Many Peruvians dispute the Polynesian origins of surfing, arguing that the Pre-Inca Moche people may have unknowingly invented the sport around the year 200 along Peru’s northern coast. Ceramic pottery unearthed at multiple coastal ruins depicts men traversing the waves on logs and the small boats the Spaniards later named caballitos de totora (“little reed horses”). You can see samples of these early surfing pottery artifacts at most of Peru’s major museums.

Historians can’t confirm either version, but the famous Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl did confirm the possibility of contact between the ancient Peruvians and Polynesians. Perhaps one of the keys to unlocking the mystery lies in the caballitos de totora fishing boats that line the shores of Huanchaco Beach. The small boats are made of a material similar to that used by Heyerdahl to build Kon-Tiki, the raft he sailed on his 1947 expedition across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands. The local fishermen still use the stable board-shaped boats to surf back to shore after a day of fishing.