Pumping waves in Pasquales

     We finally gave up on Sayulita and decided to head south to find better waves. The drive to Pasqaules took us through the sparsely populated rolling tropical hillsides of Jalisco. The road through those hills is treacherous, especially after the record setting rains this year has produced. Jalisco is most comparable to Kentucky, or any other part of the deep Appalachian region for that matter, except with more kamikaze iguanas that jet across the road at no predictable interval. Call me inhumane, but when driving at high speeds I don’t swerve for small rodents or other pests who pose no threat to damaging the van. I’ve seen first hand the potentially fatal results of trying to dodge a cute fuzzy little bunny; the result is often times neither cute for fuzzy. With that said, I regret to inform the readers of this blog that there’s an iguana pancake frying on the pavement somewhere in the Jalisco hills, may he rest in peace.
     The mystery rash/hives started to flare up again, engulfing my arms and legs. The situation was only worsened when my blood pressure rose after we found ourselves more than thirty minutes off course driving the wrong way thanks to poorly marked road signs. We finally pulled into Pasquales near the end of the day. For the first time on the trip I was thinking to myself about how nice it would be to be at home, in the air conditioning, where I could ride out the nasty allergic reaction. I took two more of the prescription grade antihistamines and called it a night while trying to think positively about my current state of health. The next morning we were up with the sun and the allergic reaction had subsided.

      We hit the waves first thing. Pasqaules lived up to the rumors. It is a HEAVY, hollow beach break that produces world class barreling waves. Even with no significant swell in the water this unique beach break was turning out six to ten foot faces. AJ and I both got amazing barrels that morning which helped to alleviate the frustration of having traveled nearly 2000 miles without any solid waves to show for it.
      We’ve been in Pasqaules for five days now staying at Edgar’s Surf Hotel. Its 30 pesos per night (about $2.50 USD) to camp in the van in his secure beachfront parking lot with hammocks, a shower, some tables and plenty of shade. We’re the only Americans here; it’s mostly Australians and some Venezuelans at the moment. The Australians are a funny bunch, they never cease to impress me with their wealth of dirty words and expressions which have kept AJ and I cracking up the entire time.
The daily routine in Pasquales is pretty sweet. You wake up at dawn and surf for three to five hours until the wind turns onshore and then you come in for breakfast. From there most people read or take siestas until the late afternoon when the wind backs off enough to go out for another surf. From there its happy hour followed by dinner. We’ve been cooking for ourselves exclusively to save money, and with the low price of the abundant local seafood it’s been no chore at all. Last night we had some garlic and butter sautéed local whitefish, which was about $2 USD per kilo.
     The photo posted here was taken on one of the smaller days when I conjured up enough will power to get out of the water and take some photos, which is really hard to do when the waves are good. We should be here another few days until we continue our journey southward.