Another long drive which lasted most of the morning, took us through somewhat unremarkable desert. Eventually we arrived in the desert oasis town of Ica. We stopped for lunch, enjoying their famous paella. After lunch we split into two groups and jumped on some sand dune buggies. These took us on an exhilarating ride through the desert. Being driven over sand dunes at such high speed, with no idea of what was on the other side was fantastic and at times a somewhat daunting experience. The adrenaline certainly got going as we got airborne on a few occasions. After this ride, we were driven to the top of one of the higher dunes, plonked on a board, and pushed down. Needless to say this was also great fun, though I got somewhat cocky on my last go and ended up with a face full of sand. It doesn't taste great! After tackling 3 descents, we jumped back on the buggies and returned to the town, stopping briefly for a group photo overlooking the oasis, flanked by the sandy mountains. We de sanded our selves with a swim and some chocolate crepes. Not sure what the crepes had to do with cleanliness but they tasted great.

We then continued onto Pisco, where we would be spending the night. On route, we stopped briefly at a Pisco distillery. Pisco is the national drink of Peru forming the basis of the famous Pisco Sour. It is a brandy like liquor made from distilled grapes. We drove into Pisco and were slightly shocked with what we saw. We hadn't seen a town in such a state since the Salar. It was difficult to distinguish buildings from rubbel, and it wasn't until we had our orientation in the town that we realised why. Last year Pisco was hit by an earthquake measuring 8 on the richter scale. 80% of the city was destroyed, with a death toll reaching almost 500. Almost 200 of these deaths occured in the cathedral which collapsed whils the congregation was at mass on Sunday night. Even before the earthquake the town was notoriously poor, and not a huge amount of money has gone into the rebuilding of it. It isn't the safest place in Peru and we were told not to venture out of the hotel at night. We departed this somewhat tragic city early the next morning for Lima.