San Bartolo, Peru
San Bartolo is an interesting little place. I got a taxi out there from Lima and in the off season it should only be about 40 soles. Though as it was a warm day and there was the promise of oncoming summer the taxi drivers upped their price. I paid 70 soles but initially agreed on 65. Make sure you are taken the whole way!! I was dropped off some 15 minutes north of San Bartolo having made clear I didn't know the area. In all honesty I'd recommend local busses. Anyway, I spent a week there in a hostel called 'Hostal 800'. It's as good as a hotel and in the off season every place in town will be dying to have you and prices get very low. I had a beautiful balcony overlooking the main surf break in town. Funnily enough the town is so used to only having tourists in summer it was hard to rent surfing gear. I had a tiny little wetsuit from the 80s that was meant for spring at best. I had to go for quick 1/2 hour sessions and run back for hot showers. Sometimes the sun comes out of the haze but never before 12 it seems (at that time of year- late august). It was really incredible though driving through the desert that surrounds Lima and arriving in this small surfing oasis. Everything is built up the mountains that jut straight out from the sea. Lots and lots and lots of stairs! And every second building seems like it may just slide down the sand into the water and will have to be rebuilt. The desert on the other side seems endless. It reminded me of 'Aladdin' wandering around in the endless sandy hills. I really enjoyed the fact that Hostal 800 had rooms with private kitchens. Not only because I was able to boil water for drinking each day and make regular cups of hot milo or coffee (pretty imperative given the temperature of the water) but also because I spent time learning to cook. Living in the back of vans these last five years has left me pretty useless in the kitchen. Although I had a lot of fails I spent the week realising how much of an artistic process cooking is. It's very creative and soothes that part of me that rises up in impatience if I'm not playing much music. I started by learning to make a damn good guacamole (advacado, tomato, red onion, loads of coriander [cilantro], and loads of lime and chilli- salt too...though I find it's a bit of a short cut to tasty guac). I then finally tried a mango salsa recipe I had learned off by heart whilst waiting in a US customs office for 4 hours in a home living magazine...this makes quite an incredible salsa. After that I tried it a few different times with strawberries and pineapple. Both worked really well. While I can cook eggs, I finally decided to jump in the deep end and I friend up some minced chorizo and added a big bowl of mango salsa to it. Soooo tasty!! With toast and a few poached eggs...I strongly recommend! So each day involved trips up the many flights of stairs into the small market where I'd buy veggies and stuff and a few nicely timed surfs when the sun finally beat away the fog (though the fog was a formidable opponent and always returned for revenge before sunset and always succeeded). I'd sit down from time to time and fiddle on the guitar and softly sing melodic ideas over new chord patterns. Oddly enough the next album is half written now. I was so relaxed about it that I barely noticed how much was getting done. A week later I looked back and saw the skeletons of about 15 new songs. Don't know if it's too early to start the next album but on a purely artistic level I am more or less ready. Some lyrics still to write and these days I prefer mumbling jibberish to hone in on the right vowel sounds to fit the melodic ideas I'm singing. I think possibly there will be a song called 'The Race' as well as one for my grandmother called 'Rosemary'. San Bartolo was brilliant for my writing. A place so different is inspiring and almost gives your creative juices a good dose of a new or foreign flavour. The local surfers out in the waves were nice and always have a smile, though you do have to prove yourself to get waves. Don't be afraid to call people off if they look like their going to drop in and cut you off. Food was quite nice though lots was closed as it was off season. 'Chifas' are quite funny; very common and a sort of odd combination of Chinese and Peruvian food. Super cheap but I must say after a few trips they get a bit boring. I also fell in love with 'Inca Kola' the Peruvian version of Coca Cola but nothing like it. As far as San Bartolo is concerned it's all about to the Ceviche...amazing!!