...continuing from our boozy morning in Ica, we then travelled on to the desert oasis of Huacachina. IF YOU GET THE CHANCE YOU MUST COME HERE!!!!!!

Amazing is the word. Bang in the middle of a cluster of gigantic sand dunes, there is a flippin lake! Or oasis if you please! It is a really cool, youth-orientated place, lots of really nice bars and good food and of course sand boarding and dune buggy tours!

We had the use of the facilities at a really plush hostel, which we needed after our sandboarding - we are still trying to rid our bodies and clothes of sand! Anyway, we´re being abit premature and missing the main event - THE DUNE BUGGY AND SANDBOARDING! ABSOLUTELY WICKED!

We were in a beast of a buggy - think it had about 14 people in it - and it was like being strapped in to some sort of wild beast - we use the term strapped in loosely - tied in was more like it - interesting seatbelts, which had eye watering effects for poor Andy! We then roared up the massive sand dunes, with the driver aiming for all the big bumps and steepest slopes - SO MUCH FUN! We then stopped off a certain points for photo opps and sand boarding! We thought we´d have a nice little introductory slope to start with - we should have learnt by now - we nervously edged our way towards the 30m near vertical slope of sand, our boards generously waxed up, daring each other to go first. Andy went off down the slope like a pro, just got a bit crumpled at the bottom! Sophie was pants - it was very very difficult! One of the Canadians is a regular snow boarder and she aid that sand was much harder!

After this nail biting initiation, we were then scooted of in the buggy to an even bigger series of dunes, the first of which we tried to board down again, with not so successful results. The last two dunes - which were the biggest - atleast 50m high! - we decided to go for broke and belly board down - lying on the boards head first and propelling ourselves down the dunes at about a million miles an hour! This was great fun, if a little poo-inducing! Sophie managed to go the furthest down the dunes, practically flying about 40m away from the base of the dune out into the desert! Andy managed to nearly knock himself out when he hit a series of bumps and the board smacked him in the face - doh!

After a few hours of amazingly good fun we raced back to the hotel in the buggy, where we had much needed showers - we were quite literally covered in sand! Then we went for a meal and some more booze by the oasis, before catching our night bus to Arequipa.

NICK YOU MUST COME HERE!