Sandboarding in Huacachina, Isla Ballestas and the Nazca lines

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Whooooooooooo hooooooooooooooooo. This has to be the most fun so far and we both wish this was something we could do on a regular basis. Sandboarding is such good fun!

After a ride up and around the massive sand dunes on a dune buggy (which feels not unlike some kind of sandy rollercoaster ride over the massive dunes at high speed) we were given a sand board and let loose on the slopes. This is so much fun, way warmer and softer than snowboarding. Magnus was a natural and San picked it up after a couple of goes. We wanna go again!!! The highest sand dunes round here are above 2000m - anyone know of somewhere similar nearer home?!

We based ourselves in Huacachina which is surrounded by the towering sand dunes, but from our fab hotel base here we also took a trip out to Paracas/Isla Ballestas (aka the poor mans Galapagos). This was just amazing too, its about a 2hr round trip on the boat which cruises the islands arches and caves. We saw a bunch of sleepy loooking sea lions chilling and lolling about. There were a number of Humbolt penguins and dolphins around too. But by far the birds most in abundance are the pelicans, boobies and cormorants of which there were thousands.

The following day we headed down, backpacks in hand to check out the Nazca lines. No one knows for sure who constructed the lines and for what purpose. And why did they bother when they can only be seen from the sky. We took a flight over the lines to take a look for ourselves and it is really odd. Just a vast amount of desert and suddenly there is a picture of an astronaut or a monkey just there etched in the land below. Very odd place. Very mysterious.

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