The last 2 days have been hilarious and great fun. We got to Huacachina which is an oasis surrounded by huge sand dunes (all in the middle of nowhere which is odd?!). We had lunch and then got into dune buggies. Oh my God, how much fun? There were 8 of us plus a driver and we went speeding across the dunes, stopping on the crest of huge vertical drops and then speeding down them. Not a good activity if you've got a bad back but hilarious fun. In between tearing around the dunes, we tried a spot of sand boarding. I was a bit scared, given my past record with board type sports (wake boarding particularly springs to mind!) but decided to give it a shot. You basically lie on a piece of wood headfirst, hold onto 2 straps, open your legs wide and get pushed down a sand dune. I went down screaming my head off. We then went down 3 more sloes, each one steeper than the previous and then.......wipeout! I got not even halfway down the slope when I tumbled off, board and me in a tumble until I landed sitting upright, my sunglasses further down the slope and my board further up. Whichever way I tried to move I slid further down the hill and was worried my sunglasses would get buried so I shimmied down and got them. Not injured, apart from my pride and dignity, everyone was yelling at me to get back on - not an easy feat when you're slipping and sliding in sand and on a steep slope! I was humming and hah-ing as to how to get back on and then just decided to go for it and managed to get down the rest of the slope without any more mishaps. Just for added comedy value and loss of face for me, this is all on video so check it out on picasa. Just ignore my massive bum shot at the start - I can't seem to edit any of my videos!

Anyhooo, after all that excitement we drove up a dune to watch the sunset and headed off to camp - I use that word in the loosest sense as we were sleeping out in the open on the sand in the middle of the desert dunes in just our sleeping bags under the stars. The crew were already there building a fire and then we had unlimited piscolas (ugh, pisco and coke - not my drink of choice but surprisingly good when it's free and free-flowing!) and the most delicious BBQ. I went to bed fairly soon after that but the others stayed up to sing around the fire and watch David getting drunker and drunker. The sky was absolutely chockablock with stars - stunning - and I saw loads of shooting stars at various points in the night (made lots of wishes of course but can't divulge otherwise they won't come true!).

We were all up at about 6am as the sun came up and the next thing we found ourselves tearing around again in the buggies and then at the top of yet another slope. Like falling off a horse I decided I needed to get right back on that board so off I went at a hurtling speed but manage to stay on - just about. I'm glad we only had one go this morning as I don't think I could have done more without falling off again but I didn't want to be a quitter!!

Off we set again after breakfast to Paracas where we went on a boat trio to the Islas Ballestas. These are known as the "Poor Man's Galapagos" as there are lots of birds (including boobies, Humboldt penguins (yay!), pelicans etc), and seals. Apparently you also get flamingos, dolphins and orcas but of course no such luck for us! On the way out to the islands we saw the huge 'candelabra' carved into the sandy hills. This is some kind of beacon for sailors although nobody really knows where it came from (nobody seems to know much at all about where anything in Peru came from....??!). It was a good trip except for the horrendous stench that was omnipresent - guano (bird s*** basically). The cliffs are covered with layers of it - in some places its 50m deep and it's used as fertilizer as it's full of nitrogen amongst other stuff (the concept dates back to pre-Inca times apparently). In the 19th century, Peru's main export was birds***! The trade was so profitable that Spain started the Guano War in 1865 over possession of some nearby islands that were also full of it! These days, because of synthetic stuff, it's no longer used although once every 10 years the Peruvian government sends 100 men to live on the islands to hack away at the birds*** (I guess so that the islands don't get too much higher!!).

After lunch we drove into the nearby national reserve of Paracas to set up our bush camp for the night. We were on a huge beach with crashing waves (helps to drown out the snorers in the group - not me by the way!) and a severe lack of rocks and bushes for toilet purposes.....

Vee and I settled into our tent before dinner with some vino and my ipod and speaker and proceeded to screech to our heart's content. Luckily the wind was blowing from the fire to our tent (not so good for the smoke containment and the eyes!) and then onwards to the truck so most people couldn't hear it as they were at the fire - thank goodness! After dinner there was the usual crap conversation around the fire (it seems that once the food has gone, all people can talk about is where they've travelled to - so what? We're all travellers here but everyone is out for one-upmanship and who has been to more countries than everyone else blah blah). I find it all very boring so I went off to bed to read at about 8pm! Got up the next morning to find a rock and then couldn't remember which tent I had come out of and ended up trying to get into someone else's tent. Ooops! Luckily it was time for them to be up anyway....

Then it was off to Lima - the end of another leg of the trip and time for more goodbyes.