El Trucho on the roadtrip to Portugal

My name is Trucho and I am a car. I am also known as Zucho. Oh, many names during my lifetime and I forgot many of them. I am 36 years old and I come originally from Germany. At that time the Germans did a great job and still today I can drive a long way like theres no tomorrow. Actually I just went on a trip which took me almost two months and 9000 km. I really wanted to learn surf and see the beautiful breaks, beaches, bitches and boobs from Portugal. :) Here is my story.

The AWP back in Portugal

I surf because…

… it's how my heart tells my to live.

I used this phrase from the Billabong advertisement because it’s an accurate description of this sport and lifestyle. This year on our Portugal Surf Trip we changed to Shortboards, began to catch the first better waves, had a couple of the worst wipeouts ever and on our adventure we were accompanied by our windsurf guru Kahuna Kiki, Irina, and in the other car Tamara and Trevoro.
This year we accomplished our surf trip to Portugal in our usual style, which includes a ton of suicidal wipeouts, waves from 2 to 4 meters, two broken boards in the first two days, with car burglaries and a robbery at the beach, lost luggage, bumps in the car door, purchase of a new board which in the end was broken in transport by AirFrance. Also, we were almost late for all planes, including that we missed the only plane for which we came on time and waited at the gate for 4 hours, the plane from Paris to Zagreb. The mystery remains. And it seems that a 100 people boarded the plane beside us and we did not even notice.
Yet despite all these situations, the important moments in the water remain, those breathtaking moments, the energy, the flow of the ocean, all the wonderful things that breathe and live in it and beyond. Because of that this is the king of all sports.

Portugal

After my first visit to Portugal I told myself that this is a country in which I want to come back. Now I consider it one of my standard destinations. Partly because of surfing, partly because of the beauty it contains, and partly because of the warm and good people of this region. Portugal is the pearl of the Pyrenean peninsula, were it's hard to find a small corner that is not overcrowded by tourists. Therefore, Portugal has an adventures and discovering charm, where except of urban centers, you can find medieval castles and places in the local style which exude the spirit of those colonial times. Just a short drive away one can retire to the beautiful and windy coast, where no one is anywhere, where the sun kisses the beach and the waves are living their routine all year round, where the cliffs are like those at the end of the world, and the beach and sand dunes are miles long.

Breathtaking moments (Surfing in Portugal)

I’m thinking of a sentence a good friend of mine once said to me. "Life is not measured in breaths and exhales, but in moments that are breathtaking." Now, this can be literally understood as this is a sport that can literally take your breath away for a certain time when the masses of water crush you. However, after it lets you out again, everything starts again from the beginning. Yet here I am talking about different "breathtaking" moments. If you take this sport, which to me represents a long-forgotten childhood dream, which requires physical effort of each atom of your body, which meets human fatigue, joy and adrenaline, and combine it with the lifestyle that is associated with this sport, develop all this which I mentioned into a philosophy and with it add to it the warm-hearted people of Portugal and its scenery, you get a paradise on earth, peace, incredible sense of belonging and moments that are truly breathtaking, only that this feeling lasts forever.