We arrived in Huacachina at lunch time. Huacachina is an oasis in the middle of the Peruvian desert. We took blankets from the truck and had a picnic lunch next to the lake under palm trees. Our last truck lunch together.

After lunch we packed away and got ready for our sandboarding!! We were all really excited! We divided up into two sand buggies and set off. It was sooooooooo much fun! We went up and down the sand dunes really fast, it was like being on a roller coaster. We would be approaching the top of a dune and we didnt know what was on the other side, was it a big drop? Was it a small drop? Was it flat? No one knew until we got to the top and we could peep over the edge! Exciting! When it was a big drop we would put our hands in the air as we went down and most of us screamed, not because we were scared but beacuse it was fun! We drove around for about an hour in the buggies before we started sandboarding.

First of all we did a short, not very steep one, but it looked pretty steep to me. I was quite near the back of the queue so got to see how the others did first. Clare went first to show us how it is done as she has done it before. She was really good at it and went for miles!! A few others went but didnt get as far as Clare. When it was Sarahs go towards the bottom she kinda fell off and stopped before the bottom. That put the pressure off the rest of us, I wasnt gonna be the first one to mess it up. My turn came. The man waxed the bottom of my board and I layed down on it. I held onto the handles and was told to open my legs as it helps and then then the man pushed me over the edge! Weeeeeeeeeee! Down the sand dune I flew, head first. I was doing good, I hadnt fallen off yet, but then there is the part where it stops being a slope and goes flat. You have to keep your head up so the board doesnt hit you in the face as it comes up. I survived and kept going a little further before coming to a stop. I had done it. I had survived my first sandboard without falling off or hurting myself. Phew!

It was then back in the sandbuggy to go to another sand dune and do it all again. We did about three more dunes and one was a double dune. It went down then flattened out and then went down again. On the next dune everything was going well, everyone was getting better and better until it was Dee´s turn. Dee was good at going down really fast and this was the steepest and highest dune yet. She was soaring down the dune but when she came to the bit where it levels out she must have hit something awkwardly as she flew off her sandboard and rolled over and over and over and then just layed there. Those that were already at the bottom ran to help her and those of us still at the top just stood and watched. Eventually she moved. She was ok but a bit shaken up and her hand really hurt. Just to be on the safe side they took her to hospital to get her hand checked out as her fingers were a bit purple. So then for the few of us still at the top we had to sandboard down the dune knowing what had just happened to Dee!! Thankfully the rest of us made it down without any incidents and then we all did another one but not quite as steep!! We then got back in the buggies and drove to the top of a dune to watch the sunset.

After that we drove to our campsite for the night. A circle of chairs surrounding a campfire in the middle of the desert! The stars came out whilst we enjoyed coca sours and meat skewers follwed by chicken and steak. Yum! The stars disappeared and we had a few more drinks around the fire and sat chatting. Some had more drinks than others and T-Bone ended up falling off his chair and landing face first in the fire!! Thankfully the fire was almost out and only hot coals were left. In the morning he couldnt remember falling in the fire but his face. To numb the pain he decided to drink more vodka!! We drove back to the Oasis in the buggies for breakfast but when we got out of the buggies he was so drunk he couldnt walk! Matt and me ended up walking him to breakfast, holding him up by an arm each!

After breakfast we left to head towards Lima stopping on the way for a boat trip to see some seals and birds on an island in the Pacific Ocean.