Since the first day of my travel I knew just one thing – that at one point in January 2015 I will pass some time near the coast of Pacific, in the little surf school, where we agreed to make efficient exchange – English for Surf.
So on the 22nd of January I arrived, and after jumping out of the bus I could think just one thing - what the hell I am going to do in this place of NOTHING for the whole month?
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| PIER IN LOBITOS |
I WAS WRONG!
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| FISHERMEN BOATS - LOBITOS |
The black gold paradise - Lobitos
This small town
– Lobitos, which seems so quiet and innocent, because of its little colorful
houses, turns to be the paradise for “black gold” diggers. Every 300m there is
another oil machine drilling the ground and wherever you turn towards the ocean
your eyes crash the huge oil platforms, based further inside in the ocean.
The first impression of the town is that something bad has happened, as all around You can see so many collapsed buildings, ruins and empty churches. And there is a reason for this feeling.
It started in 1920 when the first diggers from England came. They drilled the land of Peru built beautiful English style summer houses near the coast and enjoyed the process of getting rich. But it didn't last for long; just till the moment when Americans (who became good friends with Peru at that time) suggested that it is strategically very important spot, and it is more than logical that this fact creates necessity to place the army there with the offered help of the ‘friend’ USA (of course!).
The army was placed and English people were slowly replaced by Americans, till 1960s when Peruvian regime turned into the military dictatorship and the local army was sent in to the town to cast out all of the foreign blood. That was the time when everything got destroyed and village turned into the dead place – with no one living there.
The fact that foreigners were thrown out doesn't seem so bad to me, but unfortunately Peru government did not manage to keep this black gold to themselves and Peruvian nation. By the time, it all got sold out and mainly all the land with drills now belongs to Chinese people.
How weird is that – a country so rich of its own natural resources but getting their share from petroleum industry - less than 1%, and of course nothing of this money reaches the locals. But this problem is controlled very skillfully – with a lack of education for locals, in that way they are easily kept out of understanding what is being done to their land.
The first impression of the town is that something bad has happened, as all around You can see so many collapsed buildings, ruins and empty churches. And there is a reason for this feeling.
It started in 1920 when the first diggers from England came. They drilled the land of Peru built beautiful English style summer houses near the coast and enjoyed the process of getting rich. But it didn't last for long; just till the moment when Americans (who became good friends with Peru at that time) suggested that it is strategically very important spot, and it is more than logical that this fact creates necessity to place the army there with the offered help of the ‘friend’ USA (of course!).
The army was placed and English people were slowly replaced by Americans, till 1960s when Peruvian regime turned into the military dictatorship and the local army was sent in to the town to cast out all of the foreign blood. That was the time when everything got destroyed and village turned into the dead place – with no one living there.
The fact that foreigners were thrown out doesn't seem so bad to me, but unfortunately Peru government did not manage to keep this black gold to themselves and Peruvian nation. By the time, it all got sold out and mainly all the land with drills now belongs to Chinese people.
How weird is that – a country so rich of its own natural resources but getting their share from petroleum industry - less than 1%, and of course nothing of this money reaches the locals. But this problem is controlled very skillfully – with a lack of education for locals, in that way they are easily kept out of understanding what is being done to their land.
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| TANKS FOR PETROLEUM |
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| PETROLEUM PLATFORM |
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| ENGLISH SUMMER HOUSE |
People –
from fishermen to surfers (“Peruvian dream”)
The people
here experience dramatic change within in the few generations. Like it is in
the most of the coast towns – the usual occupation of the locals used to be
fishing – the knowledge how to use the ocean to feed their family. But now, one
can be a witness that there is almost no one from the younger generation who
would go in their fathers’ feet.
Nowadays there is another occupation - surf, which by few rare examples actually proved that it is possible to earn one’s living from it.
This change is happening all over the coast, but unfortunately to get to the level of professional surfer – one should invest a lot of money before - travel around the coast and train in the different beaches, while the local boys get really good only with the waves in front of their house. For me it seems like a ‘Peruvian dream’ - young surfers from Lima, who are supported by their wealthy families come to the local beach with big car and beautiful girls, and become an idol for the local surfer boys, in a way also serving as a reason to put aside their studies and go for the “surfer future” which they think is waiting for them in the other side of the wave.
Nowadays there is another occupation - surf, which by few rare examples actually proved that it is possible to earn one’s living from it.
This change is happening all over the coast, but unfortunately to get to the level of professional surfer – one should invest a lot of money before - travel around the coast and train in the different beaches, while the local boys get really good only with the waves in front of their house. For me it seems like a ‘Peruvian dream’ - young surfers from Lima, who are supported by their wealthy families come to the local beach with big car and beautiful girls, and become an idol for the local surfer boys, in a way also serving as a reason to put aside their studies and go for the “surfer future” which they think is waiting for them in the other side of the wave.
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| EVERY SUNDAY ALL THE VILLAGE COMES TO HELP OTHER FISHERMEN TO TAKE OUT BOATS OF THE WATER |
Surf and
what it does to people
The first question about surf to my side was something like that: “So what do you think what is so special about it (surf), that it can change some people’s life so dramatically that they give up their work, their love, their everything and move to live near the coast for the one reason – because there are waves?!”
I had no idea what is an answer to this question, but by spending more and more time in the coast where there is nothing just waves, I started realize how different world it is.
People wake up at 6:00 am just with one thought in their mind – if there are good waves. If there are - they run to the beach, if not – they still go to surf in whatever there is. Than by passing time together, sometimes their start conversation with such an enthusiasm: “You know what?”... And then I expect that some great realization has happened in one’s head, but the person continues with even bigger enthusiasm, “Tomorrow I think I will go to surf without the wet-suit”. J I guess I have nothing to reply. JJ.
The people who are addicted by the ocean are very interesting; their way of thinking is quite original because of its level of rationality. When there is no tiny paint brush they can cut piece of their hair and tie to the little piece of wood, so it can be used as a paint brush. When there is petroleum drilling machine disturbing by its noise – they will just turn it off, without even thinking what could be the consequence for this action, it fallows just by scream: “Let’s run!”. Some of them I educated about II world war and it was a bit difficult with my Spanish to explain who are Jewish people and how do You recognize them. There are many things which are granted for us in Western world and unknown for the ‘coast masters’, but they still inspired me so much in the way how they live.
Their connection with the nature, their knowledge of the ocean, their recognition for every type of the wave and sensation of the tights. While many people get to know world from the books and have received doubts about existence written by other man few hundred years ago – here in the coast, people just live. They go through sensations felt on their skin. They have direct contact with nature by floating in it, understanding it and respecting it. They leave the water every day with the satisfaction in their face, like a young bride who just tried her wedding dress and impatiently wait for another day to come faster.
The first question about surf to my side was something like that: “So what do you think what is so special about it (surf), that it can change some people’s life so dramatically that they give up their work, their love, their everything and move to live near the coast for the one reason – because there are waves?!”
I had no idea what is an answer to this question, but by spending more and more time in the coast where there is nothing just waves, I started realize how different world it is.
People wake up at 6:00 am just with one thought in their mind – if there are good waves. If there are - they run to the beach, if not – they still go to surf in whatever there is. Than by passing time together, sometimes their start conversation with such an enthusiasm: “You know what?”... And then I expect that some great realization has happened in one’s head, but the person continues with even bigger enthusiasm, “Tomorrow I think I will go to surf without the wet-suit”. J I guess I have nothing to reply. JJ.
The people who are addicted by the ocean are very interesting; their way of thinking is quite original because of its level of rationality. When there is no tiny paint brush they can cut piece of their hair and tie to the little piece of wood, so it can be used as a paint brush. When there is petroleum drilling machine disturbing by its noise – they will just turn it off, without even thinking what could be the consequence for this action, it fallows just by scream: “Let’s run!”. Some of them I educated about II world war and it was a bit difficult with my Spanish to explain who are Jewish people and how do You recognize them. There are many things which are granted for us in Western world and unknown for the ‘coast masters’, but they still inspired me so much in the way how they live.
Their connection with the nature, their knowledge of the ocean, their recognition for every type of the wave and sensation of the tights. While many people get to know world from the books and have received doubts about existence written by other man few hundred years ago – here in the coast, people just live. They go through sensations felt on their skin. They have direct contact with nature by floating in it, understanding it and respecting it. They leave the water every day with the satisfaction in their face, like a young bride who just tried her wedding dress and impatiently wait for another day to come faster.
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| THIS BEAUTY HAPPENS EVERY NIGHT, AND WE DIDN'T MISS ANY /Foto: S.V./ |
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| ADVANCED /Foto: S.V./ |
Also I went into this adventure by walking almost every morning along the coast to grab my little waves with the giant board and followed the locals to understand how to respect and understand this powerful force of the nature. The first swell when the waves of 1,5m (but seemed like 3m) were falling above my head – I was so happy to leave the water with realization that I am still alive, while the second time I already understood how to deal with this washing machine turbulence which drags and spins You around, when You don’t get the wave properly.
What can I say – there are not so many feelings like that what I had experienced before, nothing like when You jump in to the wave or float in the golden water while sun goes done.
I guess now I know the answer to the first question I was asked.
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| MY VERY FIRST WAVE / HUANCHACO |
Pura Vida in Lobitos
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| PROFESORA DE INGLES |
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| NURA - SWIMMING WITH TURTLES IN THE OCEAN |
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| GO PRO MAGIC with my underwater friends |
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| LEARNING SAMBA - PREPARATION FOR BRAZIL /Foto: S.V./ |
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| TRYING TO CATCH SOME DINNER |
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| MY NEW ARTISAN SKILLS - I CAN CATCH THE DREAMS |
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| MOTO - SIEMPRE |
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| DESERT - LOBITOS |
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| BEACH OWNERS |
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| THIS DOG LOVED ME, BUT HER OWNERS HATED ME FOR THAT /DOG DRAMA IN LOBITOS/ |
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| I FINALLY LEARNED HOW TO DRIVE IT |
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| EVERY NIGHT |
Besitos para Todos!
Adios Lobitos y Bienvenido en Cajamarca!
Adios Lobitos y Bienvenido en Cajamarca!
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