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Hola Amigo´s,
Hope everyone is well in Sunny England. Thanks so much for all of your emails and messages, stops me feeling homesick. Well, seems I have so much to tell you since my last update, i´m not sure where to start.
Think when I last emailed I said I was going Sandboarding. Well we did and it was amazing. The little man came to pick us up in a dune buggy and just went tearing over the dunes like a nutter. We all screamed of course. They were so much bigger than I expected but really beautiful too.
Then he took us to a really high one, got the boards out the back and bearing in mind he didn´t speak one word of English tried to use sign language to show us what to do. Turns out he wanted us to go down on our stomachs. Argh......Very scary!! I will add pictures and then you´ll appreciate it more. We all did and it was really good fun. Next one, we decided to have a go at boarding down it on our feet. That was a silly idea as we all kept falling over and the sand was so hot it burnt your hands and bum. We got back in the buggy and I thought that was it but no, he just took us to an even bigger dune and I mean MASSIVE. I think you´d hear me screaming about 5 miles away.
Got back in ready to go back to the hotel but no, he just took us to the biggest dune EVER. Try and think like....Grand Canyon type of height. Everyone except me and Gemma decided to board down but we went on our stomachs as it was faster and more fun - adrenaline junkies that we are!! :-) Anyway, we were the last 2 to go. It seemed to go on for about an hour but we both made it safely to the bottom. Only problem was, we then had to climb a steep hill to get back to the buggy where everyone else was already waiting. Well, I wanted to cry just looking at it. I started walking and after about 2 minutes, I just sat down and told Gemma I wasn´t moving. She ended up having to take my board off me and carry them both while I just kind of whimpered behind her.
The guy came to meet us halfway and took our boards, I think he could tell I was desperate. I was still so tired that Gemma had to grab my hand and physically pull me up the slope. It was actually quite funny. Everyone in the buggy was willing me up those last few steps, ha ha. Bearing in mind i´m doing the Inca Trail in 2 weeks!?!?!?! How?!??! Just to really put things in perspective, when I finally reached the buggy after what felt like about 10 years, the german woman handed me her water bottle and I very happily drank from it!! Those of you that know me well should now be able to understand just how bad I was feeling.
In the afternoon, we went on a wine tasting tour. It was the most surreal thing ever. The guide dropped us off at the entrance to the Bodega and it all started off quite normally with a little old man called Jose showing us round and giving us mini glasses of disgusting tasting wine while we pretended we enjoyed it. Then, after that had finished, we came out and there was about 15 very drunk and very sweaty peruvians dancing around to a tiny stereo in the corner. They were actually swigging from Pisco bottles. (It tastes like Tequilla but even worse!!!)
There was an american guy there who actually seemed sober and when we asked why everyone was drunk at 4pm on a wednesday afternoon, he just shrugged and said they were students!! The drunk sweaty people kept trying to dance with us and our taxi man was nowhere to be seen. Gemma has it on video and it kind of has to be seen to be totally believed so i´ll have to show you when i´m back. it was very surreal. The bar owner looked kind of like a columbian drug lord. Anyway, safe to say as soon as our driver came back, we were off like a shot.
Yesterday, we went to Nazca in a Collectivo which is an old American Sports car type taxi. We have photo´s. Was just like driving from LA to Vegas - nothing but desert. When we got to Nazca, we did a flight over the Nazca lines in a little 4 seater Cessna. Was good fun if a little bumpy. We then had 8 hours to kill before catching an overnight bus to Arequipa - nice! Anyway, the overnight bus was amazing, better than a plane. Soft fully reclining seats and people coming round with food all the time. Actually got loads of sleep.
Anyway, we´re now in Arequipa which is a lovely town and tomorrow we´re off to Colca Canyon which is apparetly twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.
Sorry to ramble but it just seemed like we´d done so much since the last update. May not have internet access for a while as going to the Canyon then Lake Titicaca and then the Amazon but will update when I can.
Keep in touch and let me know how it´s all going back home.
xx
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