I Don't Think the Heavy Stuff is Going to Come Down for Quite Awhile

This last week was great as always. Tuesday I woke up to an early call from my local surfer friends. Apparently, the waves were going off and it was time to get up. I had only been in the water once since I took out my stitches so I was psyched. After a cup of coffee and the short few minute drive to Joaquina (one of the best surf spots in all of Brazil if not all of Latin America), I arrived at the beach to pure delight. I only surf Joaquina every so often because it has a pretty heavy local vibe (this is a direct correlation to how good it is - the locals cherish the spot and surely want to keep it to themselves). I really couldn't believe my eyes. It was nothing but barrels and barrels. I had never seen it like that, and it was then that I first realized why everyone raves about the break. We had an incredible session for almost three hours until the south wind came to blow it out. The highlight of the session was a local guy who was born with one leg significantly shorter than the other. As far as I could tell, it doesn't seem to phase him. He was a little outside (local knowledge never hurts!), caught a great wave, and got barrelled all the way down the line as the whole lineup looked on and cheered like crazy. Everyone was so pumped up, and he was smiling like a little kid when the ride ended. I love seeing stuff like that, and I felt privileged to be a witness to it. It was a day that I won't soon forget....

As for the rest of the week, it was fairly normal....well, sort of. Friday we had heard that there was a big party going on at El Divino Club, which is huge club at near Jurerê Internacional that only has a party every few months or so (although that will change because Pacha just bought the property and is coming to Floripa!). I had only been there once and the party was inside. When we arrived, this particular party was outside. They have sort of concert type property located adjacent to the indoor club. This would have been all and good, but it was raining....a lot. We arrived around midnight and it was pretty empty. I wasn't sure if it was because of the rain or just because of the party (I hadn't heard a lot of talk about the party so I was skeptical whether or not it was going to be good). Lucky for us, we had VIP tickets and that whole area was covered. My friend (who just arrived here from Texas two weeks ago) asked me if I thought the party was going to get better. I told him that Brazilians always tend to make it a good party one way or another. Slowly but surely, people starting showing up and things really got cranking. By 3AM, the place was going nuts. I didn't really have any idea why everyone was going crazy until my friend filled me in. Armin Van Buuren was playing onstage, and he is considered one of the top DJ's in whole world (if not THE top DJ). I don't really follow any of that stuff closely, but it didn't take an expert to see what was happening. Watching thousands of people dancing to techno in the rain with all the crazy lights was definitely a spectacle. For this type of music, it was like watching the Rolling Stones live at their peak. It was seriously incredible. We finally made it home around 7AM. Once again, we considered going straight out for a surf. Lucky, cooler heads prevailed and we decided to get some sleep. One of my friends always says that something always crazy happens in Floripa and once again, he was right....

As always, here are some pics from the week.