LONG RIDES IN PERU 2003 &8211; AUGUST 7-17 & 14-24

History
Like Pages in A Book &8211; by Glenn Hening

It was my second trip to Peru, to an ocean festival held during the first weeks in May in Huanchaco, a small coastal town 500 miles north of Lima. We interviewed Thor Heyerdahl about the origins of surfing, tried to &8220;surf&8221; the reed craft still built by local fishermen, visited several amazing archaeological sites, and generally had our eyes opened about a version of riding waves thousands of years old. It was all quite interesting, and being a history teacher I was fascinated by ancient cultures that venerated waves and the power of the sea in their art, architecture, and iconography.

But the surfer in me was not quite as stoked: the surf had been fun, but nothing spectacular. So one day I struck up a conversation with a local Peruvian surfer to find out the inside story about surf in the area. Since I speak fluent Spanish, I specifically wanted to know what was the deal with Chicama, the legendary sandbar left point break

&8220;Agosto, Glenn &8211; en Agosto las olas vienen como paginas en un libro&8221;.

Well, it took a minute for his description to sink in. In thirty years of riding waves throughout California, Hawai&8217;i, Australia, and Central America, I&8217;d heard a lot of surf stories, but nobody ever talked about waves coming around a point &8220;like pages in a book.&8221; So I made arrangements to return to Peru that very August, and within two days of my arrival at Huanchaco, a swell came on strong one afternoon. That night it was hard to sleep, and the next day I found a taxi for the hour-plus drive to Chicama.

We drove straight through town to the bluff, turned left, and there it was: the longest stretch of lines I&8217;d ever seen, marching down the headland at Chicama &8211; &8220;like pages in a book.&8221;

Previous Year- 2002
Flash forward to November 2001, the First Surfing Arts, Science and Issues Conference organized by the Groundswell Society. I gave a lecture on my experiences in Northern Peru as a historian and a surfer, and when I was finished, Jericho Poppler said, &8220;We&8217;re going.&8221;

So in August of 2002 I led a group under the Groundswell Society flag back to Peru on a tour called: Long Rides: The Left Points and Ancient Archaeology of Surfriding in Northern Peru. We arrived during a big swell, flew up the coast after a short stay in Lima, and woke up Sunday morning to corduroy to the horizon. I got everyone up and at &8216;em and by mid-morning there we were, standing on the cliff at Chicama, watching wave after wave after wave peel for hundreds of meters down the point.

That swell lasted for four days. When some in the group got surfed out, we went to see the ruins of Chan Chan, where the walls of one temple are covered with corduroy to the horizon. Then it was back to Chicama for more &8220;pages&8221;.

By Thursday the swell had dropped, and the group spent more &8220;down time&8221; going to ruins and museums near our base camp in Huanchaco. On Friday a new swell arrived, and we spent the day surfing 4-6&8217; Malibu lefts across the street from our hotel. The next day the group had to leave, but I&8217;d made arrangements to spend another week in Peru scouting ruins and temples for future trips as well as getting back up to Chicama and other left points along that stretch of coast.

Now comes another season of surf in the Southern Hemisphere, and this August I will be working directly with Waterways Travel to guide two groups back to Northern Peru to revisit the pages of surfriding&8217;s ancient history &8211; and the pages peeling down the point at Chicama.

Background
Glenn Hening, a high school history teacher by profession, founded the Surfrider Foundation in 1984. Representing Surfrider in 1988 and again in 1990 at the Chan Chan Ocean Festival, he combined his passion for surfing with his curiosity about a history of riding waves that pre-dates surfing in Hawai&8217;i by thousands of years. He continued his historical research on a subsequent trip to Northern Peru that combined new discoveries with several memorable days riding the longest sandbar left in the world at Chicama. He has presented the results of his research in several lectures, most recently at the Laguna Art Museum&8217;s Surf Culture exhibit.

Last year Waterways helped Glenn organize and lead a very successful expedition under the flag of the Groundswell Society, an educational and cultural organization co-founded by Jericho Poppler and Matt Meyerson and Glenn. This year Waterways Travel is proud to offer you the chance to travel with Glenn back to Peru for ten days in August &8211; to ride some of the longest lefts in the world at Chicama and absorb the surf stoke of cultures dating to 1500 B.C. Chicama Plus: The Long Rides Expedition is designed for the thinking surfer who has more than a passing interest in &8216;surf-centric&8221; cultures thousands of years old &8211; and who is also ready to ride waves at sandbar point breaks that come out of the Roaring 40s like, well, like pages in a book.

Points & Sites of Interest

• Chicama &8211; the worlds longest left sand point
• Chan Chan &8211; an ancient city right on the beach where you can hear the surf echoing off walls covered with maritime friezes, including one that depicts swell lines to the horizon.
• El Brujo &8211; the site of a temple complex overlooking a left point. You&8217;ll see waves 8&8217; high carved into the temple walls.
• Huanchaco &8211; home of the reed craft still used by local fishermen and a &8220;C-Street&8221; left across the road from your hotel.
• Moce Musuem &8211; home of priceless artifacts including ceramics depicting the use of read craft 3000 years ago and ancient textiles woven with waves all around the boarders
• Puempe &8211; a hollow point up the coast fromChicama. It has been called the Homolua Bay of Peru.
• San Bartolo &8211; Your base while staying just south of Lima which can produce an excellent wave just steps from your door.

We can think of no other place on earth where you can ride some of the worlds longest waves while learning a lot about ancient societies with unique relationships to waves and the sea.