I would easily be able to go on and on about how rad Kepa Acero is and how lucky the dude was to end up traveling the world in search of surf for a living. Honestly, it doesn’t get much luckier than that — and he doesn’t even have to throw on a jersey to compete or worry too much about “being cool” the way some free surfers get caught up doing. But you and I and anyone who keeps an ear to surf already know that about Kepa Acero and his life. So I’m going to instead focus my dropped jaw on the mythic Pororoca, yet another reminder that our planet is FUCKING AMAZING. I… NO, WE LOVE YOU EARTH!
In the indigenous Tupi language, pororoca translates to “great roar.” And after one mere glimpse of the tidal bore, you will undeniably agree.
It really is an epic event, occurring during the equinoxes where the rivers meet the Atlantic Ocean.
What I dig about Kepa is that in the way of all that hippy-dippy I’m-a-wanderer shit, he not only talks the talk (or in this case wears the clothes as we see movements of people doing these days) but he walks the walk. He connects when he visits a locale. And he obviously did so with the small homegrown communities holding up the banks of the Amazon River.
In fact, I figure his narrations are far and away the most impactful aspects of his edits he shares, and it is very clear that he prioritizes them and puts a proportionate effort in telling those stories: “Surfing the Pororoca was my goal, but at the end, what I experienced is what stays with me. The way of life of the people I’ve met and the hospitality with which they have received me. And it is that both, either travel or life, the most important is what happens on the way…”
