvings called the Ïca Stones¨, said to depict scenes of ancient life, as well as some that are apparently evidence of extraterrestrial influence. That shit always gets me siked, but the museum was closed and we resigned to checking out the other museum that houses an impressive collection of really evil mummies, deformed and trepanned skulls, and other archeological finds in the desert here. There was much.

From Ica, which is close to the Nazca lines (though we opted to skip a flight to see them), we took a long, hot and miserable bus to Cerro Azul, a supposedly long ¨Chicama-like¨left pointbreak that was actually mentioned in the Beach Boys song ¨Surfin´Safari¨. Getting here was actually pretty easy, the bus let us off right on the highway and we dashed across the 2 lane death trap into the nice little port town. We booked our hostal, got suited up and were surfing within that same hour, a pretty awesome feat, and found the wave here to be…amazing.

The take off spot here has a really amazing and distinctive rock formation that looks like an abstract sculpture with a condor perched on it, no lie. The wave breaks right on this thing and reels left into a warbly, gnarly section that straightens itself out and peels nicely into the sandy cove/lagoon before ending right by the pier that probably destroyed the last 100 meter stretch that would have made this spot beyond epic. We got a crowded evening sesh the first night, followed by the most epic session since Chicama the following morning. Really good, glassy, overhead, and shreddable. Elation.

We got our first actual ¨beach day¨incredibly, the skies were blue and the beach was packed with kids. We got some filming in before being shut down by tons of pros in the water, and saw a dog ghoulishly ripping apart a pelican it had apparently caught and mangled. Cerro Azul is a really awesome place I would recommend to anyone, it even has real sand, not the rocks and garbage you find everywhere else here.

That night we were off the Playa de Asia again for what we thought was supposed to be a huge beach party. Actually, it turned out to be a rave, that only begun to get started at about 3 am. We were greeted with green laser beams shooting into space, pumping techno, and outrageously overpriced beer. Our friend Cynthia and her friend met us there, and Luciano, some kind of celebrity DJ, took the stage at about 3 30 to let loose. Everything here was kind of a scam, our VIP bracelets got us nothing but access to a slightly elevated bar where we could spend more money on overpriced beer. At least we got a t-shirt. After about 5 hours of swaying back and forth in a techno zombie stupor, we got out of there and waited at the bus stop for too long as the sun came up. When we finally got back around 7 am, Evan had it in him to to surfing, me not so much. I collapsed until mid day and thoroughly paid the dues.

So today, we decided to check out Huarco, an Inca sea fort built into the seacliffs right behind the town and the surf break. We trudged through the finest dust imaginable, almost like moon dust, and climbed high above the water below. The views were really incredible, and there was a mysterious light house at the top. From there we could see the ruins, which are quite extensive, and made from adobe bricks-not the Inca construction medium of choice. Again, these ruins look like a day old sandcastle and are literally crumbling before your eyes. We could make out sections of wall built in Inca style, though instead of solid dark granite, it was soft adobe mud. This place must have served as a checkpoint or fishery for deliveries of fresh fish to Cuzco, and was probably huge in its day. No bones to be found here, just sand.

Another surf later, and were feeling good. Tonight, we plan on checking out a local circus(!) and it should be interesting. Tomorrow, we plan on heading to Lima and hopefully meeting up with some East Hampton guys who may or not be there, and hanging out until I fly out on monday morning. What a long, strange trip. Last days in Peru feel bittersweet, but Im ready to run back to the lovely embrace of America now…Evan is on his own. Ciao.

South of Lima, the Oasis Beckons

Here we are, south of Lima and its hot as hell and the desert prevails as always. Following my decision to stay another week in Peru, we made our way south on the Panamerican down to Runta Rocas, one of the only known right point breaks in the whole country. We were thirsty for the ocean after a week in rain-soaked, emergency status Cusco and I for one couldnt wait to surf frontside for a change.

Getting to Punta Rocas by expensive taxi, we found a less-than appealing beach stretch with cheap dirty restaurants parked at a reef break that looked mushy and formless. The ¨surf hostal¨we were looking to stay at was booked so we ended up at a hole in the wall place about a mile away. Surfing the break was just as it looked, not the epic right I was anticipating, and getting more and more crowded. We decided to take a look around the corner at Punta Hermosa, a large cove that came highly recommended for surf and what a surprise! Lo and behold our old friend ZOMBIE DOLPHIN from Pacasmayo was there to greet us with the most righteous stench imaginable. He was hanging with his friends ZOMBIE PELICAN and ZOMBIE UNIDENTIFIABLE SEABIRD, a veritable dead animal fiesta right on the top of the point. Not much surf to be had on the other side so we retired for the day and got ready to head to Playa de Asia to check out my friend Felipe´s brothers band, Emergency Blanket, play at an outdoor bar.

Getting there was half the battle, Playa de Asia was way farther then anticipated and blew up like an atomic bomb of light when we got there. We had heard that a couple of years prior a few DJs had moved their club enterprises out into the middle of the desert to be unmolested by anyone else and create a new party scene, the aftermath of their work spawned a huge western style megalopolis in the middle of nowhere with more clubs then vegas. Apparently, this is where all the kids in Lima really came to party on weekends in the summer, and they go hard. The clubs dont close till 6 am, and the scene is nuts.

Emergency Blanket was awesome, they played at a small Jack Daniels brand bar to about 100 people. They play early 90´s inspired alt-grunge in the style of Pearl Jam, STP and Soundgarden (some of my favorite bands) and totally brought the house down. Afterwards, we made our way to a beer brand-sponsored bar above the fray, scored some free shwag, and met some Limeñas who said they could get us into a club with VIP status.

Well, we got in after some time, though I was dressed for a reggae fest and brought extra clothes I had to lug around, loosing my beanie in the process. The club was raging and played some good techno in one room, while the other played some less danceable salsa and rumba I cant dance to. Time slipped by and we made our way out, the club wasnt really all that fun. It was getting light out and we found a bus going back our way, but it took about an hour to fill up and I coudlnt keep my eyes open. Somehow we got back due to Evans diligence and navigation. Thanks Evan.

The next day, after another so so sesh at Punta Rocas, we made our way over to Punta Hermosa and surfed a cool wave breaking off a semi-island called La Isla, and it was a really fun wierd right, the first such on the trip. We met a surfer from Maine of all places, and I shared with him my own Maine surf experience. That was pretty odd all together. Fun waves, but it shut down pretty quick and we were out and off to San Bartolo, a cool little town tucked into a protected cove with more promising waves.

We found a cool hostal and some fun waves breaking between some little jetties, with a mysto right peak off a point called peñascal but it wasnt really working. Another plus was the local skatepark, a total wavey-flow funland for surf style skating. We rented a board and did an exhausting session, with no injuries luckily, amazing how tired you get just pushing around and pumping walls. San Bartolo was a really chilled out little town. The surf started to drop and we decided to make a little trip south to Huacachina, the famous desert Oasis of Ica, and try sandboarding. Why not? Aren´t we just so free…

Huacachina was unreal. It is the stereotypical palm-fringed desert oasis youve only heard about in stories. A tiny little lagoon is positively encircled by massive 300 foot tall sand dunes, and its hot as hell. The main attraction here, other then the resort lounging poolside of yesteryear, is the new-school sport of sandboarding, and every place in town offers a tour. We signed up with our hostal Salvatierra, and joined it with a winery tour.

The winery tour was pretty awesome, we got to see some of the bodegas where Peru´s little known wine is made, along with its more famous alcoholic brethren, Pisco, a brandy-like liquor. The bodegas are all family run and produce alot of the stuff, and we got to sample it all. They make pretty good wine, but the prescence of the neighboring Chilean industry kind of overshadows it. The rose´s were great, anything sweet really, as that is what Peruvians prefer. We got a little buzzed and prepared to hurl ourselves down mountains of sand at 60-plus mph.

The ride out to the desert was really intense. I was trying to take in the scope of this immense, beautiful, alien landscape of huge curving sahara-style dunes while zipping up and down the same at breakneck speed and throttle. We were in rugged 4×4 beasts that just ate the sand, and it was much like a roller coaster as we took insane dips down near vertical slopes and rocketed up the other side into oblivion, ting a couple back breaking jolts as we bottomed out. Apparently, this ride is half the fun of the tour, and I thought we were gonna die at least 5 times.

Sandboarding was a blast, though the equipment kind of sucked. These ¨sand boards¨were little more then old pieces of slick wood with velcro straps, hardly the snoboard inspired shredders we imagined ripping huge carves on. IT just couldnt be accomplished. After a few trial runs standing, and subsequently slowing to a halt or falling, we found that head first was the way to go, as testimony we saw a few lighter waeight people hit about 80 mph down the biggest craziest slopes. Going head first was really fun, and time seemed to almost slow down as your crusing down this sandy mountain into the sandy valley below. We survived, intact, no sand burns, and ripped our way back to Huacachina for some more oasis lounging. This is kinda the life…

More Huacachina action, in part 2 ! And Cerro Azul for more surf… (The internet cafe is closing) Ciao Hombres.

Airlift to Victory!

We are now officially Machu Picchu 2010 survivors. On Friday, January 30th, Evan and I and 8 other stupefied civilians took to the sky in our steel savior, a lightweight Peruvian police chopper, vertically climbing out of our valley prison at about 10,000 feet and making for Cusco, our point of departure.

The day had been tense, exhilirating, and at times boring. We awoke at 4:30 am to get on the line at the train station that we thought would be packed to capacity, however in the suns first light it appeared we had beat the masses of twenty-somethings who were left. Then we waited. For a long time. We knew the choppers wouldn´t start arriving until about 7 or 8, so we settled against our bags and read and enjoyed some free coffee that was being passed around from a kind local. At about 7:30 am I decided to try to find some batteries for my flip cam which was low, and also to try to barter some leftover food we had in exchange for some handicrafts nearby. Fatal error. I returned to a swiftly moving line of kids, pouring through the gate regardless of position on line. Evan was yelling for me and we pushed in but were stopped by guards as we saw a group of about 300 make it to the other side of the chainlink fence for queuing for departure. We had missed a critical chance for getting out, and ultimately lost about 2 hours of time due to my insatiable desire for handcrafted bags and alpaca hair caps. Well no one told us the line wouldnt be a determining factor in getting out.

So we waited a little more, and finally they let in another large group of us, and we were herded onto a PeruRail traincar to wait for further direction. The authorities handed out some snacks in plastic bags, consisting of twinkies, chips, terrible granola bars and a water, but it was better then nothing as we waited in there for another hour or so. I slept it off.

Finally, we were herded off the traincar to go wait some more, this time marching past a really cool hotel set back in the jungle, towards the makeshift helipad further along by the raging riverside. We could see and hear the choppers up close now, and excitement was tangible. Lining up on the jungle path, several US diplomatic police came by to take names and we talked with them casually, glad to speak to an American who had actually come from the other side. It was getting hot as the sun was rising, but the jungle is a fine place to idle your time away waiting for evacuation.

Some curious and frightening jungle bugs would sporadically amble across the path and fall prey to mass human attention, and became our great entertainment. One terrifying insect was about 3 inches long and built like an armored car with a million legs and massively inproportionate mandibles. Some guy tried to pick it up for examination, and it writhed around long enough for us to get a picture and send it on its way. We decided this fellow had never before been documented by science and gave him an apt latin classification name, xyzyrxis maleficarum (complete bullshit). It was the most evil insect I had ever seen next to his demonic hellspawn kin Chaosterium Infernalis, a winged beast that was more bird sized than insect, whom we had met on several occasions in this valley. We decided to create a mythology for these creatures, insisting on the fact that they battled each other daily in the depths of the jungle fo evil supremacy. Soon we began giving all the plants and animals in the forest bullshit latin names and laughing til we cried. These are idle passtimes that befell us as we waited for our freedom.

Another highlight of the jungle waiting was seeing a spectacled bear! For real! It was chilling in a netted enclosure above the trail, seemingly unnoticed until it popped up on its heels to check out all the people, and someone screamed ¨Bear¨! These things are cool, they are endangered, and the only Andean bear species (for that matter, the whole south american continent). It was soon gone, but we got some cool pictures. For what reason this guy was here, if he belonged to the hotel, we didnt know. But imagine a bear attack as icing on the cake of insane jungle airlift operation hazards. This was a trip.

So finally, the moment we had all been waiting for. The line moved and people flew off in choppers, total vietnam style. We watched as the soldiers on the makeshift patch of grass that was the helicopter pad directed Argentine girls to duck from the propeller winds and head for the cabin. We saw what to do. Finally,  it was just about our turn and the last chopper was about to take off when the soldiers motioned for me and Evan and said ¨Two More¨! This meant us, and we were thrown our bags and yanked toward the aircraft in a blur when suddenly another soldier gave the X sign and said ¨No Mas¨! We were yanked back and told to duck down as the chopper shot up in a cyclone of wind and loose leaves. Total Vietnam.

So, after that close insane evacuation drill, we waited for the next one. In the meantime, we were interviewed by an unassuming guy with a camera that turned out to be BBC news. Evan and I related our furious split second dash for freedom to the guy, who definitely wanted us to compare it to a Vietnam airlift. Well he got the footage, and we looked pretty siked to be there right then. Check the link below.

Our steel savior arrived at about 2 pm and we were whisked for the second time into the hold, onto canvas benches cleared of emergency aid seconds before. With 8 other stranded tourists, including two Canadians, we were off as fast we landed and it was completely insane. I had my flip cam running as we lifted above the trees and people waving below, over the raging chocolate river of nightmares and above the soaring Andean peaks. Suddenly, we were above Aguas Calientes and could see the devastation wrought by the river, the months of repairs it was gonna take to get back up on its feet, and townspeople down below who were still going to be there when we had landed in Cusco and were headed home. That was a sad moment.

Looking to our left, Machu Picchu came into view and filled us with awe, as this was the most awesome sight imaginable and a very rare vantage point. Evan got off some pictures and as soon as it was there it was gone behind the peak as we made for the horizon. It was a clear day and pretty much everyones first helicopter ride. The ultimate perk for such a strange and scary national emergency.

The flight to Cusco took about 25 minutes, as we passed over more flooded valleys below and over Ollantaytambo, where most of the tourists were dropped to take buses. Because we had more fuel, this chopper got the go ahead to go right to the airport and land us into a new, different landscape. We touched down and got a few photo op shots in to complete the experience, and then headed for the terminal to check in and be on our way. With little fanfare, some Peruvian aviation authorites greeted us and sent us along. We were now truly free for the first time in days and it was pretty marvelous. We shared a taxi with the Canadians and got back into central Cuzco where we decided to promptly indulge in fast food at Bembos, the Peruvian version of McDonalds. Shameless but great. It was time to relax.

We took a night out downtown and met up with other ¨survivors¨ for drinks at an Irish bar, and preceded to celebrate Operation Success. Discoteques, bars, more fast food, excess, RAIN, and of course sleep. But not for long. We were off the next morning for Lima, our final destination where I was scheduled to depart for home yesterday. Well that plan has changed, Ive decided to spend an extra week here as a ¨Vacation from Vacation¨, and head south below Lima for a little taste of more sun and surf. Our friend Zack is supposed to be here this week and hopefully well meet up, as I get one last hurrah in the Land of No Rain. Hopefully. So the blog is now ä month and a week in Peru¨, and it should be a fun one. Ok, so a little less exciting then the previous posts maybe, but well see what the south has in store. Ciao Hombres.

Here is our BBC clip. 15 seconds of fame!:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8489095.stm

Also, Evan has more pics up at his picasa of our machu picchu adventures and airlift to victory:

http://picasaweb.google.com/EeShoe/Machu#

http://picasaweb.google.com/EeShoe/HeliEscape#