The swell arrives

 The swell showed up on time (thanks Mark at http://www.stormsurf.com/ for the on point forecast)   We surfed out front early after being woken up by thunderous sounds.  We then explored other points around and found a left that was long fast and lined up.  It was a very difficult wave to make, and pretty much the only line was in the tube.  We got some great waves there and took some beatings too.  Lots of great waves down here if you are willing to take the time to check down the various coastal roads.   

Most photos below: Credit Ollie (heaps cheers bru)

Dropping in

Long period energy .  Genji gave a good description below of how the sand moves down here.  The beach can go from flat and out to the water with a little river running down it to built up sand berms 20' tall holding a lake in just a day or two.  The takeoff spot at some of these places can move 20 or 30 yards just in a tide change.  it is pretty incredible to see mother nature at work like that, sculpting and then destroying perfect waves.  You have to constantly keep looking around but the benefit is it keeps the crowds down and rewards the curious.

Setting up for the tube on my 6'8

Kev and Jeremy looking at another left.

Would you?  Not as easy as it looks and downright shallow.

Warming back up.  Genji builds a fire in 30 seconds everywhere we go.

Jeremy locking in at spot # 476Zulu. He was the only one that paddled out here.

Rarely surfed spot.  Scary and rocky.  Jerz solo'd it.

Pulling in on a medium sized wave.

Our little base camp with nobody around except lots of waves to mind surf all the way into the rocks.

Top turn out front the first morning of the swell.  Me and Jerz surfed it alone for a few hours.

After the north wind blew, Ruperto and Carlina decided we needed some meat.  We decided to slaughter a pig.  Genji put his expert skills to use and we watched as him and El Jefe (ruperto's nickname) tied the hog, wired its mouth closed, and cut the artery to the heart.  It was pretty intense for all of us except Jefe, Carlina, and Genji who are used to killing animals.  I've hunted before but long range is definitely different than up close.  After the chancho was dead Jefe poured boling water over it and scraped all the hair off it, then it was gutted and butchered on site.  The whole process took about 5 hours.  We had pork neck soup that night, we were all apprecative of the meat and every bone was picked clean.  The guilt from the slaughter translated into wanting to use every part of the pig to the fullest, including the head and organs. 

Genji -  the master at work.

 Ribs are my favorite food, and cooking up a few racks back home has become commonplace for me. After watching this pig go from happy go luck, to afraid and squealing, to being tied up, cut, and soon dead has me at least a little more thankful and respectful of the abundance of food and meats we have back home.  Well thats all for now, looks like a big swell and good winds lining up for next week so we will be waiting to see how it all comes together.  Living the dream on 25 bucks a day, life is good. 
-Kevin

Life on the Coast

We have been posted up on a Southern point for nearly 2 weeks now and we have been scoring. Being in front of a wave all the time really pays off because when all the conditions line up, you are there and ready to paddle out. All of the waves we have surfed so far are left points that break over a sand bar and as you might expect, these bars are in constant motion. The condition of a point's sand is effected by wind, tide and swell. Some waves work in certain seasons, some need big swells to deposit sand, some get killed by big swells and sometime a wave will work one year and be non-existant the next. The wave in front of where we are staying is in top form right now and has as good of a bank as I have ever seen. The last couple days have been an arm punishing marathon of top quality waves; after four hours this morning, I can hardly move...

The truck after a joiny surf chack/wood gathering mission.

"Locos", a lot like miniature Abalone, very tasty and pretty abundant, but you need a really low tide and no waves to get them.

Fresh Corvina from a net set just inside the line-up.

A rather extraordinary sunset from a few days back.

Between surfing and eating we have ample time to hang out with the puppies. This is Rambo.

Rambo's Sister Fluffy.

The wave out front doing its thing...

Well that's all from me for now, more surf and epic food in the forcast for today....

Shoots for now!

-Genji Nakada

Got a new ride and headed south again.

We finally got out of the city and made it back south, arriving at about 9:00 at night.  We didnt have any plans, so boy we were stoked when we knocked on the door at Roberto and Carlina's house and they said we could stay in the cabin he built at back as long as we liked.  We were glad to not have to sleep in the truck after a 7 hour drive.  Oh yea, we rented a truck, but not the normal way.  We bartered off of a friend of a friend of Juane who needed some extra cash for way less than a chinese rental car would have cost, it's a chevy colorodo and its all our for the next 32 days.  Woohooo!!  I wrote up a contract, as I always do, but in spanish and he signed it without reading it (probably due to my crappy spanish combined with poor hungover handwritting). 

The waves have been mostly flat as forecasted, although we are stoked to be on the coast and helping around the farm. 

Some ways you know you are in Chile:

1)When you wake up and look straight out the window to see good surf, and go back to sleep for another hour to wait for the sun.

2) When you realize dinner is over and you havent spoken engligh in over an hour.

3) When the evening chores include stringing a 200 yard net off the rocky point and anchoring it in the bay, then checking for fish the next morning (this is a lot of hard manual labor, but so far we have gotten 1 salmon, 2 corvina, a robalo, and some crabs). 

4) When the surf is flat and Genji suits up anyways to get molusks off the rocks in the surf zone, which Carlina goes nuts for ("Muy Rico" she says when he comes back with his wetsuit stuffed).

5) When the car battery goes dead and you realize the nearest auto store is 200 miles away.  Lucky for us, there was a guy with a battery charger 2.5 miles away.  I carried the battery over a mountain pass first to drop it off accompanied by Roberto and Genji and Luna the dog, then retrieved it solo in a light rain 5 hours later, getting chased by a few bulls for part of the way. 

6) When there are two guys out and you wait for it to get "less crowded". 

We were rewarded with a small swell two days ago, and another pulse this morning.  There is a big swell in the forecast which we are very excited to try to surf our best looking point break on.  The aussies are on the bus down now, and we are headed to go pick them up in the nearest town in a few hours.  Hopefully by early next week we will have gotten plenty of good waves.  Cheers for now, and here's some pics to keep ya interested. 

Trying to get out of Santiago, and ending up driving through a congested farmers market.

The farm. 

View out the bedroom window on a foggy morning.

View from the table.

We decided to cook for them one night, we made this giant sausage pizza.  I insisted Carlina get in for a picture though (they are photo shy here, and ask us questions like "Is Alaska and island?" and "Did you have to fly across an ocean to get here?".)  Not to portray them as uninteligent, watching them work their farm it is clear they are from a very different place where simple values and skills are much more valuable.

Genji feeding fish heads to our new pet puppy, Rambo.  He comes to our place every morning to lick the cereal bowls clean or whatever we have lying around to feed him.  Classsic liitle pooch. 

Last night view from the cabin.

 Me and Luna on the walk of shame with the battery to get it charged after I left the headlights on (it is the law here to always drive with lights, and the Chevy lacks an alarm when they are left on).  lesson learned. 

The biggest storm on the planet is perfectly positioned for us.

"El Contracto".  Would you sign it?  I am indemnified against acts of god hahahaha take that!!!  - Kevin

Its not all rainbows and sunshine and unicorn burps.

 Looking back at our previous posts, I realized I am romantacizing things a bit too much here on the blog.  The truth is we just got back from a camping trip on which we were totally skunked for surf and all came down with the cold.  

We were invited on the trip by the Aussies named Ollie and Jeremy, as well as Caleb from Norcal.  Jeremy and Ollie are constantly cracking us up with their Aussie slang and accents, and Caleb is as committed of a gringo as you will find down here, owning land in front of a left and sporting a rad mullet and occasionally yelling "Hoouiyoooowe!!!" which is a waso (or cowboy) war cry.  The silver lining of the trip was the incrdible star gazing and Calebs Meat-zza dinner.  He basically BBQed us each a steak over the campfire, then covered that in sauteed onions and muchrooms he did over the coals, then put a few thicks slabs of tomato and green bell pepper on that, covering the whole joint in a few slices of fresh white cheese.  Its like a Pizza with the bread portion being replaced by meat.  All protein and fat, all delicious.  The local dogs got some good scraps from us and became loyal guards, even returning a food item stolen by a different perrorata that we didnt feed. 

To make up for our illness and lack of waves, we are on routine of self medicating via beers and mexican food here in Santiago.  The city is sprawling and alive, like San Francisco would be if it were not bound on 3 sides by ocean and had significantly narrower streets that were sometimes made of cobblestone.   

 

Secret spot 37B

View from the hostel in Santiago.

The hostel, our refuge in the city.  The Princesa Insolente is one of the best hostels we've ever seen and many others here agree.  Juane has done a great job.

Genji, Claudia, and Andrea on the night of the Terramotos. 

About to get skunked.

Genji scraping some Locos (like a small abalone) off the rock.  He ate a few and fed a few to the dogs.

Not a bad place to post up and wait for the surf to not get better.

In front of the Presidential Palace in Santiago, fully loaded.

Last night was Claudia and Genjis Birthday celebration.  We ended up finding a Gypsy Punk Rock band that was incridible.  Like a mix of Gotan project, and Dropkick Murphys with a side of Gogol Bordello.  The aussies are planning on grilling today, but we've decided to ditch this viscious cycle of overeating and overdrinking and head south again for peace, quiet, and surf.  We have a flat spell upon us but the charts look promising for next weekend.   I added email functionality to the blog per requests, so add your email address on the top right corner if you wish to receive a note whenever a new post is added here.  Hopefully the waves turn back on and we can get back to "Plan A".  Time to pack up and hit the road.  - Kevin

Oh Yea - Happy Mother's Day Moms!  Linda and Deborah you are both incredible people and thank you for all you have done for us. 

Food and Drink

A question that I often find directed my way, when discussion is on the subject of world travel, is "so, how's the food in (whichever country you're talking about)"? Like many other travelers, one of my main interests in Foreign countries is the cuisine. Food is one of my passions, probably second only to surfing.

This may sound cliche, but I could surf this for a week without eating.

The food in Chile is good. The produce, meat and especially seafood is top rate, but sometimes I find myself longing for more spice and less fried stuff. A lot of food here is fried, empanandas, papas fritas, etc., and the sandwiches and other items that aren't fried seem to be ubiquitously slatherred in mayonaise. That isn't to say that it's not good food, you just find yourself longing for a salad at times. We have encountered some very fine, hearty soups that were top rate.

The Completo - nearly a foot of hotdog, tomato, avocado and of course, the mayonaise topping.

If you look at traditional, American cuisine, it is bland. The interesting food is Thai, Mexican, Chinese; outside influences. Chile just doesn't seem to have much outside influence yet, but you can see it starting.

A rare salad encounter, before the main course below.

Merluza, fried of course, a very delicious fish. Nice and oily with lots of flavor.

An amazing home cooked meal from our hosts in the South. Stewed turkey wing, rice and papas fritas of course.

A few little smelt that I caught in the shore break.

Carlina cooked up the smelt for us, fried of course.

A Lomito from the "Fuente Alemana", a Chilean classic. Same place Anthony Bourdain went to get one.

The Teramoto: a couple cups of wine with a couple scoops of pineapple icecream topped with a healthy shot of fernet. Tastes so good when it hits yous lips.

Want to feel like crap for a few days? Have a Teramoto (earthquake) or three and you will be languishing in shame and filth the next morning. You will wake up with a broken wrist from arm wresting some Chilean meathead in a random bar. I am not sure of the exact order of events of the night, but it was a good time for sure.

Cheers as Bru!! Heaps cheers!!

Shoots for now!

Genji