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Today we are spending the day lounging in Huacachina, or as the locals fondly refer to it 'Huacaf***ingchina.' We spend some time by the pool enjoying the cloudy but warm Monterey-esque weather. We play a bit of pool volleyball with some of our fellow bus mates and overall just kill time until 4pm, when the real fun begins. For 2 hours we drive out into the middle of the vast sand dunes surrounding the city and receive a thrilling ride on a dune buggy. The drivers of these buggies are awesome and know exactly how to handle their vehicles. We're crawling all over the dunes like little toy cars, it is so much fun. Lauren and I are in a buggy with 3 Canadians, 3 Brits and 1 other American, and everyone is in really good spirits and is getting along great. We are all laughing the whole time and everyone's smiling faces makes the ride that much more enjoyable. At one point the driver takes us down a giant dune that seems to be at an almost 90 degree angle and I think we were going to flip for sure, but like I said these guys are professionals.
While we are out on the dunes we also get to try sandboarding for the first time. They offer 2 types of boards, the professional and the regular board, and the distinction is a big one. The professional boards are snowboards with bindings and are used with what I assume are snowboarding boots, while the regular board is much thicker and is basically a piece of wood with Velcro straps. Because the professional boards cost a bit more we decide to try out the regular boards. That being said, it is very difficult to stand up and try to shred down the mountain like I am used to doing on a snowboard, so instead we lay down like the guides show us and it's really fun. We get to board down 5 dunes in total. The first 3 are a warm up compared to the last 2, one of which is a near vertical drop. It is a pretty awesome experience. Tomorrow morning our plan is to get up early and rent one of the professional boards for a couple hours and try it out. In a way sandboarding seems a bit more difficult than snowboarding because the sand is sticky and harder to carve through, but on the flip side it will be a much softer landing when I fall. It will also be a great workout because there are no lifts to take you to the top of the dune, so we will get to hike up after every run.
After a couple hours of boarding we will hop on the bus and ride to a vineyard outside town where we will get a tour and some free samples of the local pisco, Peru's most famous drink. After that we will continue on to Nazca and view the Nazca lines, then take an overnight bus ride to Arequipa where we will do the Colca Canyon trek. The next few days should be exciting, I'll keep you posted!
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