Four Days In Los Cerritos (Part I)

I remember waking up at six in the morning, putting wax on my board and running out to the beach in my trunks and rash guard.  Mornings can be bit chilly out in Los Cerritos, but once I laid my feet on the part of the sand that touched the sea, warmth tingled all the way up to my chest.  Surfing in water that never went below 80 degrees, at least when I was there, was a breath of fresh desert air.  And those that I met in this region of Baja Sur, which includes Todos Santos and Pescadero, were air to my soul.

From the first evening and on, Cerritos was either a solid 5-8 feet on the bigger days or 4-5 feet on the smaller days.  This break had everything a surfer could as for from lefts and rights, big drops, small drops, rampy waves, steep waves, big mushers and if you caught a big one on the outside and rode it into the first sand bar, super sweet hollow tatters.  I preferred the lefts which were steep, rampy and hollow if you made the sections into the inside bar.  And the paddle out was super easy.  Just catch the rip at that point and within five minutes, your in the lineup, hair dry and all, well, sometimes.  I could always tell who the newbs were, they would struggle trying to paddle into the lineup from the beach.  Novices and seasoned vets would catch a wave, ride it to the beach, walk north and catch the rip.  No Problemo.

There were huge differences while surfing in this part of Mexico versus surfing in the States.  For one thing, that librarian attitude of "hush hush" lineups were non present.  In some ways, it was outlawed.  Locals would hoot and hollar at each other, yell "Ooh la la!"  or whistle when a big set approached.  Surfers were actually laughing and giggling in the lineup (No way you say)!  One guy in particular had me laughing like a fat kid being tickled by the tickle monster.  Every time a nice wave was on the horizon after a lull, I would hear "O.K. boys!  You see that wave?  That wave is 'ming'!"  Even if there wasn't a wave on the horizon he would yell "O.K. boys!  You see that wave a mile out? That one is 'ming' too!!!"  Turns out after our fist session together, that guy, Lukan, would become one of my best friends for three days.  We almost even crashed a wedding together in Pescadero (turns out we were an hour late)".

The party atmosphere in the lineup was infectious.  Local guys that you will hear later about like the Ramos brothers, Juan the life guard and Carlos the ripper, Pablo the sound engineer, Guillermo the big teddy bear and Lukan "El Tio", spread the stoke like no other lineup I had ever been in.  We ended up having some great and memorable times together.

Juan the life guard taking a slice out of a clean right.

How did I get to know these guy? We'll this is the trick.  Catch the biggest and gnarliest wave out back with a GoPro camera in your mouth.

After, guys in town would come up and ask me:

"Oye, era que con la camera en la boca?" (Hey you! Was that you with the camera in your mouth?) 
"Sí, ese era yo ..." (Yeah, I guess so...) 
"Su ola... (with a pause and nod) era grande! Esa caída, rápido!"  (Your wave... was big!  The drop was fast!)

And from then on, we were homies.  

Dinners at Pescadero Surf Camp with the crew.

In all truth, we all got really close during our nightly dinners at the Pescadero Surf Camp.  At least every day, one of the guys staying there would go on fishing trip with a local named "El Profesor" or "Profe" for short.  And everyday, they would catch a huge Mahi Mahi, invite anybody in the know over and we would talk story, have laughs, drink a whole bunch of Pacifico and end up running out to the surf the next morning with a huge headache.  Guillermo the big teddy bear would be the cook, and man, could he cook.  On one of the nights, Carlos the pilot from San Diego cooked it up with a Spaniard twist, and what a delicious twist it was.  Yeah, I eat pretty good on this trip.  

"El Profesor", look him up if you want to catch some fish in Pescadero.

But I got to give it up to Jaime, the owner of the Pescadero Surf Camp and proud Salsipuede.  He created a spot where travelers, surfers and locals can coexist.  I'm not blind to who Jaime is.  He was a huge part of the one of the first surf books I ever read, "Kook"by Peter Heller.  He's a good dude, and everybody appears to respect him in  a way that was built overtime.  And I've heard that he helps out a lot of the local surfers who are struggling.  He is a big player in the real estate game in that area, but I didn't get to converse with him about this like others had.  

Andreas, Me, MC and Steve

During my second early morning session out in the water, I paddled out and saw a couple of newbs.  I did everything to avoid them, because boy, they looked like they had no clue.  But after a few hours, I got my fair share of some tasty tatters and one of them paddled up next to me.  I figured it was time to pass on some stoke and help this brotha out.  A nice sized waved approached both of us, and I looked over at him and said, "That one is yours, go for it."  He smiled, like kooks do, and started paddling way too early.  In an effort to help him avoid getting pitched over the falls, I paddled up next to him and said "Hold on.  Wait.  O.K. .....  Paddle now, and relax, you got it."  And he did!  He even stood up and got some face time.  

Later on that day I headed over to The Pescadero Surf Camp to meet Jaime and get an interview for my "project".  Instead of meeting Jaime, who was out doing some biz, I met the kook from my morning session.   Turns out the kook, Andreas the Pharmacist from Switzerland was sitting at the outside dining area.  We ended up talking and he introduced me to his buddy Steve the Gold Digger (literally, dude digs for gold) from the Yukon.  After an hour, they invited MC and I to dinner where we formerly met the crew.  Andreas, Steve and I became partners that could not be separated for the next three days (even after some heavy margaritas at "Art and Beer").  

See! My rule of giving up at least three waves a session actually worked!

Next blog:  Four Days in Los Cerritos (Part II)

P.S.  I hope you guys are enjoying the journey.  At least we got into some surfing now! (Yeah, I felt the same way on the trip like "When the hell can we stop driving and get into some surf!)