Hello Huacachina!

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We arrived at Huacachina at night, so didn't realise what we had come across. We stumbled tired and stiff from a longer than expected bus ride, ordered beer, pizza and after an encounter with a impassioned Peruvian woman who decided she was in total love with me and then proceeded to weep into my beer over her drug addict ex wife, we stumbled back to Hostel Rocha where we were staying.

I was still asleep when Adam walked in the next day and told me it was beautiful outside and I needed to take a look. I blearily stumbled outside and what I saw was beyond what I could have ever hoped. Our pool sparkled in the hot hot morning sun, with a beautiful bright pink flowering tree dripping over it. A puppy called Lu Lu frolicked around the edge and three different parrots, one a macaw, sat serenely in the trees. And then above the trees, oh my. Giant, impossible, ridiculous sand dunes towered over us, bright and glaring in the heat. Soon our energy came back and after a swim in the pool it was exploring time!

We soon discovered that Huacachina is literally two roads, one on either side of the laguna. It was easy and hot and relaxing. We befriended a turtle in the garden of our restaurant, swung in hammocks and went to sit on the shore of the laguna. It is small and a little slimy, but there are beautiful big trees surrounding it and birds flitting everywhere. We galloped (with much exertion) up a dune and felt breathless not only from the run. The wind swooped down from the peaks of higher pointed Aladdin-esque dunes and filled us with an amazing happy energy.

That afternoon we got into a little battered buggy with our driver and a French guy and went on the most exciting most terrifying ride over the sand dunes. Our driver was a maniac! He absolutely hurtled and flew at amazing speeds over the sand, he had a little knowing smile on his face as Adam and I screamed and hooted and the French guy sat grim and quiet. The shadows were growing as we strapped ourselves onto sandboards and attempted our first ride down the hill. I did better than Adam much to my delight, but slid down pretty much the entire second dune on my bum. On our third and final dune we lay down on our stomachs on the boards and flew headfirst down its impossible steepness, like bullets. Exhilarated and incredulous we played like little kids in the sand, making sand angels and wrestling. We were dirty, i had a few grazes and our clothes and shoes were full of sand but we didn't care. One final hurtling ride and we stopped atop a particularly giant dune just in time to see the sun slide behind the horizon. All the dunes were bathed in its orange glow and it was quiet and peaceful, you could see for kilometres in every direction. We finally stopped acting like children and just sat in awe. We lay on our backs with our heads pointing down the steep slope of the dune and just lay there, overcome.

That night (Adams last night Take 1) we bought sweet bubbly local wine and were given free gems and rocks by the store owner. Then Adam and a hilarious hostel worked proved that they were "hombres fuertes" (strong men) by building a big bonfire while I polished off the wine. Our hostel had a lovely pool side bar, so we sat next to the fire, drank Cuba Libres and befriended other backpackers. It was here we met a fascinating boy who was technically American but had lived most of his life in Mexico and 5 years in England (and who was only 19) whose first name was Cosmas and Damian. He was great fun though and we were soon getting along famously. We went in search of food and more drinks.

We never found food but found a bar that did great pisco sours and two lovely girls from Lima called Ryu and Andrea. We spent the whole night dancing, laughing and speaking bungled Spanish with these lovely people, moving from this bar to another and then eventually stumbling home at some unspeakable hour.

The next day was mostly sleeping and groaning over the giant metal band themed burgers we stuffed too quickly into ourselves. We emerged at night for food, intending on having a quiet one. But instead we found Ryu, Andrea and Cosmas and a bottle of Jager. We ate delicious lasagnas, recorded mangled Spanish and English on Ryu's video camera and went dancing again. Adam was meant to be leaving that night but decided against it, making it Adams last night take 2. It wasn't quite as late, but it was hilarious and we couldn't all stop laughing dancing and smiling.

The next day Ryu woke us with breakfast in bed! After a delicious swim in the heat, we spent the day lolling in a beautiful old tree by the laguna. We said goodbye sadly to Ryu, who was going back to Lima for work. As the sun started setting Cosmas, Adam and I clambered huffing up the dunes to watch our last sunset there while Cosmos and I both playing my guitar that we had dragged up there.
It was beautiful and a little bittersweet because Cosmas and I were both getting on a bus to Arequipa that night and would be saying goodbye to Adam for good. But on the stumble back down the dunes Adam said "Maybe I should come with you guys to Arequipa". And so the three of us, two nice guys Tom and Kevin from our hostel, and a couple bottles of bus station wine, got on the night bus to Arequipa.

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