Day 5, 6, and 7

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Well, we are back to report to everyone. After we last wrote, we dumped the sand out of our shoes, had a nice lunch, and headed to the starting point our of Sand buggy tour to do some sandboarding. We were with a group of 6 other brave souls and one insane, hell on wheels driver. Of course, we were lucky enough to land in the front seat of the buggy with Patty crammed in the middle between Steve and the driver. The driver started off our trip by playing ¨chicken¨with the other vehicles on the small, narrow road. Of course he was the the type of driver that didn´t give in so at the very last second, the oncoming vehicle-motorcyle moved out of his way. He did this all the while with a grin on his face. We stopped at a small store, he got back into the buggy, turned to Patty and grinned. This is where it began...the almost end of the honeymoon! We headed to the sand dunes. We payed our governmental fee at the start of the dunes with the other buggys. Patty said to Steve, ¨I think he is the type of guy that always does it bigger and better and will not be outdone by others.¨ Steve brushed off Patty´s comment as silly...he would later agree with Patty 100%.

We raced past the other buggys, going over sand dunes. It was miles and miles of sand, hills upon hills. You could see some of the tracks of other buggys. Steve decided it would be a good idea to take out the camera to take a quick video. Patty did not like this idea as she need this arm to clutch while holding the front ¨oh shit¨handle in front of her. Steve went ahead and got some of this on tape...but he decided to put it away after we went down our first of many straight down hills. When we say straight, we mean drop a coin and the angle it falls, this is the angle we went down. Now, as we said earlier, you could see some tracks of previous buggys. Oh we followed those tracks but our driver decided to make his own tracks on the highest of dunes. Steve kept pointing and a hill and saying look at that. Patty kept grabbing his arm telling him not to point because that would give the driver an idea of where to go. We would drive toward a sand dune that looked like a cliff and keep going over it at the fastest pace possible. Patty kept thinking...we have 2 hours of this?

We came to our first stop where they were other buggys. Most drivers slow down when you are coming to an area where there are other people and buggys on top of a dune. Not our driver, he sped up, and made the sharpest turn at the last possible second to slide right next to another buggy...a definite show off! The other people were getting ready to go down one dune, our driver shook his head in disgust and walked us to another dune that was better in his opinion. This dune was bowl shaped. He gave us our wax for the boards, gave brief instructions and made Steve go first. Essentially, you lay on the board stomach down with your face in front. You hold the feet straps and he gives you a push and down you go. It was great! This was only the beginning to get us comfortable with the board. We quickly went to another dune after what felt like we were going to flip our buggy on several other hills. At this time, he encouraged us to try the sandsurfing. This was a challenge but awesome at the same time. Steve continued to improve his surfing skills while Patty had more difficulty. Next, some more insane driving to our last sand surfing drop off. This hill was at least 7 stories high. Off we went down to the bottom. Wow!!!! At the bottom of this hill we had to walk up a small sand dune to find the drivers at the bottom of another larger hill. It was getting dark and time to head back to the village. Well, one would think that with it getting darker, the sun had already set, we would take it easy back in. Not our buggy. The insane level of the driver increased by a thousand at least! He kept the headlights off and we began the longest, scariest journey back, flying over dunes and racing up huge hills only to make a quick loop and head back down the hill. Oh, but don´t forget about racing to dunes where it looks like a cliff and we fly over it and head straight down. We thankfully made it back to the village and the driver just smiled and laughed us. Quite the birthday treat for Steve.

We took some time on a bench to empty as much sand as possible out of us. After trying to desand, we went for a nice dinner on the edge of the lagoon. The best meal for Patty so far!! After our dinner, we went to a local bar and had some drinks. The bartender was blaring hip-hop music and wanting to talk with us all night. He gave us both some shot in honor of Steve´s birthday and our 1 week anniversary of being married. All in all...a very exciting, fun day and night.

The next morning we packed up our packs, took a taxi to Ica to the bus station. We met one of our fellow sand buggy friends (George) at the station. We were all travelling to Nazca. We ended up on different buses but the trip was only 2 hours. We got to Nazca, headed to the Plaza de Armas, got our bearings and went to a tour agency. We were hoping to go on a short tour to the cemetary or towers to see the Nazca lines but we missed the tour by a little because our bus arrived late. So, with no much to do in Nazca, we headed to a restaurant-bar. We saw our friend, George, was there as well so we joined him at this table. We ended talking with him over some beers and coca-cola for 5-6 hours. A good time. George is from Vienna, Austria. He just finished his first year at University and was as bored in Nazca as we were! He is travelling Peru for 7 weeks. Maybe our paths will cross again.

We took a bus out of Nazca to Cuzco leaving around midnight. The bus trip took 14 hours. We boarded the double decker bus (Cruz del Sur) in the second row in the front. Everyone was asleep. We quickly put our backpacks up, grabbed our blankets and attempted to fall asleep. Now, the trip to Cuzco is not a straight shot. It is an extremely winding tour. About 4 hours into the trip, the woman in front of us got sick. The whole time Patty kept picturing in her head a straight road hoping she would not get sick. No worries...she did it! We arrived in Cuzco around 3 pm and grabbed a taxi to Hostal Rumi Punku. This is a fancy place! But we decided to stay one night and get a good nights sleep. After dropping off our bags in our room, we headed into the Plaza de Armas. It is so beautiful here!!! The view is amazing. Although, you should realize that many places are on stone, cobble roads here. Not being used to the altitude, it was quite the hike back up hill to our hotel. Patty´s head was very woozy. We cleaned up and headed out to find a another hostal for the next couple of nights and grab a bite to eat. Steve might have been the happiest he has ever been eating (even more than when he has nachos) that night...he had stuffed Alpaca. His smile couldn´t have been larger and he was making some strange noises as he was eating. A completely content Steve and Patty walked through the center square back to our hotel and called it a night. We both get very winded at walking the streets here!

This morning we had an amazing breakfast at the beautiful hotel. Patty was sad to leave it because it was that gorgeous! We checked into our new hostal (forgot the name) which is very nice and has a great view of the city with a fireplace outside. We both took naps, and then headed back toward the center square for a bite to eat, groceries, laundry, and internet time. So far, Cuzco is extremely charming and seems like it will be a fun place to be for a few days. Our tentative plan is to head to Machu Picchu on Wednesday...details still not figured out yet. Week one of honeymoon equals success!!

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their summer. We´ll be back after Machu Picchu!!

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Comments

[Mom S.]

Honeymoon Bliss
Sounds like you are having an exciting time so far! Glad you survived the sand dunes adventure with the crazy driver! We'll be anxious to hear how your time at Machu Picchu goes. I hear the altitude can be rough. Hang in there Patty! I got to stay an extra 2 days in Raleigh due to plane delays and weather delays. Didn't get home until Sun. night. But that was OK - Back home now and into my "summer groove". Thinking of you both! Lots of love, Mom