Porto Escondido, The Mexican Pipeline.
Me surfing at Porto Escondido. Click above.
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Mexico City from the air is a sight to see. Nearly as many people as Australia's whole population all packed into one amazing city. I’m sure it may be different story for some people if they lived there! Porto Escondido was where we were headed so hopefully I could experience some of the best beach break tubes possible packed into a short stretch of corse, heavy sand. The local Mexican surfers were good and always knew what was happening and what was going to happen.
A crew of four or so surfers arrived there with their white socks, sand-shoes and long shorts. Seen the look? They pranced around with a strut and were so disrespectful to everyone both in and out of the water. Annoying really! Anyway after they had well and truly upset everybody a strange thing happened. One morning their room was broken into while they were out surfing. All their gear was taken. I mean all their gear back packs, clothes, passports, everything! They left Porto Escondido the next day in distress. It was a good idea for them to go. The motto to this story is Never ever forget where you are when travelling as they did and always remember that you’re not at home now. I guess it’s all about respect!
I got lucky. One night there was a savage storm. There was a hurricane out to sea. We felt some of its impact in Porto with heavy rain and strong winds. The next day the surf was going off. Big tubes and as perfect as you would ever want. It was shallow, powerful and snapped boards. When it big like that your are better off without a leg rope. It only holds you in the impact zone and either you or your board will stress and often break. It lasted only for an a day but what a day it turned out to be. It was so good that maybe it was only fair that a day was all that it lasted.
When at the airport leaving Mexico, a female customs officer was having a good look through our things making sure we weren’t carrying any contraband. She was taking some time. I was getting a bit anxious and stressed that we'd miss our flight and asked her to hurry up. She looked and me with a wye smile and said ‘I don't work for the airlines’. So, in other words, bad luck! I had better be quiet I thought!
NB- The story and photo is from my book called ‘Time and Place‘.