Sandboarding & Pisco Sours

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Yes it is a real activity, and it's just how it sounds, surfing on a board down a sand dune!

We arrived early this afternoon at an oasis in the midde of the desert, that has turned into a small village with shops and restaurants. From here we strapped into a wicked dune buggy, which drove us recklessly over the enormous dunes like a rollercoaster ride! (it's ok it was perfectly safe Mr & Mrs Skaliotis!)

Every now and then we would stop at a taller and steeper dune than the one before, so that we could make our way down it. Preferred manner of descent was on our stomachs, which means you get a face-first view as you whizz down and across the smooth white sands.

After a few tummy attempts we decided to mimic the pros, and actually use the foot-straps on our boards by standing up as we went down. Needless to say it is much harder than it looks! On her second attempt (we won't mention the first!) Eleni impressed the onlookers by actually surfing down most of the hill before abruptly tumbling on to her bum at the bottom! She was happy though as she got the cheers from the crowd.

I impressed the onlookers too. After taking so long at the peak setting myself up to go down, I sort of lost concentration and started sliding down the wrong side of the dune! Queue a frantic scramble as I tried to work my back up to the top with a board strapped to my feet!

I made it down in the end though, but if anyone can surf their way down a dune without falling on their behind, I will be delighted for them to teach me how....


Pisco Sours are the local tipple, and we were then taken to a Pisco winery for a quick tour and tasting session. Although the Pisco sours aren't too bad, some of the other drinks we tried were too much like tequila and not enough like Inca Kola!!

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Photos

Vertical dune we drove up!
Look at the skid marks!!

Comments

[graham knight]

how good does this look
dude looks awesome but ur gonna be finding sand everywhere and i mean everywhere, same for us when we left fraser island. catch ya laters, Geebs