Boobies and Sandboarding (Huacachina, Peru)

So I'm done with Paracas. I spent 3 days there. I hiked through the desert, from which I'm still quite burned. I watched my friend Tereza rock some serious Kitesurfing, the $100 lesson fee was a bit much for me. I was awoken each night by election parties held on the street below my hostel, elections being tomorrow...

Its worth noting that they really take their elections seriously here, and my criteria for seriously is that each candidate has their own song. Not just 'Don't stop thinking about tomorrow', but a song WRITTEN just for their campaign. This song is of course the basis of their canned recorded broadcasts which boom out of every speaker, from late night parties, to loadspeakers on roaming cars, to local boomboxes, in every small town from Aguas Calientes to Pisco.

Anyhoo.... Today I found myself alone again as Tereza head off to the Czchek Republic, and I decided it was time to be a tourist. First thing in the morning, I hopped on a boat to Isla Ballestas, The poor man's Galapagos, and got my full dose of birds and sea lions, around 10,000 and 500 of them respectfully. There were pelicans, penguins, cormarrants, Peruvian boobies, and even turkey vultures! There was also more bird droppings (guano) than I ever want to smell again in my life. Apparently its a major export, best fertilizer in the world, and they can only harvest every 5-7 years.

Afterwards, I hopped a bus to Ica, and a taxi to Huacachina just in time to catch a desert tour. Now, I normally don't like tours, but this one was great. Riding in a dunebuggy over the rollercoaster like dunes, we got to sandboard down several. For the taller ones, we would lie on our stomachs and go down head first, but the smaller ones we'd try standing up. I even made it all the way down a pretty steep one. 3 actually, although I fell HARD on my ass on the second one 'Cuidado con su culo!', but like any good inspìrational movie, I got up and nailed the next one like a pro. We watched the sunset from atop the desert and sat for a while in the most deafening silence I've ever heard, or not heard for that matter.

Anyways, that's the news from lake wobegon, tomorrow will decide whether or not I spend time in Nazca or just mozy on to Arequipa.