StayTuned;|

and StayWet;)

 

Yeah, so I know I’ve been MIA for the past 2 or 3 weeks, but for good reason… kinda. So I guess I’ll start where I left off…

So I left off where I had no plane ticket home, no clue what I was gonna do, and no time left to talk… well thats a little dramatic. That following week, that I had left off at, I basically spent it as I always do, surfing, working, school working, eh yeah and the occasional carrete (party). That following weekend something very shitty happened to me while walking home from the bar in Valpo…

So I left quite a drunken filled night out, we went to a really cheap bar in Valpo known as Matiz, its prolly my favorite bar to go to. After many shots, I decided to call it a night, I knew I had a big day of surfing ahead of me. So in my drunken daze, I got on the wrong bus home, I ended up getting off about a mile or 2 away from where I live. About 15 minutes after I got off the bus, I had noticed a small group of dogs sitting near the estuary, I didn’t really give it any thought as there are packs of dogs everywhere here. Then, minute or so after passing them, one came up and bit my calf, I turned and it was barking at me and looked like it was going to try to again, then just as it lunged, I hit it right on the snout. felt pretty bad about it. The thing didn’t really take off, it just kept its distance, then a minute later they were all gone. Now, I need to remind you guys here I was pretty hammered at this point, but in my drunken state, I became a little paranoid. I saw a decent sized stone block on the side of the road, I picked it up and proceeded home with it. halfway to the house I saw a taxi, waved it down, he told me he couldn’t go all the way to my house, but could take me a decent distance. As I am getting out of the taxi, the driver gives me the price, and I tell him to wait, I can’t get into my pockets cause of the giant stone I was still carrying. He sees this, and then out of pity or fear, I think pity, let me go for free, ha. I live off little victories like that. basically the next day, I went surfing, then to the hospital to get the first of 5 rabies shots…

That next week, I continued working, surfing, and such, but because of the rabie shot I had to get that Sunday, I could not go to Pichilemu, like I had wanted. But I ended up having quite a fun time, partying in Vina/Valpo and surfing in Concon. Then after getting my rabies shot that Sunday, I went surfing, like always. I got caught up talking to a couple of my friends from the beach, and basically they had me re-think this whole traveling south thing. I am now in the process of looking for a cheap month long rental in Concon. I have found a few, although none in a worthy price range. However, I will continue my search. Also I got my plane ticket home that weekend. I leave at 1130 pm from Santiago, wake up in Miami, then I’m off to Newark. I’ll be home the 20th of December.

So I guess that leaves us with just this past week to cover. It was a short one, we got Monday and Tuesday off, cause they were holidays. Then Thursday, while all my ISA friends went to the south to go camping in Pucon, I went to Pichilemu for what looks like one last time… I hate saying that, but at least for now it was the last time I will see that place for what feels like a while… It was a spectacular ender ender, as I like to put it. Friday morning I surfed Lobos, near the top of the point, It was fun head high+. Lots of sand and there were actually these backwashy little barrels. really fun, although locally ruled session. Some of those locals need to get there heads out of their asses though… your wave is a world class point break, people are gonna show up to surf it, deal with it. I minded my P’s and Q’s though. Then the next day, the swell came up, solid 8 ft. Went out at dead low tide with this little grommet from town, he was so stoked that I had a car and could give him a ride.  We surfed up top for about 2 hrs, then it got kinda crowded, he got out, and I spent my last moments surfing the cove at Lobos with 3 other people. It really was quite the ender ender. Then afterwards, I said my goodbyes, I had to get my rabies shot the next morning in Vina, so I had to leave that night from Pichi. It sucked. I’m gonna really miss that place…

So I guess thats it for now. I am looking for a cozy place to rest my head in Concon, I got my plane ticket, and still have work and school. I am really starting to become worn out, but I can say that I am enjoying my last days here, also this is the last week I have a car here. A week from today I’ll be back to how I started out here. Hopefully I’ll be able to walk to the beach though soon enough…

Idk if you can tell, This is a timed selfie of me on the side of the road on my way to pichi taking a piss.

Breakfast: eggs straight from the butt covered in a seafood sauce from the night before, banana, bread, and wine.

Photo from the first morning, guy in da tube

So I guess thats really it for now, sorry about my hiatus. I’ll try and stay on top of things, that is, as long as you guys remember to StayWet;)

So yeah I know I said I was gonna post some photos from the trip to Pichi, but the girls still have yet to put any up. I promise once they do I’ll post my favorites here. So this past week was quite fun, but busy, and life is only getting busier. I surfed almost everyday last week, if you saw my facebook status from last Wednesday, you already know I found and surfed this right point (which I’ve neamed El Jetty). It was ridiculous. Heaving on this flat rock reef, then would bend away from you. There was too much current, and didn’t end up getting any good ones, I was warned it was too big for the place on my way out. It was solid 8′, with a slightly bigger set every now and then. Ended up getting two, both closed out, but my second I rode into this reform on the inside, which ended up being head high. Got another there and rode it in to the beach.

That Friday I surfed la boca, but down the beach. It was sick, like 6-8′, perfectly rippable (named this spot Downbeach). Eventually moved back up towards the mouth, got scared out of the water by like 5 sea lions… those things can be real territorial, and nerve racking when you’re the only person in the water. Surfed by the mouth for another hour or so, was a bit smaller, but still really fun.

Next day I headed up to Maitencillo. A resort town on the beach that is like the Ocean City/Belmar for Santiago. Surfed the main beach break there… Soooo rippable. Super fun 4-6ft peeling rights, with a steep semi closed out, but still fun left. The right was unreal, and totally worth the hour drive. Definitely heading back to that place, real soon.

Sunday, I ended up back at La Boca. Surfed the mouth for a couple hours. Pretty fun, but the wind sucked, but my buddy from Santiago/Pichilemu was in, Eduardo. After the surf we headed to Vina to buy skateboards, They were crazily priced, gonna wait and try to find a used one to buy, but there is a skatepark in Santiago that looks fucking sick, definitely heading there before I leave.

This week ahead looks crazy, I have a test tomorrow, projects due next week, and I have to schedule my classes for next semester at Stockton… eww. But good news is that I am taking a mini surf adventure to a left point just a tad south of here… well it looks like a left from google earth at least. We’ll see how that plays out. Also, what is possibly my last trip to Pichilemu during my stay here (I only have 5 weeks of class left!!!) will be during the last weekend in October.

Welp, Thats it for now I guess…

The skatepark I’m definitely going to…

Oh… Before I forget, so there have been problems securing my plane ticket back home, as of now. Not sure when I will be returning. My plan was to head back on December 20th, but this date may not be available. I really want a chance to travel, and see southern Chile, but I am not sure if this is enough time. There IS a chance I may be returning sooner than I thought. I am not exactly happy about this, but I will be happy to see all my friends back home, but am currently doing everything I can to figure this out. So I guess as of now, I could be home in as little as 6 weeks, or as much as 10. Idk how to fee about this… Oh well, by the way, anyone see that disgusting turn Adriano did AND still won the event… yeah I know exactly how to feel about that…

… Until next time… I’m StayWet;) ?

So, how is everyone? Good? Great! I began teaching this past week, also took a short trip to Pichilemu over the weekend. I’ll begin with my new teaching job…

I began working at an all girls elementary school as a teaching assistant. I help out the girls with their accents, help them on tests and busy work in class, basically anytime they have a question that pertains to the work in class, I am there to answer it, but the main teacher builds all the lesson plans and gives the majority of the lectures, but I do occasionally help with those too. I enjoy the teaching thing a lot, I go Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8 am to 11. The only bad part of the job is that I have to wake up at 6 every morning, but it keeps me from sleeping in too much which I like.

Thursday night I set off to Pichi to catch this damn swell that wasn’t predicted too well. The charts were being upgraded then downgraded the swell, then back up, then down. But it was maintaining in the area of 10′ at 15 sec. I also brought three girls with me this time. One, Grace, I have been surfing with the majority of the times I have gone to La Boca in Concon. The other 2 were there to just relax, and take some sun. Anyways, as I was sayin, we left Thursday night. We were about 20km out of town and I hit a pot hole, and popped a tire on the car. So i began to do work and get the spare on when I realized the spare in the trunk didn’t have any air, nor did the rim fit on the axle (or whatever the thing the wheel sits on is called). I called my boy Negro, he said that he would come and take us back to town and we could deal with it in the morn… I knew he was at least a 30 min drive from us so I broke out the box wine and beers and we began to put them down. He ended up taking more like an hour, so we put down quite a bit of alcohol. When he got there he thought we were driving drunk, but then when I explained to him that me and three girls downed 6 beers, and 3L of wine in an hour he made fun of us and said we were alcoholics. The next morn, I went with my buddy Eduardo to the garage and we got the tire fixed and then went to the car and changed it. Total cost to fix the tire and taxi from the house to the garage to the car was 10 mil, or about 20 dollars. I then packed up the car and ate a lovely little breakfast the girls had made me, then it was off to Lobos. We got there and it looked like the swell was not the monster they had predicted, it was 8′-10′, I saw some occasional bombs, but nothing too crazy, also the crowd was already deep on it. Grace got kinda freaked out, and me knowing that La Puntilla was about 6-8′ with no one on it, I opted for there. There is also a an inside bank at puntilla that I knew was like only knee high, and all the girls could go surf too. La Puntilla was intense, I rode my 5’9 cause when I checked it, it seemed maybe 6-8ft and fun. I got out there it was solid 8′ with occasional bigger sets. I really gotta buy me a cheapo pair of binoculars. But had a really good session. Got a bunch of good waves, then finally got a real leg burner, and decided to go in after about 2 1/2 hours. The girls had fun, grace surfed the outside of the bank which was like chest high ish and the other girls got a lesson on the inside bank which was like knee high. Later, we headed back to the hostal, had a few beers, and then I went to surf Infernillo with Eduardo. Had an ok session, surfed only for about an hour, but I did manage to sneak off a really fun right on the inside of the point, which is a feat in itself. The point basically is an outside and an inside sandbar, and on the inside bar, there is a little rock out crop, and there is a right reform that comes off of this, but the current is insane right there, especially since the tide was coming in. Went back to the house, ate dinner that the girls prepped, and drank until bedtime. The next morn we went out to Lobos, the girls sat on the beach and I had what has been probably the most fun session at Lobos I’ve had so far, 8′+ and the period was rather short, making the waves super consistent and kept the crowd really spread out. After which, we went and got some beers and empanadas, and then headed back to the house to drink out on the balcony. About 5 beers later, I convinced Grace that we should go surf La Puntilla, we got there and it was about 4-6′ with some occasional bigger sets. We were both alil intoxicated, but I figured it be fun. But, since the period was so short, and cause we had a few drinks, we ended up getting caught inside a good sized set. I knew Grace would probably get a little freaked out, so I stayed with her and got pounded by the sets to… chivalry ain’t dead folks. After getting tossed with this chick, I paddled us to the outside bank, we caught a couple waves then went back for dinner. That next morning, once again I ate a wonderfully prepared meal by the girls, and I let the girls have their day at something, they opted for wine country, and being someone that enjoys a nice box of wine every now and then I was definitely in. We got to a winery, found out a tasting was really expensive, so we bought 2 bottles, and made a picnic outside with our leftover food. We headed back some time later to Vina, and all and all, it was a really nice trip.

My plans for this week are rather lazy, seeing as the past week I had a test in nearly all my classes, and don’t really have any homework. Eduardo says that he plans to visit me next Sunday, and Negro said he was gonna come by Vina to in order to see one of his old friends, and I hope to surf with him. I do have a very full week of class and work but my free time at least will be free to surf. Life is passing rather tranquilly here in Chile right now…

I can’t tell if this is supposed to be funny or not…

- the girls took a bunch of photos, I’ll post a couple later once they get on the book.

oh and if you have the time, here is my friends blog http://allgoodurlsweretaken.blogspot.com/ She is a great girl, at times can be a hotmess, but has no shame. She also is the person that shoots surfing of me and my friend JJ back home. Her stories are pretty funny and has just recently started blogging them. The last one is about her 20th bday and she throws up in Chili’s.

StayWet;)

well, so has passed another week here in Chile. Plenty of surfing this week, really starting to figure out this one wave in Concon. Also got a teaching job this week as well, I begin teaching English at an all girls school named La Republica Del Uruguay, ages 4-14, this Tuesday, as we say here in Chile, tengo ganas de ir, or I’m excited.

So I had a thought the other day, I’ve officially been in Chile for 2 months and nearly 2 weeks. What have I accomplished exactly. Well I can most certainly communicate in Spanish, more or less. I definitely have learned a lot more about things around me too, like just life in general. While I still am the same old kook, I have definitely improved my perception of the world, and where I stand in it. It’s like this folks, in life ya don’t always got a napkin, but you almost always have a sleeve, so keep your shirt on and don’t wear tank tops. Ya catch?

So I am headed to Pichilemu, that’s right, again. Well, I am pretty sure I am going. Fate rests on the swell.

);teWyatS (hipster)

Yes everyone, I am back from Pichilemu, and writing again, just about on time too (win^3). Anyways I had quite a trip…

So I packed up the rental on Thursday, the 15, and got set to leave the next morning. After a night of drinking, I woke up and scooped my buddy Doug in Valpo, and we were off to Pichilemu at around 11 am on Friday. We got in at around 2, the tide was dropping and the swell was solid 8-10 foot. Lobos was a little high, so I figured we would give it some time and head out after the tide switch. We dropped off our things, grabbed a spicy empanada and set off for Lobos round 5. The paddle out was a lot harder than I had remembered, Probably cause I got caught inside, but still got out there. After one of the best surfs of the trip, we changed and headed back to my buddy’s hostel. Just like on any of my surf-road trips, we bouth the essentials before hand as not to have to spend the majority of our cash on meals; 3 tubs of peanut butter, 2 jellies, a loaf of bread, bananas, oranges, box of cereal, and a bunch of store brand cookies. As for drinks we had 3 liters of water each, along with 2 liters of beer and a bottle of this cheap wine type drink called Chicha (think jungle juice). Well after a short night of partying in down town at this place called La Fonda (think state fair, don’t forget it was their independence day weekend), and trying to hit street lights with rocks, we stumbled back to Yutty’s (the hostel). the next morn we woke up round 9 ish, and after a peanut butter, jelly, honey, banana, sammich, we were off to Lobos. It was big, solid 8-12′, it felt like every wave I caught was a bomb. Lobos is such a good wave, in fact you had to be careful not to get a wave too far or you’d be paddling back out from the beach break, which is damn near impossible at this size. Later we headed to the point to kill time and eat empanadas, there, we ran into our friend from ISA back in Valpo, Clay, that invited us to his place to have a night out, he offered lots of beer and Chileanas, obvi we couldn’t turn him down. After lunch we head back to Lobos, it was still solid. We surfed through the out going tide and it was really fun, and really bowly. That night, we realized that we were already more than halfway through our supplies of food, and were out of beer, we made a beer run, and then headed off to Clay’s place to start the night out.

We got to the the place around 10, it was a shit show, people were already starting to get sloppy. We played a few drinking games, then thats when the craziest Chilean partiers came over. They invited us to the house they rented and we obliged. These guys were nuts, breaking glasses, chugging litros, they even had this Austrian alcohol that was like 80 proof, needless to say it got all of us trashed. After plenty of raging at the house, we headed to the Fonda around 1. The place was a mad house. we hopped the fence to get in and were successful, luckily, there were some that were not. The Fonda is a really fun place, dancing, cheap drinks, live music, food, and all the drunk Chileans/as you could want. After several hours, I called it a night, as we were going surfing the next morning, probably got back to the house around 4:30ish.

We woke up around 11, not too bad considering Low was at 10, and headed for Lobos, once again. It was solid 8′ still with bigger sets, but the crowd was crazy. We opted to have lunch then come back. After Lunch Doug and I took a peak at the point right in front of the house, Infernillo. It was looking pretty good from the beach, 6′ and reeling. We got out there and it was more like 8′ and heaving. That point is nuts, if it wasn’t for all the current there it would probably be the best point in the area.

That night was the night of the independence day, we made our beer run and head for the hostel to pre-game… after an hour or so of drinking, all that partying we did the night before, along with all the paddling we did that day was starting to get to us. We made the best of it, had our own celebrations with everyone that was staying in the hostel.

The next morning I was set on surfing Lobos, we got there and the crowd did not look too bad. We got out and about an hour later, it was like everyone had just woken up, the crowd got pretty bad, but was nothing compared to a crowd at places like Rincon, and managed to get a lot of the sets coming through the cove, it was probably the most fun it had been, 6-8′ and just going. We then headed back to town and got our friend Keenan, whom had been partying in Vina, but was going to stay with us for the next few days. After lunch we surfed probably the my most favorite Lobos session; 6-8′ light crowd, and I sat on the outside cove just picking off whatever wave I wanted, it was a little tougher cause there is this section that you have to beat, and you gotta hope no one burns you, but after that, you get a perfect wall that just lets you go for a long time.

The following morning, we woke up and had what was the last of the food Doug and I bought. After which we did what we knew was best, go to Lobos. It was small, like chest high, with an occasional head high set, but not really anyone on it. We surfed for a couple hours then went over to the surf school. We decided to get some food for that night, we went to the fish market, bought clams and mussels, and got ready for a little seafood feast later. Keenan and I also decided to walk around, we ended up buying these kites for a dollar and customized them with som string that we found on the beach, flying kites is actually really fun. That night we enjoyed a nice dinner, and I prepared myself for small surf tomorrow.

I woke to find Lobos chest high, and littered with longboarders, I made the executive decision to chill out and head to la puntilla in hopes of finding a wave there. After some rock kicking, and some kite flying, I finally saw enough rights come through on the inside of the point that was making me think it was worth heading out. I suited up, and we ended up having quite a fun session, chest high, clean rippable walls, with the occasional wide swinging right… I cant surf frontside anymore, but my back hand is getting quite refined. Anyways, we ended up buying more food for a feast that night, I made talk about leaving the next day, but figured we would wait and see what the waves did.

That next day, we got kind of a late start, checked a beach break that is a little south of Lobos, wasn’t any good. I gathered my crew and said that we should probably cut our losses, leave a day earlier than planned, and save some cash. They were all for it, we got back from our adventure this past Thursday night.

As for the past couple days, things have been some what slow, it was my youngest brother’s birthday on Friday, it feels like we celebrated the whole weekend. Well I guess I am back in the real world again, well I am back in Vina and have class, I still got 2 and a half months until I am back in the real world…

It’s seriously such a perfect wave…

StayWet;)

No this isn’t a post about Bobby, although I’d like to share my opinion I won’t. This week kinda flew by for me. Lots of school work, and some surfing in between. I guess I do not have much to say other than I leave again for Pichilemu this Friday and it will be awesome. Also, beginning today, StayWet will be going on hiatus until I return. I know this is a catastrophe. Where will you guys find your entertainment. I guess if you really miss it you can always read an older post, it would be kinda like when a tv series ends its season and every so often they play re-runs late at night… nah its nothing like that. Ah well you guys will just have to make due. But I can assure you that when I return, expect a long interesting, possibly even funny post… actually, don’t expect that, that’s a lot more pressure than I want to put on myself. So just expect a post. OK.

One thing is missing I know… TOONAGE. What happened? I’ll tell you. I got a life. No that’s a lie, but still I am really busy here, HOWEVER, I promise I will be returning this post, along with another interesting-ish post. I am still working on it right now, but it will have nothing to do with Chile. Oh yeah and that BS I’ve been putting at the end of my post, yeah, I won’t be doing that every post anymore. I mean sure I learn a lot of new things, but most of them just aren’t that interesting to share…

Here’s a little toonage post just to tickle your fancy. If you don’t speak Spanish, the song is about… well chupame means suck me, so there.

 

wish me luck in Pichi, I gottta get to ma class now, but until then, StayWet;)

I really enjoy exploring, going off to where I have never been, just to see what is there. This past week I actually opted out of going to the Andes to snowboard with some friends, and I ended up spending the day walking around Valpo by myself. I walked up and around the point of the bay. I found that there are a few small rocky beaches there, for whatever reason though, they do not receive much swell, although the swell has not been all that great. I still need to do a some more investigating but I think that there could be a fun little left there on the right swell.

Surf wise, I have actually gone to this new beachie called Concon. It is pretty fun, its this bay that is pretty wide. The wave comes out of deep water but then once in the bay it gets kinda shallow, so the wave is kind of weak, especially on really steep swells. Crowd factor, its crowded, but more jersey crowded. I surfed it today, chest high, pretty fun with a cross shore wind, had maybe about 15-30 guys for a really wide bay. It also appears that if you walk north, out of the shadow of the bay, the waves get bigger and the crowd gets lighter. also good for solo missions cause the only way to get there is via 20-30 min bus ride, and no where to store my clothes. But the beach is the nicest I have been to, outside of Pichilemu…

But finally some real light on the horizon. As we approach the 2 month mark of me being in Chile, I may be closer than ever to seizing a car. I need to still look into it a little more, but I may be getting a rental for 2 months. However, more certain news, I will be returning to Pichilemu in twelve days. I will be there for at the very least a week, including the during the Chilean independence day. It is going to be an awesome time. I am just hoping the waves cooperate, but it will, most likely.

And as promised…

Things I’ve Learned: The waves at Concon are fun, really fun; Chilean surfers are almost as bad as Brazilians with etiquette, outside of the Americanized line-ups of Pichi.
New Spanish Words: Jotear- There are so many creeps in Chile that they needed to invent one word verb to describe it. Equal to “creeping”, and in change, a “jote” is a creep, however, the word literally means vulture.
Food/Drink: Becker- Chilean Natty Ice, it goes for only about 600 pesos, like a $1.15 for a tall boy in the bars. Tierremotos- wine, pisco (Chilean tequila), other erroneous alcohols, flavoring, and ice cream. Think jungle juice float. Chilean Sopapilla (we just call them Sopapillas here)- different than one found in Mexico. Made from flour, butter, oil salt, and a type of pumpkin here known as zapallo. Really good;
Things I Still Need to Figure Out: Where there is a good Italian restaurant near here. What exists around the point in Valpo;

shot of Concon (playa negra) looking north

I’m not sure what this has to do with…

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StayWet;)

Oh shit what a week… Hurricane Irene, earthquakes, ECSC, Chopes… and none of that even happened in Chile… Well except for the earthquake part.

How fucking weird though, an earthquake on the east coast, funny thing is, later that same day, I experienced the first of my Chilean earthquakes. Irene did some damage back home, despite what your news feed might tell you, people are so ig’nant…

Anyways back to Chile. So yeah this week in review (totally stole that) is somewhat eventful. I know its late, but it is only because I have been backed up with school projects. So fuck it, just be happy its here. Well, to start off, things got off to a pretty boring start this week, the swell went super south, leaving me in the shadow of a small swell, it also rained everyday until Thursday. But then, came finally some light on the situation. A WEST swell for the weekend (I have speculations I was surfing the same swell that hit chopes, but cant say for sure). Saturday afternoon was super fun, ended up surfing this pier in town, yeah finally surfed in town. It was really fun, chest to head high, mostly lefts going into the pier, with the occasional right bowl. It was probably the most fun I have had surfing around here so far. Then Sunday the swell tapered, only leading to yesterday… the buoys were reading 15′ at 17seconds… and it was pretty west. I headed out after class to go surf the pier again, to my surprise I got there and it was pretty blown out. The tide was super low too making it not look too inviting, although I did see a couple corners. I decided to head about a mile north to this spot, Playa Salinas. It is this small cove that is littered with rocks. I had seen it chest high and looking pretty fun one day on my way back from Renaca, but blew it off. I showed up and it was well over head. I saw a boogie-er and his polola (girlfriend) on the beach. His name is Matias, we had a chat about the conditions and he gave me an idea of where to paddle from, he basically told me it wasn’t worth it, too closedout, and filled with current… now these things were easily in view, but did that stop me, of course not I saddled up and headed out, probably not a great decision. I made it to the outside, confused at were to sit, the rip was pulling me into these rocks to the north, I tried to fight it, but was basically just staying in one spot. I could see some bombs out the back, I just made it under the first couple then was caught inside by the last one, which basically sent the current loose on me, sucking me further to the north. I made a mad dash for the outside. I then saw another set looming, I paddled as fast as possible to the outside. I took the first one that came to me. I made it to the bottom and got a good bottom turn in to set me up down the line, basically I was trying to out run all the rocks that were right under me. Then, once I got a little closer toward the sandbar the thing really began to suck up, of course I pulled in. The thing closed out and sent me for a little ride, but I figured it be the easiest way just to get back up to the beach. Once there, I think I gained this guy’s (Matias) respect. We walked back to the beach in Vina and he said that he knew of a good sandbar, I was extremely doubtful, I saw the beach on the way in, it was solid overhead closeouts as far as the eye could see… so we get to this little sandbar of his, it was this overhead closeout, just as I expected, only now the wind had lightened a bunch and turned offshore. He was stoked, I mean he was on a boogie board. So basically for the next hour and a half I surfed PGCB’s… Perfectly good closeout barrels… my favorite actually. The place was retarded, a super steep backwashy drop, only about 100 ft from the beach, kinda like 3rd in Belmar when the sandbars are bad. I got like 5 waves, all but 1 was me dropping in, pig dogging into the closeout. Then I tried to go right. It was my last wave, I had just made a really big steep one so I was feeling very confident, usually what happens before I try something dumb. We saw a few bombs out the back, He started paddling, but I figured if I could get in under the lip just a bit I could get a sick barrel… I let the first couple go, mostly cause I was too inside, then started going for the third. I was a little more late than I wanted to be, but in my head I was already in it. I stood up and had an oh shit moment, I was stuck in the lip. I jumped and took what has been the worst beating I’ve gotten in Chile yet. Luckily, plenty of people on the beach saw, including Matias. He was laughing almost as hard as I could expect one of my friends back home as they read this. Well, by then I had to get back to the house as it was getting dark… but we exchanged some info, I hope to have a sesh with that guy again soon.

So that’s about it, I guess… oh wait…

Things I’ve Learned: 8′ at 15sec from 255 is a magic set of numbers; The estuary is actually a known surf spot; Hot yoga is fucking hard; There are in fact 2 cafe journals
New Spanish Words: De repente- depending on the context can mean anything from recently doing something to sometimes; guata- can mean your stomach or a million dollars;
Food/Drink: Charqui- jerky, but usually made from horses… yeah; rosca- donut; Fan schop- beer and orange fanta… again, yeah;
Things I Still Need to Figure Out: That reef on the south end of town definitely breaks, I just don’t know how to get there, or if its surfable; If we are actually gonna start seeing north swells here;

My house after Irene

Perfect Ecample of PGCB

Streaking during a hurricane.. now thats just ig’nant…

Hopefully Ill be more timely with these posts, sorry, StayWet;)

If you were a hotdog, and you were starving, would ya eat yourself?… I asked myself this question a few times this week. Why? I am 20 min from the nearest fully exposed beachie, however, I have began to find several spots in town that break, albeit slightly smaller. The only problem is that the best one of these waves, best being most consistently rideable, sits slightly outside the mouth of the estuary… yup the dirty, disgusting, dog/human feces filled estuary. Now, the mouth doesn’t really break through to the beach, in fact, a couple times I have checked it, the mouth was sealed up, but still, after several conversations with locals, that whole area is not a place anyone goes swimming, let alone surfing. So I find myself starving to surf a good wave that is close, but should I do it at the demise of my health? I dont think so. The wave is really good though, its a cove, about a 100 yards wide. On the south end is a left that peels perfectly along these rocks, eventually hitting the inside and closes out on the right. The right is a little shorter, doesn’t look as big as the left, but is a lot bowlier, and really wedges. every time I’ve gone there it has been chest to head high, looking super rippable. This as apposed to the usually closed out, current and sponger filled break of Renaca. I have found 2 other beachies that are not nearly as dirty, however, 1 receives minimal swell and is littered with rocks, the other is really dominated by the spongers, and that too receives minimal swell. I do plan on ssurfing somewhere in town eventually, I just need to keep an eye on the local weather, as I found out for the first time this past week, there are a lot of breaks that really light up on windswell. But, we hardly ever have local winds blow over 8 knts, and that is the occasional gust of wind…

In other news it has been a really slow week, I did some surfing on Friday but it was really bad. I have grown really tired of the discos, I have found a few little nook dive bars in the hills of Valpo that are some real gems. I also will be starting, along with several other students, a mural project today. Today is the first meeting for it, we are deciding where and what we are painting, but it is gonna be sick. I have been stoking on this for the past week.

My classes have also began to pick up in work, in fact I have a little report due this Tuesday, I should probably get started on that… college.

What I’ve Learned: The majority of French people are assholes; there is an avocado tree outside my classes; daylight savings time in Chile starts today, Spring Ahead!
Food/Drink: Had some wonderful red wine at Vinelo in Valpo, although I couldn’t tell ya the name to save my life; ate a Tuyo, white chocolate covered wafers, with a milk chocolate bottom, its pretty good.
Spanish Words: Rato- basically an unknown amount of time, usually less than an hour, but more than 15 minutes; Baca/Vaca- No not a cow, when you are at a restaurant, the bill comes, and you and your friends all throw in money. That pot of money is a Baca/Vaca.
Things I still need to figure out: the website for the local weather here in Vina; how to work this Chilean washing machine; I still do not know that one professor’s name…

What I was refering to earlier…

Even Harry knows this…

see ya soon… StayWet;)