White lines

Man, okay. I´ve had a right royal couple of days. I left off about to go and get my sand buggy ride (see added pictures in the blog below.) Oh my. Right...

I was petrified. They go so fast, right up the side of HUGE (and I mean, huge) dunes. They bomb towards the top of the sand cliffs and then just take off. It was like being on the scariest rollercoaster, but without the knowledge that you´re actually attached to something. But, it was so, so amazing. Amazing. All you can see is sand dunes. Massive, amazing sand dunes. And all you can hear are the screams from other people on buggies, thinking they´re also about to die. The driver stopped 3 times so we could sandboard (just like snowboarding) down the steep dunes, although I could only just manage to stand up outside of the buggy, I was shaking so much. Watched the sunset over the desert from the top of a dune. Just amazing. I loved it.

The buggy



Tracks in the sand



The view



That small spot is a buggy...



Waiting to board



Duncan and Suzy boarding



The sun setting



Sunday morning - Duncan, Suzie and I hired boards and went sandboarding on our own and then spent the afternoon in the pool. Got a 2 hour bus in the evening to Nasca and checked in to a ropey motel. Dodge. Ment.

Me and my board



Right, so if I wasn´t scared enough on that open top train ride a few weeks back - and then the dune ride of death, this was the morning to take the adrenalin biscuit. I sat in a three man plane and flew over the Nasca lines. I hate flying at the best of times. HATE it. So having the pilot sat practically on my lap was really something. I was mute for about 2 hours before the flight, white with fear, but then as soon as I was up there I loved it (course I did.) The ancient lines were amazing (although not as big as we´d thought) but the whole size of the area they´ve been drawn on, and the mystery surrounding them, totally blows you away. Duncan and I then checked out some ancient graveyard with dead people, a ceramic place and then some workshop where they make gold that they mine from the area. A lecture at the planetarium about the lines (which was amazing, plus we got to see Saturn and Jupiter through the telescope - I´m practically an astronomer these days) and then we hit the crammed, stinking, sleepless 20 hour bus journey to Cusco. Thank the Lord for over-the-counter Valium...

The lines











Some ancient dead people



Me after the 20 hour bus journey of hell