I was a little hesitant about traveling by myself, but I have to admit that the last two days have been some of my favorite in Peru. Yesterday after I saw the Nazca Lines, I traveled to Huacachina, a small town close to Ica. I checked into a small restaurant-hostel called Desert Nights and then booked a tour with them to go dune buggying and sandboarding during the sunset hours. The tour was one of the most enjoyable experiences I have ever had. Our driver, Gino (who looks, in my opinion, a lot like Montie) zoomed me and couples from Israel, Scotland, and Australia over incredibly steep mountains of sand. After flying up and down various dunes, Gino stopped at the point of one particulary high dune and proceeded to wax snowboardish looking boards and send us one at a time on our bellies on the boards between his legs down the dune. Sand flew in my eyes and ears, but it was so much fun! Afterwards Gino drove us to other dunes where we could try sandboarding on our feet. It was much more difficult to carve than snowboarding, and I went pretty slow, but it was still fun.
After navigating down the steepest dune of the day, Gino drove us to the top of a dune for an overview of numerous dunes and the sunset (some are over 200 meters!) I took pictures of the couples (sad, yes I know) and then we flew back to the oasis...I mean we literally jumped through the air various times in the dune buggy. It was thrilling and my woo hoos! were absorbed by the sand.
Settling back in the town, I decided to walk around the oasis. After chatting with 4 or 5 different people from the town for at least 30 minutes each about everything from machismo to the zoot suit riots to Peruvian food, I believe that Huacachina is my favorite town in Peru.
Today I woke up early and traveled to the Islas Ballestas. I sat in the front seat of our boat and learned a lot about birds, sea lions, and guano from our tour guide. I have never been so close to such a quantity of birds.
I traveled early back to Lima to try to recover something for my stolen video camera, but to no avail. It was the first time of the trip that I have actually shed tears. My taxi driver felt really bad for me, and took me to Starbucks for one final frappachino in Miraflores. I have written a lot about how great the Argentine taxi drivers are and had honestly been quite disappointed with those of Peru, but after today my viewpoint has changed. The chofer is almost 80 years old and one of the sweetest guys I have met in Peru. We talked about family, living in Lima, knee surgeries, and God.
I know I talk a lot about conversations, but for me, they are one of my favorite things about traveling...to connect with someone from a completely different culture and country, to learn from each other, to get a new perspective, to discuss things. Tonight I head to Brazil where, after having attempted to talk with Kellen´s relatives on the phone, I think communication will be very difficult. Hopefully I will survive and be able to speak at least through the common love of scaling a rock wall!
Partial Life List of the Islas Ballestas:
1. Peruvian tern
2. Peruvian pelican
3. Peruvian booby
4. Redlegged comorants
5. Humboldt penguin
6. Neotropical comorant
7. Bandtail seagull
8. Guani comorant
9. Inca tern
10. Turkey vulture
11. Common American sea lion
