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On the twelve day of Christmas my true love sent to me; sand buggying and pisco!
We left Nazca the next day to head to the seaside village of Paracas. On the way we stopped in Huacachina for sand buggying. Huacachina is an oasis near a massive sand dune area. Only 5 of us opted to take the sand buggying experience and I can honestly say the others missed out on a very fun adventure.
We set out in the buggy from the town and as soon as we hit sand our driver revved up the engine and let the buggy fly! We zoomed over the sand, hurtling down massive dunes and thundering up near vertical ones on the other side. We were tossed around the buggy, crying with laughter. It was crazy just seeing a wall of sand in front of you as the buggy ploughed up then slowly tipping over the edge to see a drop in front of you as the buggy flew down.
The buggy then came to a halt perched at the top of a dune which had been shaped to a point by the wind. We had stopped to try our hand at sand boarding. The driver got out the boards and waxed them up for us. The drop which we were supposed to slide down was so ridiculously steep that I nearly backed out but here there was no option and I was soon lying on my front with instructions to keep elbows in and legs out. Sliding down was nowhere near as scary as I had anticipated when standing at the top and peering down. The wind whistled through my hair and I certainly ate a good bit of sand.
The buggy then drove down to pick us up and the hurtling continued again, until we stopped at the top of an even steeper dune for us to slide down. Again Katy and I nearly backed out until our driver, who spoke no English, said "no chickens". With us told, we had no option but to slide down and join the boys at the bottom. Once again it was not as bad as it looked, apart from where the dune went from vertical to a sharp horizontal which gave a good bounce. Again we were picked up at the bottom and off we went. We thought that was the end but no there was one dune left for us to slide down, the meanest of them all. Extremely tall and steep, it was a beast. Remembering that it was nowhere near as bad as it looked I decided to get on with it and went second. Even getting on the board was a mission as it started to slide down the hill before I could even lie on it. Flying down was hilarious. The wind was so strong it nearly pulled the bobble out of my hair! Excellent fun. Extremely sandy we hurtled back to join the others and to gloat about our amazing time!
Our next stop was at a Pisco factory, where once again we learnt about how Pisco was made. The only difference to the Chilean variety is a) the Peruvians believe theirs is better and b) they don't use wood which taints the pisco flavour. It was a brief visit but certainly passed some time.
After a long day we finally ended up at Paracas. Our hotel unfortunately was not up to scratch with mouldy bathrooms and a distinct smell of sewer. We discovered our tour guide had checked into a new hotel and several of the group complained. So we were whisked off to much better accommodation. The village itself was lovely and we enjoyed a scrummy fish meal overlooking the harbour and the sunset. It was followed by a few Pina Coladas later into the night.
The next day involved an early get up to visit the Ballestas Islands. Known as the Galapagos of Peru we were in for a real animal treat. These spectacular islands, eroded into many caves and arches, provide shelter for thousands of seabirds and hundreds of sea-lions. The islands are protected and visitors are not allowed to step off boat on to them. The islands were true to their word and we were greeted with hundreds of pelicans and other seabirds sitting on rocks or flying out over the sea. Next came the candelabra, a huge shape in the sand dune. The reason for it is unknown but it provided a pretty sight. The boat then sped across the water to the main island where nearly all the land mass was covered in seabirds or sea lions. It was a photographer's dream. Though you could not get close to the animals, the sight of the mass of bodies alone was awe inspiring. You could see baby sea lions nestling among the big males whilst pelicans and seagulls swooped overhead. At one point we even got to see penguins waddling over the rocks and diving into the water. It was nature at its finest.
We spent a good few hours on the boats staring at the wildlife and it was a shame we had to return to shore. However, we had a bus to catch to take us to Lima for the final part of the second leg of the tour.
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