{"id":2972,"date":"2016-08-13T22:38:31","date_gmt":"2016-08-13T21:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/?p=2972"},"modified":"2017-05-18T11:13:37","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T10:13:37","slug":"surfing-in-peru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/?p=2972","title":{"rendered":"Surfing in Peru"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/?attachment_id=3119\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3119\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-3119\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/peru-surf-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"469\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/peru-surf-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/peru-surf.jpg 415w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 469px) 100vw, 469px\" \/><\/a>\u2018Here\u2019s the thing,\u2019 the surfer tells me as he changes into his wetsuit. We look offshore at the monstrous wave of<em> Pico Alto<\/em> as it comes charging towards us. \u2018That wave gets to 40ft high. But it\u2019s not just the height. It\u2019s the depth of water behind it. It\u2019s <em>triangular<\/em>. So if that thing comes down on you, it feels like a brick house coming down &#8211; with you underneath it.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<p>He runs towards the water before I learn his name.<\/p>\n<p>I have been coming to Peru for 35 years and it still excites \u2013 perhaps because of its endless capacity to surprise. Although I know the Inca heartland around Machu Picchu best, I have come to love the long Pacific coastline, with its pyramids and fabulous beaches.<\/p>\n<p>Today I am 25 miles south of Lima in the town of Punta Hermosa, where the new mania for surfing in Peru has precipitated a building boom. Rows of brand-new white apartment blocks gleam in the sun on the cliffs above a whole series of incredible waves: <em>Caballeros<\/em> (Gentlemen), a right-hander, is matched chivalrously by <em>Se\u00f1oritas<\/em> (Ladies), an equally impressive left-hander. Further out is the daunting sight of <em>Pico Alto<\/em> \u2013 meaning high summit.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/?page_id=3122\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">see\u00a0the rest of my article\u00a0as first published in British Airways <em>High Life<\/em> magazine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018Here\u2019s the thing,\u2019 the surfer tells me as he changes into his wetsuit. We look offshore at the monstrous wave of Pico Alto as it comes charging towards us. \u2018That wave gets to 40ft high. But it\u2019s not just the height. It\u2019s the depth of water behind it. It\u2019s triangular. So if that thing comes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1],"tags":[147],"class_list":["post-2972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-peru","category-uncategorized","tag-surfing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2972"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3169,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972\/revisions\/3169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}