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Wintertime in Chile means heavy south swells will be hitting its coastline. |
INTRO: We are Julian (25) and Joaquin (23) Azulay, two Argentinean brothers who left Los Angeles, California last 8th of July 2010 on a truck. No main plan, but a clear idea: surf the entire Pacific Coast. We wanted to go back home to Argentina, but the final destination was not the goal. Exploring and surfing the American continent was what motivated us to drive back instead of flying.
It’s wintertime in Chile and that means heavy south swells hitting its coastline. After two weeks of camping and surfing in Arica and one week in Iquique, we just wanted to get away of cities. After our car being broken into in Iquique, we knew it was time to move on. The waves were very good and we got some big and hollow ones, but we did not feel the freedom that was our motor for camping in isolated spots.
We left to explore the Atacama Desert, where you could only get to most locations by 4×4. Our team was: Gonzalo longboarder from Spain, Aussie soulsurfer Carl, professional Argentinean photographer Victoria Aguirre and us two brothers. We had the same motivation, score epic waves with no crowds.
We drove south and turned at every dusty road that lead to the sea and checked for desert jewels. Some detours were a waste of fuel while others put us into a position that gave us no choice but to set up camp. The first wave we found was this perfect lefthander (photo 1) that gave us four friends the chance of possible 8 seconds barrels on every wave and also made Victoria enjoy pressing the camera button. It was every surfers dream.
We camped for two consecutive swells at that spot. Our campsite consisted of two tents, the truck and a campfire at night that kept as warm while preparing our nightly feasts. We had to take timber with us into The Atacama Desert, as it is the most arid place in the world making it impossible to find fuel for our fires.
After surfing by ourselves for over a week the swell dropped and we decided to move south in search of other spots. We went off road for two days until we found the second gem. It was a beautiful place covered with impressive rock formations and a perfect righthander sandwiched in between the coastline and a small island. It was like déjà vu, another amazing landscape, no people to be seen but this time we were dealing with a rippable right, allowing us to fit in some turns.
We had this for ourselves for three days with our routine being the same as our last location, surf, eat, surf, build a fire, eat then sleep. Repeat.
For more pictures and videos of our trip you can go to www.gauchosdelmar.com
To follow our adventure by facebook: Gauchos del mar
– By Julian and Joaquin Azulay
