Sunday, June 1, 2014

North of Puerto Malabrigo

A little over an hour north of the arguably the world's longest wave sits its much lesser known "big brother." More susceptible to wind but also much more open to receiving the swells that constantly bombard Peru's coast, the left hand point break offers rides of over 500 yards without the crowd and hustle of its more famous sibling. Besides being in the shadow of fame, another crowd limiting factor is that the waves break far offshore, not allowing you to walk back to the top of the point after a long one, but forcing you to paddle against the swift current for an eternal 15 minutes or so. Needless to say I'm sore!


Can't see the wave in this pic, but you can see the work it would take to get out there!

Unlike the last place I was in, the town here is actual quite charming, with a cobble stone boardwalk along part of the ocean front, narrow one way streets bustling with mototaxis and a variety of great seafood restaurants. There's even a fixer-upper colonial property right on the water for sale I've got my eye on (kidding guys, but seriously)...


Like many coastal towns in Peru, fishing is the main industry and there's a 550 yard long pier where the men set off to work on everyday. Built in the 1870s and destroyed several times by big storms and even a war with Chile, the pier has certainly seen better days as evidenced by the excellent view of the sea beneath your feet through gaps in the planks. I've got a pretty litigious mind and can't help but think about how nothing down here would meet ADA standards...


After the first night in an overpriced "surf resort," I moved to a new hotel with a seven story tower that provided great views of the surf, pier and town thus the hostel was named, El Mirador or "The Lookout" in English. There were several foreign volunteers working while I was there so I got the chance to meet some really cool people from all over the world, although none of them surfed. I didn't take a picture that really shows the tower all that well so here's me standing at the top, obstructing the nice sunset.


The view of the pier and town from atop the mirador on a hot afternoon....


More of this till my next post from the longest wave on earth!


1 comment:

  1. Hey this place looks worthy of staying at for a while. Good looking boardwalk, surf and views. Hope the food is tasty too!

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