We're in Huacachina...

It's a desert oasis which lies near to Ica, Peru. We're on our second day here, and today spent our Monday morning sat behind a Chevvie 5.5L V8 driving at hair raising speeds up and down sand dunes in the surrounding desert. Here in Huacachina it's all about Sandboarding and Buggy rides, unfortunately for me Sandskiing is yet to take of, so to save myself swallowing a mouthful of sand I took the safer bet of lying on the board (the majority do)... the boarding was good, but to be honest it's nothing like as good as doing it on snow, there's just too much friction!

There's very little else to do here though, it wasn't until today (having arrived at night) up on the dunes that we realised just how tiny the place really is, plenty of bars, restuarants and swimming pools to keep you amused for a couple of days though. We're staying at the Huacachini Hotel which is perhaps the highest standard of Hostel/Hotel we've stayed in (with exception of Sao Paulo), and certainly compared to the @#*$#$@ @*%# Ace Hostel in Rio!

So, rolling back two days, we were staying in a little fishing town called Paracus (25km South of Pisco), it has 365 days of sunshine and practically 0 rain all year round. It also has the benefit of feeling very charming, and despite not being the most beautiful place in the world, or having the nicest beach, it does a great job of wanting you to stay just one more day... The reason we headed there was to visit the Islas Ballestas, which are home to myriad of bird species, dolphins, penguins and seals, we both had a fantastic time and depleted our camera battery in fine style - be prepared to be bored senseless by forthcoming pictures of another cute seal! After that, we were booked on another tour of the Paracas Nacional Reserva, in which we drove around for several hours to a few beauty spots, and some restuarants in the middle of nowhere (the food here is great, if 3 of you buy a meal, I eat free... that old chestnut!), overall, pretty disappointing but it cost us like 5 quid!

So, onto tomorrow - yes we're back on a bus. Luckily we'll only be on it for a few hours as we head to Nazca for hopefully a cheap plane ride over the lines (we've quickly learnt never to pay the price listed, or even the asking price), and to take in the ancient Nazca Lines, hopefully they'll be inspiring and not appear like some lines a child has drawn in the sand with his finger... Miranda isn't much fussed I don't think, but I guess it's one of those things we'll regret doing should it ever pop up in a pub quiz!

Other stuff, well we've got like a million photographs to upload, but the internet here in Peru is slower than their fishingnet. Hopefully when we arrive in Cusco we'll be able to catch-up from that point of view. Other stuff, well, one travelling philosopher we've met put it beautifully when he said "you're perpetually in a state of constipation or diarhorrea, and never inbetween", I seem to be faring generally OK up to now, but I seem to be doing better than most. The food generally speaking has been fantastic in all of South America, there's a real feel that your location directly affects the foods available on the menu, therefore in the west of Peru, fish plays a big part of peoples lives. Ceviche is basically raw fish, soaked in lemon juice, and with some chilli added to the mix to give it some kick... I've only had it once so far, but it's pretty good - you'd love it Mum!

Anyway, time is ticking and my stomach is in knots, so I'll clock out and go and feed it!

Hope everybody is OK at home, and that the worst of the recent stormy weather is done with. hopefully speak to you all soon when we reach civilization in Cusco.

See you soon, James!