Peru

        All this for 5 soles ( $A1.80)

Life in Peru - it is a hectic, ancient, unique, enchanting and desperate place. On arrival I was hit in the face by the hot desert wind and squalls of dust coating everything. I was in Lima for a quick surf ( which turned out to be really fun) then I was jetting up North my destination for the next couple of months. Leaving Lima I saw many hills covered by depressing, dusty, arid slums - apparently the result of when TV was introduced in the 50s - thousands migrated down from the Sierra and Amazonian regions chasing lives they saw on the box. Many of these communities are still without basic infrastructure (electricity and water) - and driving through them really makes your ponder.

 In the took - took heading to the volunteer ramp

 The poor sleepy community out the back of the tourist hub of Huanchaco

I´m now set up in the fishing and surfing town of Huanchaco. Huanchaco has a really Mexican vibe on the streets with bodegas on every corner playing regaeton and a really laid back vibe. Every morning I do my educational prac in the hectic little city of Trujillo 30 minutes away. It's a public boys school of 2 000 kids - where I help out with the English classes. It's such a crazy experience having 35 Peruvian groms screaming and fighting in front of you - but as a class clown myself - I get on their level and enjoy the challenge.
The kids are from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds though the real elitists go to schools like the British international school. I'm teaching in these temporary campuses as the main campus is under construction. It's real basic, there is no electricity and if teachers give out worksheets for example - the make the students pay for the photocopies.

It's great to see some of the groms frothing on skating up at the volunteer ramp

The volunteer ramp

The view from the huge church on the hill

Coming home from work I'm either surfing really long lefts, just cruising on the pushbike around town visiting or volunteering up at the skate ramp in the poor community. The town is full of amazing seafood dishes and for less the $2 you can get a fresh juice, an entre and a delicious meal of rice, fish, and sauced up vegies - I don´t understand how they cut a profit!

Easter mass on the street in Lima

NYL - New York Latina

Suenas no cuesta NADA!!!

Leo y Negro!

A really nice part of Recoletta

Apartment living...

Mate

Fruit salad

...And the Beast

Beauty...

Montevideo

You can find anything in an Uruguayan deli...

My other family...

Maria Catalina

The last couple of weeks in Uruguay were pretty awesome, Cata´s family came up for a week - meaning mate on the beach, asados everynight and plenty of dinner table laughs and loud disputes. I was lucky enough to score a secret spot I had been scoping, absolutely pumping and tubing with only one lad out! There was this super consistent left that could reele down the beach grinding and sneezing the whole way. The water was warm and crystal clear - it made all the average sessions dissapear from memory. There was a sick vibe in the water and me and the bearded local were hooting each other into every bomb. We talked a lot about surfing Latin America - and I wasn't surprised to hear that the last Australians he surfed with - ended up in a fight. Apparently they claimed control of a known point break in Mexico as they had "invested money in land there" - bullshit...
I hadn´t organised a lift back and hitchiking failed soI ended up walking almost 10k´s in the hot sun back to the bus stop. I just had enough change to buy some food - though I decided to reward myself with an ice cold cerveza instead, and the guy cut me a discount so I had enough for the bus!

We also cruised up to Punta Del Diablo and scored super fun waves with incredible backdrops similar to remote Western Australia. We spent an afternoon at this incredible 17th century fort built to defend Brazillian conquistadores. On the way back to BA we hung out with some of the hostel crew in their home city of Montevideo. They were really warm and generous and even gave us a full Uruguayo flag to take home. At Cobra´s house, they cooked us another tremendous Uruguayo Asado - in which I tried a few new additions, including intestines with lime.

Salted meat and wine heaven...

Montevideo is smaller and more manageable than Buenos Aires and opens up to a beautiful beach front where many people gather to swim, kick the football and of course - drink mate. We arrived back in Buenos Aires with a really warm feeling of Uruguay, and I felt like I really got to know the heart and sole of the place.

Back in Buenos Aires I started getting into my distance uni course while going on city missions with Cata and skating at night with Marcos (her little brother). I started going daily to a skate park in Nuñes and met really cool crew from Columbia, Venezuela, USA and Buenos Aires. I eventually shaved my head to not look so obvious - as the possibility of getting robbed seems to around every corner! recently though - I really started feeling comfortable geting around and doing things on my own in this ghetto ass urban metropolis...

La Pedrera Uruguay

Cata and her almost finished board

grovelling

beach burger shack

navigating windswell

arvo session with the lads

carnaval carnage

Cata y Den

tent city

some of the protests (taken from http://rochaaldia.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html)

surf check a a secret spot ssshhhh

humble abode

some of the locals checking the lineup

Brazilian influence

asado froth fest

bar and chopping board

Dave and the delicious national food of Uruguay - Chivitos

In 5 days Cata and myself will be able to mark off one blissful month in Uruguay and the longest time we have spent living in a tent. We have made great mates with the local lads running the hostel and a big group of other Argentinos and Chileanos .
The event of Carnival was massive in the small town of La Pedrera. Thousands of partygoers from all over South America converged and crammed the streets at night all sporting crazy costumes. The streets were lined with makeshift bars offering Caiparihnas and sporting blow up pools brimming with ice cold beer.
Tragically though, the event was blamed for the deaths of two young residents; one hit by a car and the other unknown. I was alerted to this news when walking to the shopping centre to find the street blocked by locals beating drums, burning tyres and holding signs saying " violence, death and disorder in our town". I felt sorry for the locals as it seemed like they were busy for days after the event cleaning all the rubbish and dodging shanty style groups of tents everywhere.

Our little hostel was a bit hectic as our beds and clothes were saturated by the rain and every covered space was full of snoring bodies and rescued bags. Every night the kitchen was jam packed with people trying to tends to pots on the stove, people mixing drinks, and even girls drying and straightening their hair! Needless to say it was an absolute blast though was a huge relief to say chiow to every one and have our space back.

It's great that the hostel is kind of built around surfing, it brings everyone together to share good times in the ocean. Most of the time we are grovelling in small wind swell, though recently we had 3 or 4 days of really good waves. Up the road at a spot called La Aguada - we were blessed with pumping 3 to 4 ft a - frames with no one out. Needless to say we feasted all day to make up for the usual lack of swell. With a bit of peer pressure - I got Cata out the back on the big day. It was a great experience for her being amongst the excitement of one of those all time sessions. This excitement quickly turned to panic though as she copped a set on the head and told me on the beach " I thought I was going to die!". To my amazement though she took a minute to breathe then charged back into the rip to try and get another one! I guess one positive aspect of grovelling in crappy waves is that you really truly appreciate quality waves. Sometimes I lye in bed and think about surfing long Peruvian points up in the North West in March - though for the moment I'm very content living Rasta in Uruguay...