After leaving Cusco we headed out into the Peruvian desert with our first stop being a flight over the Nazca Lines. These ancient drawings on the desert floor including a monkey, hummingbird, whale, geometric designs and many more were thought to have been made over 2000 years ago though nobody knows why they were made. Some have said they are offerings to the gods, others that they are some form of calendar and even an attempt to communicate with aliens (largely down to the one picture known as the astronaught). They cover a huge area and can only be seen from the sky. We took a 45minute flight in a little 6 seater cesna plane and saw about 20 of the designs in between struggling to control the urge to vomit as the pilot dipped the wings down pointing out the pictures for us.
After Nazca we drove to Huacachina which is a small town built around an oasis in the middle of the desert, surrounded by the most enormous sand dunes I could ever have imagined. As you drive into the town a sign proclaims "Tourism for the 21st century" and this little oasis seems to be entirely dedicated to sand boarding and dune buggying. The dune buggys with huge engines and exhausts can be heard roaring around the few streets of the town on their way out to the dunes. It was fantastic fun to power up the huge dunes, banking, jumping and swerving around the sand. We drove to the tops of progressively bigger dunes and then jumped out, strapped on our sandboards and boarded down. Whilst most prefered to board standing which is slower as it allows more control as you weave downwards just like snowboarding, I prefered to go down on my stomach taking the fastest line downwards with no attempt to brake. You can get up to a fantastic speed and I absolutely loved it.
On the last run of the day I had started at the top of a dune which was about 200 - 250m high. As I sped down I got to within about 30m of the bottom when I tried to adjust my grip as the sand was taking all of the skin off my knuckles - more a red knuckle rather than white knuckle ride. AS I shifted my grip I hit 2 successive bumps and took off into the air, momentarily parting company with my board. I knew I was going to wipeout so took a deep breath and held it as I somersaulted downhill again and again. When I eventually stopped I was winded from the board hitting me and had bruised ribs and a very pink stomach which felt like it had been gone over with sandpaper. My companions were surprised to see me getting up but despite the bruises I had loved every minute and had we been staying for another day I would definately have been out on the boards again. We finished another great day watching the sunsetting over the dunes.
The next morning we headed for Paracas on the coast. At lunchtime as we pulled into the town we got our first glimpse of the Pacific ocean and a cheer went out. Those of us that have been together since Rio had traveled from the Atlantic to Pacific coasts of South America and we felt it definately deserved a beer and a cheer. We spent the afternoon strolling along the clif tops, desert on one side, ocean on the other. Below us we watched the sealions on the rocks whilst above us flocks of pelicans flew past and turkey vultures swooped down to get a closer look at us.
That night we camped on a deserted beach - well, deserted except for the other dragoman truck that we had hooked up with. We pitched our tents in the sand looking out over the waves. As the sun set over the horizon we played frisbe on the beach and every so often small flocks of pelicans flew low over us in the pink sky heading out to sea. It was beautiful. We built a fire and spent the evening drinking, chatting and eating fried plantains and marshmallows. It doesn´t get much better.
The next day we took a boat out to the Balestos Islands, so called because of their bow shape. THey were covered in thousands of sealions, pelicans, penguins, boobies and cormorants and there were huge orange starfish and crabs clinging to the lower rocks. The sealions swam around us or fought each other for space on the rocks. The tops of the islands were black with the huge number of birds on them. As each big flock flew over us people started to don hats, aware that the biggest export in this area is guano.
Back on shore we headed back into the desert before looking for a suitable site to bush camp for the night. We followed a sign off the main road for the beach. We bumped along over the grey sandy road through a desolate landscape until we eventually reached the sea. However it was one of the eeriest places that any of us had ever seen. The grey deserted landscape had a hazy grey sky overhead, flecked with pink as the sun dipped behind the horizon. Looming out of the haze just off the beach was the rusting hulk of a shipwreck on its side with two big cables supporting its weight. The cables were fully laden with birds all sitting in a long line. On the beach in front of the wreck were three large crucifixes covered in tatty rags which flapped in the still air. Beneath each of the crucifixes was an orange glow from a candle which had been lit by an invisible hand. WIth my lack of sense of smell I had to take the word of the others that there was a chocking, overpowering smell of decaying fish. No one wanted to stay. It looked like a scene from a horror movie . THe naive victims pull up for the night on a deserted creepy beach beside a ghost ship and some glowing crucifixes as you shout at the TV declaring it to be ridiculous as no one in real life would chose to camp at such a haunted place..... I was the only one who said I wouldn´t mind staying but then I couldn´t smell the place.
As night drew in we found somewhere else to camp and put our tents up in the dark. I dug the bush baños which I was also the first to use. As I squatted behind a derelict hut looking out into the darkness I could make out 2 human sized silhouettes moving in the breeze. They were small banana palms I reminded myself. Then I began to hear a whooping high pitched call like a bizarre laughing howl. It was coming towards me across the field - I hoped it was a bird of some kind. A short while later one of the girls asked me where I had dug the baños. As I explained my experience to her she decided that she didn´t need to go after all and when she did she would find somewhere else. Ahh - the joys of roughing it in the wild!
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