Pico Alto Surf Camp, Peru

My first stop in Peru was Pico Alto Surf Camp (PASC) in Punta Hermosa which is about 45 minutes south of Lima. There are about 17 surf breaks within a small 8 km stretch that you can easily walk or take a moto taxi to from PASC. The camp is run by a guy named Oscar Morante Jr whose father, Oscar Sr, was a surf legend in the area. Oscar and his staff were super nice and took me and the other Brazilian tourists staying there to a number of off-the-beaten-path surf breaks all over the coast south of Lima.

I stayed at PASC for 8 nights at a whopping 25 dollars per night which included 3 meals a day. I also had my own private room with a TV, a DVD player, and a computer with internet across the hall. We were served home made lunches with rice, marinated meats, and great spicy sauses. It was amazing, especially after a full morning of surfing the cold waters and strong currents that I found ever present in Peruvian surfing. It was a big adjusment from my Costa Rican experience. The surf was just much bigger, with longer paddel outs, more current, and less clean waves where positioning and take off points were not so obvious to me. Peru is a bit of a rough and tumble surfing world. You are paddeling out, pushing trash out of your way as you go, and taking in the dusty desert skyline and hazy outline of nearby Lima. However, when you do finaly get in on one of Peru's big rolling waves, the ride is so much longer then those in Costa Rica, you remember why people come from all over to surf here.


Views of Senoritas and Caballeros, the two breaks I surfed the most


Some of the Brazilians prepare for a surf session

A view of a break called Puerto Viejo south of Punta Hermosa and Lima
'Me and my surf buddy Alex, who was nicknamed Cachito which means a bit or a morsel
Oscar Jr. , the Godfather of Punta Hermosa and one of the nicest guys I met while traveling

Me with two of the night club promoters of Hapas which was the big weekend discoteca in Punta Hermosa