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.
