Matuse Family: Zach Plopper – Euro Tour

Dear Matuse Family,

There is about 12 hours left for my Euro tour 2010. It has been a maximized old world experience. After a few days in the north coast Spanish province of Asturias, home to one of the world’s best left hand river mouth point breaks and heavy cider consumption, I darted across the Iberian Peninsula once more to my starting point in Ericeira, Portugal. It rained the entire 10 hour journey adding to the experience of the dreary ancient ghost towns I traveled through that probably haven’t seen an inhabitant since the civil war which ended here 70 years ago (Quite fitting as I read Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia about his experience fighting for the Republicans). The rain let up slightly yesterday and I toured the old part of Lisbon, getting lost in the dodgy port district and nearly getting sideswiped as I went through a red light in the city’s central roundabout (I thought the whole purpose of a roundabout was so you didn’t need a stop light). A rolled-cigarette-smoking semi-transient directed me to some “free” parking and I hit the city for a while. To my surprise the car was there when I returned, wheels and all. The surf has been massive in Ericeira the past few days and no one has been surfing so I have had several lonely heart-in-throat surfs at the local slabs. I am hoping to get one more surf in before I venture out to my last fish and vino verde feast. Tomorrow at this time I will be high above the Atlantic en-route to the new world. Nos vemos pronto!

Zach Plopper