Hey all, I just wrote a really long journal entry then lost it somehow! Am never going to trust Peruvian internet connections again. Anyway, I'm now in a place called Arequipa after a very long drive of about 10 hours to get here. WE've had an amazing last few days and it's definately been the best days on the trip so far. We started out by camping again on the beach. Instead of having the darkness as an extra challenge we had tremendous wind which made putting up the tent near impossible. Lorrie was holding down our tent whilst I had to keep going round and round in circles banging in the pegs... no sooner had I put them in the wind won the battle with Lorri and managed to lift the tent so the pegs were coming out the ground again! Finally we had to resort to placing stones round every peg to hold them in. The next morning we went on a boat trip round Paracas and the Islas Ballestas which was amazing. I have never seen so many birds at once in my life. We saw Peruvian boobies, penguins, sealions, dolphins (well their tail anyway) and pelicans. It was so picturesque and the weather was wonderful. After reunited with the rest of the group who thought the England match was more important than the boat trip we drove off to the sand dunes for the afternoon activities of dune buggying and sand boarding. The buggying was fantastic fun, bit like a rollercoaster, and the driver laughed as we shreaked going up and down what felt like near vertical slopes at times. Then every now and again we got out and got given sand boards which seemed pretty much like a piece of mdf kitchen cupboard which had been shaped in to a snowboard shape, but smaller, with some loose fitting velcro straps on them. (Liz, think there could be a gap in to market for you to design them a little better!) We started off by lying down on them and going straight down slopes with only our feet as brakes and to use as steering. The brakes didn't work very well though, and you seemed to have to stop when the momentum ran out. Then I tried standing up - completely different from boarding with virtually no control atall. You just have to point and hope, and then you inevitably end up falling over to a mouthfull of sand. I am still finding sand in my pockets days later! Very good fun though, but think i'll be sticking to the snow boarding - much easier. The next highlight has to be visiting the Nazca lines - again though, it was an experience! We took a flight in a really rickety 6 seater plane and was advised to not eat breakfast before hand as it could be a bit wobbly - understatement of the year! We found sick bags upon seating ourselves in the plane which had the Nazca lines printed on them - presumably so if anyone had found it too much, then they could still appreciate the lines to some extent! When we were up in the air, the pilot carefully said " we will now see the monkey, first on the left and then on the right". What this actually meant was we were coming up to the first of the Nazca lines, and then just before reaching it he rotated the plane round 90 degrees on it's side so that the people on the left had their faces pressed up against the window to take photos and briefly admire the lines, before he then rotated straightened up, did an about turn and then let the person on the right enjoy the same experience! Thankfully there was no turbulence as this could have made it very messy! The lines were amazing - haven't quite come to my own conclusion of how they got there yet, but I'm working on it. We've just had another long journey all along the windy coastal roads and arrived in Arequipa which we are set to explore tomorrow. But for now, I think it's time for a quick dip in the hotel pool before a Pisco Sours (typical Peruvian drink) and heading out to dinner. Apparently it's guinea pig and llama on the menu tonight, so will see how brave I'm feeling, but I may have to plead vegetarian! Hope all is well back home. Love Tilly x x x