back from the dead

I still have this nasty hacking cough that I've had for two weeks now. It got worse when we went to Peru. The cold water, the intense paddling, the abundance of waves. The fact that the coastal zone of Peru is a giant desert and it gets really windy and cold didn't help. The biggest reason why I (and a few others of us) got sick was because when we were trying to leave Lima we were told that Costa Rica had quarantined us in Peru because we didn't have yellow fever vaccinations. hmmm. That would have been something worth knowing when we bought our tickets to Peru in the first place. They told us that we had to get vaccinations and then wait in Peru for ten days before returning home. All of this when we were racing like hell across a very crowded Lima, arriving for our flight less than an hour before departure.

Fortunately in practically every Latin American country I've traveled to, there is someone willing to bend the rules with the help of a "donation" for some charitable cause. We bribed the incredibly old lady nurses that worked in the airport health clinic, they shot us up with yellow fever inoculations (probably sharing the same needle, who knows), then ran back to the ticket counter to check our bags and sprint to the gate minutes before the plane left. On the plane, my body collapsed. My hacking cough returned after doing the 1000 meter dash. Maybe I was just worn down from surfing incredibly insane waves for the past week in cold water. Who knows. All I do know is that I'm feeling like I've returned from the dead. I'm told this happens to me every time I travel to the edge of the earth. I can't remember as everything seems to be a blur. You gotta love this job.


Back row (left to right)- Flash Miranda, Chris Meredith, Ed O'Neill, Amber Shaffer, Jill Marshall, JD Marshall, Patrick Smyth, me, Mike Tornichia. Front row (left to right)- Antonio Tello, Janet (Antonio's friend), Carlos Arias, John Otto


San Bartolo, Peru


the Lima barrio


One of the many times we got pulled over by the police.


Joe's secret spot, somewhere between Lima and Chicama


I had some really fun waves that day.


From San Bartolo to Chicama was something like ten hours driving, maybe more. The entire drive looks like Mars. There must be hundreds (or thousands) of surf breaks along the coast that are never surfed.


We made sure to tag everything we could with WRSC gear




driving through the city was a crazy experience, kindof like a video game.


A local market (one of many)


Having faith and eating where the locals eat.


Everyone grew mustaches for the trip. I returned from the trip with mine (Holly hates me). Soulstache!


Flash's mustache was pretty dope. So were his spliffs. Jesus...


Antonio has been surfing Peru for over 30 years and has it pretty dialed, everyone who surfs in Peru knows him.


Hanging out at Antonio's surf camp, heres a pic of a photo on his wall of his wife Fiorella with the late Mark Foo.


Even when Chicama got small it was still a really fun wave.




Carlos ripping it up on the fish


Mike pulling into a little sunset pocket


Celebrating with beer.

Whew! What a sweet trip. Everyone on the tour was cool, we all got along great. I just received a bunch of video from Ed from when we were surfing the secret spot. I have Rafa cutting it up and I plan to get some video online next week. I made some good friends, chilled with some existing friends, didn't lose any friends, so all is great. Now that I'm finally feeling better I might actually go surfing again. Whats that you say? Another late season southwest swell is on it's way? Really?

Ah yes, it does appear that we have yet another big south swell sending us waves. The wind is offshore here in Tamarindo, the sun is shining. Its HOT. Its summer. Instead of Mars we've got some palm trees and warm water. NO WETSUITS!

I'm stoked to be home and feeling better, hanging with my wife and boys, catching up on work, getting back in the groove. See you around- joe

Chicama - Peru

OK.... I haven't been on the computer barely at all this week, not much internet here in the middle of nowhere. Here are some early pics of some of the waves we got on this tour to Peru. We've been in Chicama for three days surfing a pretty fun swell. It hasn't been huge but definitely fun, and EMPTY. This south swell was really late, normally there aren't any souths in November. We got really lucky. I'll write more later :-)

Peru update

Peru Surf Tour Day #3

Kent, to answer your question, I'll have pics up as soon as I find
Internet that lasts more than 5 minutes. Maybe tomorrow? We are
traveling through the middle of nowhere (no wifi hotspots like WRSC)

I love Peru because when you surf here, instead of hoping for big
waves, you hope it isn't too big to surf. We timed this trip
perfectly. The swell hit this morning, waves are head high plus at
protected spots, much bigger at the beach breaks and more exposed
points. The swell has just started to hit, it could get really big...

We're driving to Chicama tonight, the equivalent of driving from San
Diego to San Francisco except for the barron desert expanse. Tomorrow
late morning we should be surfing the world's longest wave. I love my
job :-)

I think I could have the best job in the world

I'm getting ready for Peru right now, packing my things. A late season southwest swell has formed and we're expecting to surf Chicama, the LONGEST wave in the world. What does Chicama look like? I've surfed it once before, it looks like this:

The boards are all packed, there are 11 of us on this tour, 7 of us leaving from Costa Rica. Tomorrow we wake up at 330am, have a coffee, pack the boards on top, and drive 5 hours to San Jose to catch a flight to Lima.
I have the best job in the world. I am so lucky to call this work. From what I've seen over the years, when people make careers out of the things that they love, it normally ends up where they hate what they were initially passionate about. For me it is quite the opposite. I am more in love with surfing today than I was the day I set out to start Witch's Rock Surf Camp. I'm so stoked to have gotten things at WRSC running to a point where I can branch off and offer these guided tours. I get to surf and provide for my family, its simply the best.
Expect a ton of pics and video of Peru this week, its going to be great.

OBAMA

Its funny, watching CNN, then comparing their notes to FOX. CBS and NBC have their own info, also different. I guess this means I'm an adult, as Holly and I are drinking beer and watching the elections. This Presidential race will be over after today and the world can move on.

update

Thank you to everyone who applied for the WRSC Sales Manager position, and congratulations to Larry McKinney. Larry will be at WRSC in a few days and will officially start work on Monday November 10th. Please feel free to crank call him by calling the WRSC Hotline: 1-888-318-SURF
Welcome to your new job Larry! The dude gets 2 hour surf breaks for lunch, not bad!

Hey Chris Brown, this is the most epic photo I've seen in a while, I think. What exactly am I looking at? It just doesn't make any sense to me!


Gotta love facebook for things like that. Anyways, my banker called me to tell me my bank was closing, so I guess I can say sorry to everyone I recommended to Banco Cuscatlan. It all-of-a-sudden closed on Friday, my online banking is down, the bank isn't opening on Monday, or ever for that matter. Hmmm.... Ok...... No matter what I'm never going back to Banco Nacional, they are the devil. Seems like all banks suck these days. More than anything, I am sick to death of politics. I can't wait for it to be over. When I left for Costa Rica Bill Clinton was president and the worst thing going on was a blowjob in the Oval Office. Now its way out of hand. Normally I'd bury myself in the football season but the Chargers aren't making it easy on me. Thank mother nature for surfing. Thank you mother ocean :-) When my wife hates on me, you bring me waves. When my kids drive me nuts, I go surf and remember why I have kids in the first place. You are free, and you make me feel free. The more I surf the more I love to surf and the more I love the ocean. In appreciation of you, mother ocean, I've started growing a 70's soul mustache and I will make it my mission to convert every surfer friend I know to grow their soul stache. Soulstache. Longboard Fever. I'm going surfing.