Sand Boarding!!

OH MY GOD - picture yourself lying face down on a snowboard, not strapped in, going down a massive sand dune in the peruvian desert...your toes which are desperately trying to dig into the steep inline are your only form of brakes or steering and as you near the bottom, you are going so fast that you fear falling off and breaking one or all of your bones...scarry or fun? F-U-N OF COURSE!!

Man! The day we went to deset oasis and rode the crazy dune buggies and sandboarded was AWSOME! It was a shame that I left my camera in the safe throws of the truck...because the views were phenominal! Before we got to the sandboarding, we strapped ourselves in to this crazy and colourful looking go-cart with a hefty roll-cage and tackled the dunes. It was scarrier than the most intense rollercoaster... don´t worry, there was no rolling going on, but at the time we certainly thought it was inevitable. The worst was near the start when we were approaching a dune that alost looked like it went straight up into the heavens at 70 degrees and there were tire tracks going up...but then they curved arround. Ali (a detective from England) phrased it best with the simple words: ''Surely not...'' We were all stuck somewhere between horror, at prematurely loosing our lives, and inane laughter at his comment... But the buggy did the turn and we are here to tell the tale.

The last few nights we have been camping out on beaches...I have to admit that I am simply in love with the whole thing. There is nothing like going to bed after a bondfire, under the stars, with the sound of the crashing waves drowning out all other sounds...fantastic really. Three nights ago we were in the national park where there was no one else arround for miles...well, except for a poor bird sitting on her nest who at first was quite distressed at seeing our towering truck pull up.

Later that day we went to the 'poor man's Galapagos Islands'. We saw all kinds of animals...from penguins, to sea lions, to pellicans, to dolphins, to peruvian boobies (they did not have blue feet like at the real Galapagos).

Where we camped last night had the most insane waves...four of us braved 'swimming' in them. Really, we just got tossed arround and thrown into the shore...

The view out the window today was the best of the shoreline. Most of the 9 hour drive to Arequipa was spent on a coastal highway (PanAm) winding arround the base of the mountains as they sharply droped off into the ocean. Sometimes the rocks were dark brown..almost black...and looked volcanic because of their smooth but textured shapes. Sometimes there were interludes of soft yellow sand between the rocks or along the shore. But always the water today was deep blue and vibrant with motion.

The Hostal we are staying in here seems ssoooo luxurious...but it makes us all laugh at what passes for luxury in these parts: Hot water, toilet paper, toilet seats, a drain plug (that is a really BIG deal), soap...it´s amazing the things we take for granted at home. But actually, this place surpasses those luxuries and feels so much like a beautiful hotel at home i almost flushed toilet paper! (another big no-no in latin america...it is too hard on the old pipes)

I hope that you are all doing really well whereever in the world you are!!

all my love!

Adrienne :)