The drive was a long one and we were delayed by a few road blocks along the way. About an hour from Arequipa we smelled burning rubber, followed by a loud bang. We all got off the truck as smoke was billowing and saw that one of the tyres had blown and our truck was on fire! As we were all watching a second tyre burst!!! We spent the next 2 hours waiting to be fixed while we cooked spaghetti bolognaise on the side of the road! We got to Arequipa in one piece but it was 1am and we still had to put our tents up!

We only ended up having one full day in Arequipa, due to the strikes. Arequipa is the beginning of the desert region and is dominated by the snowcapped El Misti Volcano. We visited a museum which housed an almost perfectly preserved mummy. This was of a 14 year old girl who had been sacrificed to the Gods on top of the mountain. Because of the snow she was preserved until the volcano erupted about 5 years ago and caused the snow to melt partially. She was discovered by archeologists along with some artefacts that were also incredibly well preserved...really amazing to see.
Matt and I went to dinner at a restaurant called Zig Zag that night and had the most incredible steaks...a nice treat!

From Arequipa we made our way to Puerto Inca, a resort town where we camped on the beach...this was great fun and we spent the days relaxing and swimming and just chilling out. On our last night, our driver, Steve, made a lamb spit and we had some potent punch and danced in the little pub...very humorous! From here, we made our way to Nazca...famous for the strange parallel lines and geometrical figures etched into the desert floor. To this day, noone knows why they are there. You could take a flight in a light aircraft to see the condor, humingbird, monkey and various figures. I opted out after my track record with small aircraft but Matt took the flight and even he felt a bit queazy!! (evil laugh from me...)...check out the pics to see the Nazca lines.

Our last stop before Lima was Huacachina...a desert oasis surrounded by massive sand dunes...this is where we went dune buggying and sandboarding, a real highlight for us. The dune buggys are amazing and 100 times more scary than a ride on a rollercoaster...there are times when you are convinced that you are going to flip! But somehow you dont and it is awesome fun! At each stop we sandboarded down the dunes, which got bigger each time! They even had floor polish on hand to make our boards go faster! It was such good fun...and we were all on a high when we reached the bottom! We camped that night in the dunes and were given a barbecue and free pisco sours! Waking up in the sand is not as much fun as going to sleep in it and we were finding sand everywhere for a few days after!

On our way back to Lima, we stopped at the Ballestas Islands. Here we got a boat, where we passed the ´Candelabra´, a giant design carved into a desert hill. The sea was rough though and I was QUEEEEZY! There were thousands of sea lions and aquatic birds on the islands, but I was just glad when we finally got back to terra firma!

Arriving back in Lima, we had a final dinner together and then said our goodbyes to the group that we had been traveling with for 3 weeks..good times!

Matt and I spent the next few days exploring the various parts of Lima but also arranging our flight out to Panama a bit earlier...we were ready for some tropical weather!