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Skipping the shower again we layered up and ventured off to the tour office. Arriving early we grabbed a coffee. Nothing like a caffine kick to wake you up. We picked up the other members of the group and set off to San Fernando reserve in a sand buggy. It was so windy, we had to layer up with a coat, scarf, glasses and hat, we looked pretty weird in this climate.
About half way we went off road and into the desert, we were flying all over the dirt track and buggy, over high dunes and down into deep troffs.
We came up to sand dunes and stopped, the guide pulled out several sand boards. It looks like this unexpected stop we are doing sandboarding. I made the mistake of getting out the buggy first which meant I was going down the hill first...great!! Strapped up and not understanding a word of Spanish....
I look down....I am purched on the edge of the dunes.
I look around.....The whole group is waiting for me to go.
I take a deep breath and push myself off.... I´m off.... What a pro...Crap the board starts to turn, I cant get it straight, its all happening in slow motion, but FF>> at the same time. I lose my balance, within moments my face is full of sand, and my legs are sumersaulting over my head. The sand settles and I am in a pile on the floor. I manage to stand and cheer..... i´m ok.... giving the mischievous reassurance knowing they all will suffer the same fate. When Stevie´s turn comes she actually looks like she might have it...and then she is rolling towards me!
We spend about 30min/hour practising, slowly getting better each time before we carry on our journey to San Fernando. More sand dunes and erratic driving we arrive to the smell of rotten fish. We park up and make out way to the cliff. Amazing, below us are hundreds of seals and dozens of penguins, the sky is full of condors. We stand there for ages, taking pictures and trying to impersonate the seals, everywhere we look there seems to be more.
Then its back in the buggy and off to the next spot...Stevie is hoping to see some Llamas!!!!! When we stop we see a large group of birds resting on the side of a cliff (we can´t remember there name, but the were black with long necks!!!) but Stevie just had to get that little bit closer and the birds got spooked and flew off. There were also another hundred seals! A quick ride round the dunes we drove down to the bay for lunch... 2 hamburgers an orange and a juice...nice! I had a little explore and found a dead seal washed up on the rocks, I was hoping it would suddenly wake up so I could have my Kodak moment...it never!
This concluded the tour and we headed back into town....the only Llama we saw was a skeleton of one on the way back...not quite what Stevie wanted. In true fashion Stevie managed to doze off on the ride back...even as we flew over the dunes!
Back at the hostel we dreaded the shower so I went down to reception to ask of there was any chance of some hot water.....yes of course there was hot water this whole time, it turns out we had been using the wrong tap....idiots!
Clean and no longer covered in sand we grabbed a beer and a slice of cake and then headed out for dinner, sticking to the local cuisine we made a bee-line for the local chinese...it never disappoints!
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