Bad wine and dune boards...feliz año nuevo!

"I´ve still got sand in my shoes..." Think Dido ever went sand boarding?

Desert Grapes

Days after skimming most ungracefully down the magnificent dunes around Huacachina, we´re still shaking sand from our hiking boots and trouser pockets. What an exhiliating experience! We couldn´t have asked for a better way to see out the old year than screaming ourselves silly as we zoomed downhill, first in a nifty little sand-buggy and then on sand boards. We said "bye-bye 2005" with the ultimate adrenaline rush!

Earlier that day we´d gone wine-tasting - the green valley in which the otherwise uninteresting town of Ica nestles is pretty much the only wine-growing region in Peru. It´s also the home of Peru´s home-grown spirit, Pisco (the town Pisco, which we´d visited the day before, gave its name to the drink because it traditionally served as the port of export).

El Catador - tasting pisco

Cab driver Jose Antonio took us, Christelle (French) and Louise (British) first to Tacama, Peru´s biggest winery - a beautiful property with quaint farm buildings (originally a monastery). We were given a very thorough tour of the cellar facilities before sitting down for a tasting. Mmmm, nope, we´re not exactly fans of Peruvian wine! The whites are all sweet, while the reds are rough and unwooded. Nevertheless, we bought a bottle of sparkles for the evening´s celebrations, and a bottle of rough red stuff.

Our second stop was El Catador, where Pisco is made in traditional fashion - grapes are stomped by pretty, dancing maidens, the grape must is fermented in giant eathenware jars with pointy bottoms called 'botejas', and the spirit is distilled in a huge outdoor alambic. All very quaint and interesting. We returned to Huacachina just in time to hop aboard a sand buggy, and by 4.35pm we were racing up one of the vast dunes that encircle this oasis resort. Hee-ha! Better than the best roller-coaster ride!

In Vino Veritas

After an exhiliarating two-and-a-half hours (and a stunning sunset) on the dunes, it was time to freshen up for New Year´s celebrations. Unfortunately Rich chose this particular evening to go down with a tummy bug... we´d barely climbed out of our sandy shorts when the poor lad started complaining of stomach pains etc. He spent the best part of the evening up in the room while I had a few civilised glasses of sangria with Louise and Christelle, and joined a group of Peruvian students (whom we´d met on the sand-boarding trip) for a meal. He did, however, manage to make it out of the room from about 11pm to 1am - we chilled out around pool with Louise and Christelle, and cracked the bottle of horrid sparkles we´d bought at Tacama. The New Year was welcomed with a few fireworks and kisses from charming Peruvian chaps wishing us "Feliz año nuevo!"

Sand Buggy

Sand-boarding...Yee-ha!

The final sunset of 2005

University buddies form Lima