South America - Week 1 Part - Lima Photos

South America - Week 1 Part 3 - San Bartolo

So our new friends had been telling us all week about this one place they wanted to take us. We finally got it organized, woke up and got out of our hostel before 9am, and met the guys. We had to skate probably 30 or 40 blocks, take a few different buses all through the city, listen to our friends argue in Spanish for 10 minutes over a Sole (Peruvian Currency) and trek over some sand dunes before finally arriving in this little beach town called San Bartolo. But it was well worth the trek.

First things first, we found this beast:

which of course Garrett wasted no time in destroying.

But seriously though, the damn thing is weird as hell. It didn't really make any sense. The best we can figure is someone was trying to make some kind of concrete wave of sorts. It has no coping, no vert, rollers everywhere and is probably about 14 feet deep at it's deepest point. So basically, it's massive. And awesome.

South America - Week 1 Part 2 - Lima

On our third day in Lima, our friend, Paul Gonzales moved to a new hostal. We skated over to meet him, but as it turns out, Google Maps is not quite so accurate in Peru as it is at home. It pretty much sent us in completely the opposite direction. So after skating around for over an hour searching for a hostal that did not exist, we found a tiny little skatepark that was half under construction.



And with this discovery, Google's mistake turned into the best thing that happened to us so far on this trip. While sitting on a corner trying to figure out what to do, two locals skated over and asked us (in pretty bad English) if we'd like to go skating with them. We said sure. So we followed them to their house, only to find a crew of about 8 skateboarders who all turned out to be the friendliest group of guys we could possibly meet. Despite the language barrier (only 2 of them knew English at all) they pretty much adopted us into their crew, and took us everywhere for 4 days straight. We got to see stuff and go places that I'm sure foreigners who spent 2 months in Lima would never see. Pretty much the best possible mistake that ever could have happened.

Here's one other park the guys took us to.



It's much closer to central Lima. It's pretty fun, but very very busy. Garrett was getting followed around by hoards of kids. It was a good time.

South America - Week 1 Part 1 - Lima, Peru

Well...I'm already blowing it and not posting at all.  We're two weeks into the trip and it's been absolutely off the charts.  Best trip I've been on in my life for sure.  Lima is an amazing and massive city.  Some parts are beautiful, some are super modern with Starbucks and McDonalds included, and some are just intensely poor.  The ghettos here are the real deal.  Shanty towns as far as the eye can see.  Places the local Police will not dare to go.  We met some locals who took us on a couple crazy bus trips through these parts, telling us "Never ever come here without us."  There was one skate park we went to right in the ghetto.  It was surrounded by a huge fence, and you had to be let in by an armed guard who would lock the gate behind you. 

But the best thing so far about Lima is the people.  They absolutely LOVE skateboarding.  Crowds would actually cheer for us as we just skated by down the street.



Here's the first couple parks we went to.  This one is about about 4 blocks from Starbucks:



And this one is about 2 blocks from the gnarliest shanty town I've ever seen in person.



So definitely some contrast.  I have much much more, but I've been lazy so I will have to put it together.

South America - Day Minus One

Only hours before flying out of North America, we got to skate Shane's ramp in Calgary. Pretty much the best way to end a shitty Canadian winter. If you've never met Shane, he is pretty much the best dude you'll ever meet. He let us come skate his ramp, then gave us beer and pizza, then drove us across the city right back to our hotel. Shane...you're the man!!