Oscar cooking up some chicken!

Coming to Lobitos, I had no idea what to expect. I knew I would be surfing quite a bit, and that I would be volunteering. But, seeing as I was here during Christmas time, I was curious as to what volunteer work I would be doing. The first event that I was apart of was a pollada. A pollada is when community members to purchase plates of lunch in support of a certain cause. This pollada, organized by the WAVES team, a mix of national and international staff, was to provide funds to a young man named Fidho so that he could receive an operation on his collarbone. He broke it in two places, and the x-ray revealed that the bone was broken in a sort of way that made everyone wince just looking at it.

Getting into the festive spirit with a ‘Chocolotada’ for the local school!

The day before the pollada, I walked the town with two Peruvian teenagers, ‘Karen’ and ‘Frank’ selling tickets for the pollada. In this way, I got to know the layout of the town, meet some of the locals, and become friends with Karen and Frank. Just as well, it was cool to see the community supporting one of its members. Close to every house we went to contributed to the cause. I really enjoyed being able to see the community come together. So, the next day we cooked and gave out over one hundred and fifty plates of chicken, rice, and potato salad. We more than met our goal, and Fidho was able to have the operation done and also pay for his medication.

JUST KEEP DIGGING! Extending the waves garden.

All in all, I was struck by the support Fidho received, and how the WAVES team worked together with the community to make it happen. The best part was that was only the first event I was apart of. We also organized a Christmas event, expanded the WAVES garden, taught local kids to surf, and scored some waves of our own. Maybe even some barrels.

REMALE, REMALE! Summer surf school back in action!