The drive to Huacachina was about four or so hours straight down the the Pan American highway. What made it more interesting, is I didn´t have a GPS, map, compass, or even at one point gasoline. Since BJ took off to do some volunteering in Pisco, I went alone to meet up with some buddies in the desert. I´m glad to report that, once I used my expensive engineering degree to fix my gas intake problem, (the gas tank was empty, complex solution: buy more gas and place it into the tank), I was able to make it to my destination by asking only four people. Good thing I don´t have any manly qualms about asking for directions or else I´d be fucked. And lucky enough, right as I pulled into town my friends had just arrived via bus. Perfect timing, within minutes we found a great cheap hostel and were having a beer poolside. Love it!
The next day, the Danes, Englishman, and I booked our sandboarding and dune buggy tour. So as the afternoon grew late, we piled into this absurdly large twelve man dune buggy, and headed for the dunes. It was fantastic, I just wish I was driving or had an able motorcycle or quad. Nonetheless, it was a blast flying up razorbacks, and going up and down bowl and giant bowl. First stop was a small hill to test our sandboarding skills. Not too bad, it´s definetly harder than the snow version. Since the boards aren´t really the highest quality, as soon as you run out of wax, the board pretty much comes to a grinding hualt. Still super fun though.
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| Me, Teresa, Christina, and a Britt abroad: Liam |
It all started going down hill (ha) when we were taken to some huge hills. Now after three beers, I´ve got all the confidence in the world, so when I see people flying down head first. I´m all for it. I don´t even bother waiting in line, I get a running start and jump on down. What a blast, bring on the next hill. More good ideas keep coming as Liam and I decide that a race is in order. Of course, we both ate shit pretty far down the hill. It´s news to me, but yes, sand actually does hurt when going top speed. Whatever, last hill is next. Now to say it is a hill is a little judgemental. It was more like a a smooth sandy mountain. From the top you can see people heading down on their bellies and diminishing into tiny little dots seconds later. I could have sworn this one chick was going so fast that she was going to fly of the next hill. No time to think, just hold on, don´t use your feet as brakes, and hope for the best. Everything was going great until I was about three quarters of the way down, some idiot chick not paying attention walks right where I´m headed. I yell at her dumbass while hitting the footprints of previous riders, and then proceed to lose my grip, and the board comes out from underneath me. I was going pretty damn fast, so when it came out there was no chance for a non sandy outcome. It was fucking everywhere. Up my nose, in my eyelids, a good wad to chew on, and all in my ears. It didn´t hurt too bad, but what was worse was attempting to clean myself up for the next ten minutes. Eventually I decide I´ve got enough out of my mouth and eyes to continue. And as the sun was setting, we went out one last time in the buggy for some last photo opportunities and one last chance for Liam and I to be idiots and roll down some unsuspecting hill. Hey, when and where else can two mid twenties men act like jackasses while having too much fun? I can´t think of a better place.
After all of our sand dune adventures, we were stuck in a hot gringo´s paradise. Good food, good people, and a pool. How nice. Next was a tour that Liam wanted to see. Aptly named the poor mans Galapagos. It was a great little boat ride. Albeit overpriced, but hey when am I going to be that close to a Galapagos knock off ever again? So I ponied up the twenty bucks, and woke up extremely early the next morning. (6:30!) After a bus ride we arrived to the docks. All the camera wielding tourists were herded into boats armed with thirty seats and a bilingual guide. Withing twenty minutes, we were bird watching in the Islas de Ballestas. I was giddy to see my first wild penguin. They really are akward yet styling on land. Superstars. Other than penguins there are tones of different types of birds. Swimming, flying, and pooping all over the island. there are over seven million birds that call the islands home along with a big pride of lazy sealions. It was amazing to see a giant rocky hill barely visible because of the vast avain population. It wasn´t jumping off of waterfalls in El Salvador, but still worth my twenty bucks. Next up is the three days ride to the South American tourist capital of Cusco.
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| Lazy mofos |
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| Birds! |
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