Sandboading

wow, its been a while. this might be long...

took the night bus from huaraz to lima (yes, of course there was a screaming baby for the first half hour of the ride, and yes, i did realize that the sound that makes me want to punch a baby (dane cook fans...) is that of a baby screaming). arrived at 5, got a bus to ica at 6, and was in the hostel in the small oasis town of hacachina by noon, ready to pass out. the hostel was 5 dollars a night and had a pool in middle of the court yard, and plenty of recliners. that night we had an all you can eat, all you can drink (rum and cokes) BBQ. i met some cool aussies, brits, and an irish guy. i soon found out they were all alcoholics, as they managed to go through 16 strong cocktails (like long island ice tea strong) before heading back to the hostel to drink more. i chose to pass on all but sips of the various kinds of cocktails they were drinking, and went to bed early (1 or so) that night. the aussies and irish guy left the next morning, but i hung out with the brits the next day (they both resembled jesus to some extent) and we went sandboarding.

the concept is they take about 6-8 of you up into the desert (amazingly beautiful) in dune buggies that sound like old V-8 fords. i was all ready to ride in the one with the brits and some girls from london, but they moved me into one with 5 isrealis and a brazilian. fun. the drivers are totally insane, making the trip a blast, as you cruise over the dunes and down very steep slopes. then we get out at the top of maybe a 50 foot dune, and stap out waxed pieces of plywood (really they are big skateboards with now trucks) to our feet and cruise down. you pretty much have to go straight and keep your balance to be sucessful at all, but it was totally fun. we did six dunes like that, then went to some 150-200 foot ones, that you couldnt go straight down on or you would die (or break your back, dont laugh it happened to someone, although not while i was there). next day alli and i went to the peruvian galapagos (which isnt really like the galapagos at all, mostly because its not where charles darwin lived and experimented, in fact the islands are uninhabitable for the most part). they are called the peruvian galapagos because they have thousands and thounsands of birds. and hundreds of sea lions and some penguins and other stuff too. all in all, it was fun, but not spectacular.

sandboarding was so great that i did it again the next day. this time i was with a cute 19 year old girl from bellvue, and some cool (and totally totally hilariously un-pc) women from london. it was even better, and i was able to make some turns, and look semi-suave while doing it, although thats not so say i didnt wipe out pretty bad, and am still sore from it. another barbeque that night where i met a cute girl from NYC, so we hung out till quite late playing pool (with the hilarious women from london) and such.

i managed to convice alli and her friend to leave early, so i am now awaiting a 10 hour night bus ride to my next destination with the new yorker and a real annoying south african guy. he thinks he knows everything (doesnt speak a word of spanish) and is right about everything. he also has lots of money (a banker from living in london) so he´s not on the same wave length as us. hopefully we´ll be able to ditch him soon enough.

phew, more as it develops, im off to machupicchu in about 10 days.