En mi viaje a Sumatra tuve la suerte de conocer a  Jamie Osborne y compartir con el mas de un baño y aventuras. Les dejo con su blog y sobre lo que él ha vivido en esos días de Sumatra. Un pequeño avance antes de publicar lo que para mi ha sido un viaje increible.

 Nearly 4 weeks in Isolated Krui, south Sumatra and apart from the numerous reef cuts, fin rubs, mozzie bites and heat exhaustion this place keeps on amazing me with its wild characteristics.

  this place and its pure beauty has me lost staring everyday. The daily routine is pretty standard with finding the best waves around being the aim. We have done pretty well too considering its pretty hit and miss here. The surf forecast offers some guidance in showing us the swell hight and direction along with tides but its the wind that has the final say in whether where going to get a surf in or not. Its so frustratingly unpredictable and changes all the time. Most days the wind blows offshore in the mornings (ENE) up until around 10 or 11am, then the onshores kick in (W) for the rest of the day. The evenings tend to glass off a few hours before dark while you watch the daily thunderstorm move slowly in from the mountains in the late evening. We have come to the conclusion that the best way is to just totally wing it and hope for the best, and in doing so we have reaped the rewards. 

When the waves don’t deliver there is very limited other things to do here. Taking advantage of the crystal clear, warm water on lay days is a must. I have been snorkelling and also spear fishing with a home made and ridiculously lethal spear gun. You need to been hulk holgan to load the rubber sling shot back on the spear gun, and after spending 2 hours flapping round over the reef  with my shitty fogged up goggles and shooting fuck all I decided the sun burn wasn’t worth it. I have been trying to work on my flexibility most days, especially after long sessions in the sea, with half an hours stretching and its effects are defiantly apparent, feel so much more flowing in the water and generally my body all round feels much more relaxed and durable. We have been to the nearby  market a few times but the lingering smell of  meat and fish that has slowly been cooking in the sauna like heat throughout the day was pretty overwhelming, combined with the general smell of the polluted and littered streets a strong stomach is very much needed. There is such a broad contrast in this third world paradise, makes me think how lucky I am in a lot of ways but I also feel the people of Indonesia, with there uncomplicated, simple way of life have the upper hand. No underlying corrupt bullshit that most western country’s seem to be very good at stirring up.

 

Travelling to near by Liwa (45 mins each way) to use the only ATM in this neck of the woods was a pretty cool experience. The Indonesian family we are staying with at sunset losemen, kindly offered to take us there in the family wagon. Liwa is situated high up in the mountains and like Krui is a pretty basic and rough round the edges kinda place. The view across the mountains from up there though certainly makes up for what it lacks in charm. The journey up was a slalom of winding, pot hole filled  roads through some thick juicy jungle. Getting out of the car on the way up to take a piss was a massive eye opener, being still and looking from the road into dense, untouched maze of trees and greenery was like something I had watched David attonbourgh present on a Sunday evening hung over to fuck. The sounds produced by the abundant wildlife was as intense as the heat, it was so loud and alive, and seeing a gang of monkeys on the way back was a bonus…. all though I wanted to see a Sumatran tiger I think I have more chance of  winning the lottery.

 

THE WAVES HAVE BEEN PUMPING, to the point that both my feet have swollen up from wearing fins that constantly rub for up to 7 hours a day. Got a nice array of reef cuts covering my body including my head, feet, legs arms and legs. You become your own doctor here, every evening the antiseptic wipes, alcohol, Chinese medicine, plasters and cotton buds come out before dinner. Luckily for me and the rest of the crew, the swell has dropped and a few days on the chill is in full flow. We have scored pumping waves for the last 4 days and have had good waves the whole 4 weeks we have been here bar 2 or 3 days. The main issue is that compared to last year when we came earlier in the season, the crowds are much more present with the Spanish taking over the bloody place, most of which are from the canary islands and a few of them thinking that because they have arrived with 8 of there mates they can dominate all the waves. Unfortunately for them tactics like that don’t go down well with others trying to get waves and it defiantly hasn’t made them any friends (RANT OVER). We have a good little crew at sunset though, a few guys we met in Avalon, Australia arrived a week ago (all of which are Spanish haha) and the vibes are how they should be in and out of the water. The advantage of having Spanish friends with us is that I have always wanted to learn the Spanish language. I am slowly but surely nailing the basics, with help from the guys and my Spanish/English dictionary maybe one day I might be able to string a sentence together.

 

 A session surfing a wave called ‘the peak’ we got talking and in the following days teamed up with Fronton veteran Richard Diaz (also from the canary islands) and a few amigos of his. One being a respected videographer from Hawaii who was filming Richard for his sponsors and a up and coming podcast. I grew up watching Richard absolutely charging on vid’s and dvds so to hang and surf with him the past few weeks was really cool. Its also FACT that all Spanish are FUCKING CRAZY!.