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Published: February 4th 2007
Myself and Pete arrived in San Bartola a week before Emma and Eva were due to arrive. We had a look around all the accomodation on offer and checked into a nice hotel right on the beach. San Bartola is 45 minutes south of Lima. At weekends it gets busy, as lots of people from Lima have holiday homes here and come to spend Saturday and Sunday on the beach. The plan was to organise some accomodation for the girls arrival, and then head further south for a few days. However, when we got to the bus stop on the Pam American Highway, none of the buses would take us because of our boards. For the first time we were stuck and had no other choice but to sit tight and wait for the girls to arrive.
We spent the week before the girls arrived surfing and chilling out on the beach. San Bartola doesn´t pick up any of the Northerly swells that the north of Peru gets, but it does have surf even if there is only a small southerly swell. There are also a good variety of waves. There is a right and a left reef at the
main beach and a nice left and right point breaking on opposite sides of the headland. All three waves are very different and over the week i surfed them all. It was a fun little playground to pass the time. However, as always, my foot wasn´t getting any better. I knew my mum was sending over more medical supplys than the British Red Cross with emma, including a waterproof sock. If the waterproof sock didn´t help, i would have to stay out of the water again. However, this time i would have my girlfirend to occupy my time when boredome sets in.
The room myself and Pete were sharing at our hotel was nice, but we wanted something better for the 2 weeks with our girlfriends. The guy we organised the rooms with was and Italian called Serge. He was a real character and once we told him that we were looking for 2 more rooms for another 2 weeks, he wouldn´t leave us alone. He told us that he was the owner of the hotel and had the funniest sales pitch. He kept telling us that his business wasn´t selling hotel rooms, but creating memories. He said the
price of the room isn´t important as long as you have good memories. At first i thought he was a proper wolly, but as we got to know him over the next few days he grew on us. We realised that he wasn´t the hotel owner, just the manager and liked to act like he was the top man. Once we worked him out, i new that i would be able to negotiate the room that i wanted for a good price.
After Serge had shown us nearly every room in the hotel, i decide the on the one i wanted and Serge sat Pete and Myself down round a big table to start negotiations. It was like a scene from the board room in the apprentice. Serge asked me to name my price, he named his and we met somewhere in the middle. I also managed to get a further discount by paying up front in cash. In the end i got the room for 15 nights with a bottle of wine and champagne thrown in. I felt really chuffed with myself as it was much cheaper than i had expected.
I met emma at the airport
at midnight on the 10th January and headed stright to San Bartola in a taxi. It was so good to see Emma after 3 months away and i couldn´t wait to see her reaction when she saw the room. I was confident i had done a good job. When we got to the room, Emma must have liked what she saw as she immediately presented me with presents. Two books on surfing. You Legend!!!!
Emma had been working extreamly hard at work before she came away. Just before she left she was told by the partners at the law firm she has been working for that when she qualifiys in March, there is definatley a permanent position for her with the company. Her hard work had paid off and she was keen to spend 2 weeks relaxing on the beach as a reward for all her hard work. I certainly wasn´t going to complain with that plan and although i have pretty much been on holiday myself for the last 3 months, i was confident i could turn things up a notch and chill out even more for two weeks. Its hard work dragging 2 surf boards round south
america, i needed a holiday too :-)
The first day Emma was here things couldn´t have got off to a better start. The sun was shining, which i was relieved about. The only day of sunshine we had had since arriving had been a week ago and i was expecting to wake up to clouds and Emma shouting "Where is the sun!!??" We didn´t waste any time getting to the beach. I was happy to spend the whole day catching up with emma and working on my tan, but i couldn´t resist the urge to take my board with me. After an hour or so the waves were looking ok and the missus gave me permission to go and catch a few.
I had been in the water for about 20 minutes when i noticed a girl paddling out to the lineup. At a glance i thought to myself, she looks like Sophia Mulalovich (Female World Number 1 Professional Surfer from Peru). Once i saw her catch a wave, i realised it definatley was. The waves were only about 3ft on the sets, but she was absolutely ripping them to pieces. I was like a kid a christmas.
I was watching every move she made. I was sat right next to the world number 1 in the lineup and competing with her for waves. After dominating the lineup for another 20 minutes, i decided it was time to get out and let Sophia catch a few waves. Ha ha. I also couldn´t wait to get back to the beach to tell emma. I came runnig up the beach, hardly able to contain my excitement. When i told emma, i think her exact words were
"Oh, Thats nice" before rolling over to tan her back and read a book.
When Sophia eventually got out of the water i asked Emma if she would take a photo of me with her (Yes i know i am sad). She refused saying it was too embarrasing. What?... Me?...embarrasing?... Never!! I wasn´t accepting that, so after a little blackmail and bribary i got my photo with the world champion. I wished her good luck for this years tour and she asked me for my phone number. Unfortunatly i had to turn her down as Emma was stood within earshot.
My brother is always ripping me for being a surfer. He never
misses an opportunity to throw a ´cowabunga dude´ or ´knarley´ into conversation for a bit of banter. I think really he is just a bit jealous that i get such a buz from a great sport and all he has to look forward to is a round of golf at the weekend. Sometimes he does go really crazy and to add a bit of an extra edge, he might decide to carry his golf clubs instead of using his power caddy. Its all good fun and to be fair, he isn´t too bad at chasing a ball around a field. However, i couldn´t wait to send him an e mail to tell him about my day. How much more proof do you need that surfing is better than golf. You don´t get to turn up at your local golf course and get to play a round with Tiger Woods?
During the week me and Pete spent in San Bartola before the girls arrived, we had been adopted by the local drunk. He would always be hanging around outside his house on the main street with a half bottle of rum tucked into the front of his board shorts. When
he found out we were from England, he insisted that we call him Tio (Uncle) and gave us his phone number. If we needed any help with anything we were to give him a call. Every time we bumped into him he would shout "ENGLAND!!" at the top of his voice. He also has a habbit of wanting to hug and kiss you. Not a problem, he is only being friendly. If you saw him you might think different. He only ever wears boardies that look like they were washed when there was last a leap year. He has a massive gut, complete with hernia, that hangs over the top of his shorts. He has the larges mustache you have ever seen and dirty yellow teeth. He also smells a bit, but he is so friendly you just end up holding your breath while he plants a kiss on the side of your face.
I hadn´t told Emma about my new uncle, but as we were walking out for dinner on Emma´s first night i spotted him in the street. I couldn´t resist the chance to have a bit of fun.
"Hola Tio. Buenas Noches!!!" I shouted to get
his attention. I shook his hand, gave him a hug and then held my breath while he gave me a kiss on the cheek.
"Esta mi nobia. Ingles tambien" (This is my girlfriend, english also) I introduced him to Emma, who was wondering what the hell was going on. My uncle could hardly contain his excitement. He gave Emma a huge kiss, to which her reaction was possibly the funniest thing i have ever seen. The look on her face was one of fear, disgust and complete confusion. We were then taken into his house where we were introduced to his wife and daughter and told that while we are staying in San Bartola his house is our house.
The first weekend that the girls were with us was Pete´s birthday. The old boy was turning 27 so we had to go out and celebrate. We went out for meal at about 10pm thinking everywhere would just be getting going. When we arrived at all the restaurants, they were all packing up for the night. We managed to persuade one to stay open and cook us up a feast. We then went to a large open air club to
dance the night away and show off our salsa skills. The club had a live band playing on stage and once they saw our white faces and appaling dance moves, they played a rendition of Keanes everybodys changing especially for us. To say it was a dancefloor killer would be an understatement. All the locals were not happy that their salsa had been interupted for a bunch of gringos, so once they had finished we made for the exit.
A couple of days later it was Scotts birhtday back home. Since we had celebrated Jeff´s birthday in Lobitos, it would have been rude not to do the same for Scotty. We decided that we would walk to the next beach from where we were staying. It would be much quieter there and there was also a restaurant with a pool that we would be able to chill by and get on an all day session for the birhtday boy back in spain. There was no surf at the beach we were at, except for a huge 4ft shore break. Large waves were crashing onto dry sand, so we all decided that swimming was a bit risky. Getting in and
out could end up being slightly painfull if you miss timed your entry or exit and got caught by one of the waves. However, after a few beers myself and pete decided it was time to give it a go. Eva and Emma stood safely on the beach with the video camera while myself and pete braved the waves. After a slightly sketch entry where i nearly got taken out, we had great fun messing around in the waves.
For the next few days Emma and myself walked round to the same beach to sunbath and chill out in peace. The shore break got a bit smaller and Emma decided to risk going for a swim. It didn´t take long before the inevitable happend and a large wave picked her up and planted her on the beach. Luckily nothing was hurt apart from her pride, as the wave pulled down her bikin bottoms and left her frantically scrambling up the beach to safety, pulling her pants up as she went. Another classic moment. Why didn´t we record that so we could have made 200 pounds from you´ve been framed?
The two weeks absoultely flew by and in no
time at all it was time for Emma and Eva to return home. It had been amazing having emma with me for two weeks to share part of my trip with me. We had had the best time together, and we were both very sad when it had to come to an end. The two weeks spent chilling out relaxing together at the beach, on our balcony and going out for meals had been perfect. Myslef and pete accompanied them both to Lima, where we spent the day shopping before going to the airport. Simon was also in Lima before his flight back to Aus, so myself and emma met up with him for a beer. Once the girls were both safely on their planes back home me and pete met up again with Simon for a couple of beers. We had a flight at 5:30am to Rio De Janero to catch the next moring, so we would just have a couple of beers and get to bed. Well, that was the plan. After a few too many beers we eventually found our way to bed at 4:30am and were woken an hour later, still fully clothed by our taxi
driver knocking on our door. We frantically got our gear together and made it on our plane to rio..... Just.
PS. There should be a few videos of me surfing at the top of the blog, i don´t know if they work but give them a go.
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Jon Ramage
non-member comment
Ships in the night
Hey buddy, Just arrived in peru yesterday as you left.. In lima at the minute (miraflores) but planning on getting out of here pronto.. gonna hook up with my girlfriend this afternoon and decide what to do next! Enjoy Brazil.. and stay in touch! i´ll have somephotos soon too as soon as i get a digital camara!