Desert North

Spent the last week in the Atacama Desert in the North, the world`s driest desert. The waves up there are super consistent and crazy powerful..The swell is so well travelled it moves really slowly but carries a lot of weight, so when it finds a shallow rock shelf to unload on the result is some seriously heavy waves!

As it`s winter now the climate is perfect for being in the sea, not too hot and not too cold. I spent most of my time surfing so didn`t get too many good pictures, definitely learnt a lot about the bigger, heavier stuff...Hope to return in a few weeks when I finish my teaching job but for now it`s back to the classroom for three weeks!

Lately

A few snaps from the past few days around and about the area..

Up North Likesay

Since leaving Santiago I have been living in a wee coastal village about 7 hours to the north. It´s super bueno, but sometimes a wee bit too small. There are two good beaches which are beautiful but, unfortunately, don´t convert the masses of daily swell into too many rideable waves. Still, the last few days turned on a local river mouth wave and the locals were out in force!

It´s crazy being in the water and looking back to the snow capped Andes mountains, took my breath away the first time! The water is not warm but not cold, with the sun it´s warm enough to stay in the water all day..

When the swell dropped off a bit I took the camera out and tried a few snaps of the local kids surfing and bodyboarding, many are also my students in the local school! They are all super stoked at the presence of a strange gringo in their waters!

Viva Chileeee>!

Santiago De Chile

Spent the week before last in Chile´s sprawling capital, Santiago. It being the depths of winter, it was super cold and rained moreorless everyday.

The city was one of contrast: the dirt poor slums around the airport and the deceptively small and modern central district are just two extremes of Chile´s capital. Huge, shiny skyscrapers tower over slums and many different styles of building hint at the country´s turbulent and chequered past.

I was happy to be there, unfortunately it got dark at 6 every night so after classroom workshops there wasm´t much time to see the metropolis by light..The wine is super good and super cheap, about 50p for a very very big bottle....:)