The overnight bus from Paris was a gruelling 10 hours but we
managed to get some sleep before we disembarked in Bilbao, Spain. We were in
this part of the world to catch up with a good mate of mine, Simon and his wife
Marta. We had a few hours to kill in Bilbao before he picked us up so we walked
along the waterfront which has recently been redesigned. Bilbao had a
reputation of being an industrial sort of town and the remnants of this side of
its history are still very evident, but due to the decline in manufacturing,
many factories have closed and the town is trying to clean up its image. We
went to the world famous Guggenheim Museum which is a work of art itself. The
museum has many contemporary and interactive pieces on display. Some are pretty
cool, others were a little hard for my brain to consider. That's art I guess.
Anyway, we cruised around Bilbao for a while and met up with
Simon at a nearby metro station where we immediately drove out to the town of
Mundaka which is home to one of the best left hand waves in the world. I
couldn’t believe it. It was pumping! 4-6ft and flawless. BUT, the Mundaka
Boardriders were having a competition and anyone who wasn’t in the club was
banned from surfing. A guy from America who has been living there for 15 years
got sent in, so there wasn’t much chance that a bloke from Australia who has
been there for 15 minutes was going to have any chance. I even tried to join
the club for 30 Euros so I would get a chance to surf it! So Simon, Danielle
and I sat on the rocks and watched so many perfect waves go through unridden
all afternoon until I decided that I was just going to go out anyway. I waited
until the jet ski had gone in, and then I jumped in. Straight away, the locals
were yelling and screaming at me to go in, and I was banned from staying up on
the peak. I just nodded politely and drifted down the bank. On my first wave I
managed to get a great, long tube but didn’t make it out. It was right in front
of the heaviest local who was not impressed that I had got a good one. He
continued to scream at me, telling me to F@#K off! I managed to get a couple
more before the sun totally disappeared below the mountains. At least I got a
couple. That night we went out to a few tapas bars in Castro with Simon and
Marta, and a few of their friends. We met so many great people who were all
very friendly and compassionate with our limited Spanglish.
The next day we went and checked out a few more waves up the
coast. Simon is a professional bodyboarder so his idea of a good wave is what
we call a ‘death slab’. Super hard to surf on a surfboard but I paddled out
anyway and tried to get something. Simon got loads of good ones but I struggled
and paddled in after three average ones. However, afterwards we found a perfect
left hand wedge that was overhead and had no one out so my ego was restored as
I got loads of sick waves. Good stuff. We followed that day with another at the
beach and Danielle and I rode body boards before Marta cooked up a Spanish
feast for us that included chorizo, my favourite. We can’t thank Simmo and
Marta enough for letting us stay at their place and constantly translating for
us. Cheers. Off to Barcelona now on the night train.
