Sandboarding in Peru

Landed in Lima for a few days. Found a nice little hostel that had nice big cozy couches, and an awesome DVD collection. Spent the whole time watching movies and resting. Actually went a bought Kraft Dinner and hot dogs one day. The people who lived in the hostel referred to me as the couch potato. It was awesome.

After bordem set in, I headed for Huacachina to do some sandboarding. I can't believe that more people didn't tell me how amazing this place is. It is literally an oasis in the middle of the desert. Real hot at day.....real cold at night. The hostel had an awesome pool, so it kind of had that Mexico resort feel.......except with bunk beds......and roaches. The sand dunes were absolutely massive. I couldn't get over it. Because I got there at night I couldn't see them, but when I woke up in the morning, they were literally towering over the hostel. We found a cool little restaurant there they we made part of our nightly ritual. Great food.....and free cards.

As for the sandboarding.....it could possibly be the most fun that I have had in months. I went with a couple of hot English chicas named Abi and Tahnee, and an Englishman named Sean. The boarding wasn't even the best part......it was the dune buggies! These machines, with crazy huge engines and psycho drivers, rip you through the town and into the dessert at full throttle. It was hilarious. The first thing he does is take us over a couple of jumps, and then he tears up the side of a giant sand dune, and back down again. Some of the dunes were so huge, that you felt like you were on a roller coaster........except with no tracks. You would get the same nervous feeling when you would get to the crest of a dune, and then when you'd fly down the other side, you would actually experience that centripical force feeling at the bottom! It was absolutely awesome. The actual boarding was just the cherry on top. The wipeouts were awesome......sand everywhere (check the pics). Got some cool videos too. For all you snowboarders out there......it isn't quite the same. You don't get to ride edges. More like riding flat the whole time, and trying to turn. Makes you feel pretty vulnerable. Awesome fun though. There were only 3 of us who had actually snowboarded before, so most people didn't stand a chance. I did a few runs just laying on my stomach, which actually gave you way more speed. A guy in our group did one of those face plants that seem to last an eternity......you know, the ones where you're not actually sure if they are going to flip ass over tea kettle, or if they're going to flop back down in the same direction. This guy completed the flip (after eating some sand of course). I laughed for 20 minutes. A rare sight indeed....you'd only see maybe 2 or 3 of those in a whole season of snowboarding. This guy pulled it off on his first run.

The people I'm travelling with continue to get a kick out of how I have managed to communicate in Spanish with such a limited vocabulary. Es possible, Es Necessito, No Problemo, Seniorita, Es muey carro. Ha! I love it. My taxi driver today actually asked me (in Spanish) where I learned to speak Spanish. How's THAT for a compliment. I said it was 'No problemo'.

Anyway, I´m now in Cuzco, staying at an awesome hostel called Loki. Here are the pics from the sandboarding. I wish I could have got some of the wipeouts, because they were absolutely hilarious. Hopefully you will be able to see just how much sand we had thrown into our faces.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.a2xuplo5&x=1&y=7mrb7x