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Pete and I arrived into Huacachina late in the afternoon. It is a surreal experience driving towards the town. As you come from Ica, you see towering sand dunes, then suddenly you see the small oasis town of Huacachina. There town surrounds a small desert oasis, lined by palm trees and dominated by the gigantic dunes. We were staying at Desert Nights Hostel, which was just $6 per night. We booked onto the dune buggy and sandboarding tour for the following evening. Huacachina is absolutely tiny (the town itself is just one road wide). There is very little to do other than the sand dune tours, so we had all morning and part of the afternoon to kill. Myself, Pete and an English girl called Anna decided to visit a local vineyard. For just S/5 we were given a tour of the facilities (of which I actually managed to understand a lot despite it being in Spanish). Next we were able to taste some of the wines. I'm no expert but to put it bluntly, I won't be buying Peruvian wine any time soon. At one stage we were given a red and a rose, both of which tasted the same and both of which tasted like port. We also tried a Pisco - I'll definitely be sticking to the Pisco Sour rather than drinking that stuff straight. We relaxed on the shore of the oasis for a little while before heading off on the tour of the sand dunes. The dune buggy was very strange. It looked like something out of a Sci-fi film. I sat myself right at the front and strapped myself in nice and tight before we sped off onto the dunes. Our driver was very skillful. We swerved and swiveled and at points mounted dunes in such a way that it felt like the whole thing was going to turn over, but right at the last minute, he would swing the steering wheel and we'd be fine. Our first stop was at a very small dune, providing a chance to practise. I opted to slide down face first. I lay on the board and was pushed down by the guide. It was a lot of fun as I picked up speed, but I quickly got to the bottom and went into the dune on the other side - this wouldn't have been a problem had I not had my mouth open in a wide grin, but of course I did, and ended up getting a mouthful of sand. Not fun. We continued our rollercoaster like buggy ride for a few more minutes before getting to the next dune, which was slightly bigger. Still feeling the odd crunch of sand in my mouth, I decided to go down by sitting on the board this time. This was a lot of fun and you had an element of control with your hands in the sand to steady you. The next three dunes were absolutely huge and for each there was no choice but to go down face first. I lay on my board at the top of each, feeling a combination of fear and anticipation. The feeling once you get going is amazing. Reaching speeds over 60kph/70kph on a small board is exhilerating. You have a huge smile on your face (and a girly scream coming out of your mouth) as you hold onto the board for dear life. Awesome. The tour ended very peacefully. We stopped at the top of the dune with the town on one side and the sun setting on the other. This tour was well worth the $16 I paid for it. The following day I was up early at 6:15am to leave for a tour to Islas Ballestas. These Islands are often referred to as the 'Poor Man's Galapagos' because of the wide range of bird and sea life. Having arrived in Paracas at around 8pm, we soon boarded a boat and were off. On the way we saw the giant Candelabra etched into the hillside, which was done so in the same manner as the well-known Nazca lines. As we sailed towards the islands, I saw many birds swooping in a missile-like shape into the water and more often than not popping back up with a fish in their beaks. I could have watched this all day and the trip would have been worthwhile. However, we soon came across a huge array of birds including pelicans, turkey vultures, cormorants, Inca terns and even penguins. We also saw some bright red starfish along the way. By far the most entertaining aspect was seeinf the sealions. They were extremely cute and it was amazing just how many of them there were. We were even lucky to see a little baby sealion swimming alongside the boat. We saw a fishing boat bringing in a huge haul of sardines and there were many sealions surrounding the boat in an attempt to get in on the fisherman´s haul.
All in all the Ballestas was a worthwhile trip. It was a nice change from the adrenalin rush of the previous day and certainly gave me a taste for visiting the Galapagos Islands.
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