sand in my pants

after the jungle, i took my first flight to lima. the journey to iquitos consisted of 5 days, 3 towns, 2 buses, 5 tuk tuks and 1 cargo boat. the journey back--a hour and a half plane ride, and included a snack. but truly, half the fun is getting there. the one good thing about the flight was that i got to see the amazon basin from above, muddy rivers snaking through massive expanses of green, and at once realized how deep in the middle of nowhere i had been for the last week and a half.

i stayed in the upscale area of miraflores in lima, and if it weren´t for the spanish being spoken around me, i could have been in any big city in the u.s. whole foods-esque grocery stores, manicured gardens and parks (where i found out sitting on the grass is a no-no), even a starbucks. and even though my head said no, my heart said yes, and i treated myself to a grande vanilla latte (what? don´t judge me. some people get mcdonald´s when they travel, i get my espresso fix. sometimes nescafe just doesn´t cut it). i wandered into central lima for the day to check out the catacombs lurking in the depths underneath the iglesia san francisco. wow, alot of bones. the weird thing was that they were all categorized and artistically arranged. i couldn´t get over the fact that someone had to arrange all the human skulls and femur bones so that they look aesthecially pleasing. odd.

in an attempt to get to pisco for the annual wine festical, i somehow managed to end up in huacachina instead, a couple hours south. oops, overshot that one by just a little bit! but when i woke up the next morning and found myself in a mirage, or more specifically, a lush lagoon oasis smack dab in the middle of yellow-gold sand dunes, decided i´ve definitely made worse city mistakes on this trip.

huacachina from above

¿a mirage?

i´ve been out of the desert for about 4 days now, and am STILL finding sand in my shoes, in my purse, in my backpack, in my ears. why? because well, i was in the middle of the desert, and the main thing to do in the oasis (as we started calling it) is sandboarding and sand-duning.

us and the terminator

there were three drivers to choose from, and one looked exactly like terminator. two seats left in his car, right in the front, done and done! best. choice. EVER. he was absolutely insane, driving straight up the face of massive sand dunes, ripping back down, flying over bumps, catching air, nearly rolling far too many times to count, absolutely loving the screams from his all-chicaentourage. he would always pull up last, showing off to the other drivers, screeching to a halt and kicking up a massive dust storm.

we drove around to different dunes, getting out to strap ourselves to boards and ride down. they say ¨sand boarding,¨but because the boards are really just pieces of wood with no edges, you can´t really carve or turn like in snow. so for the last couple of runs down really REALLY big dunes, we slid down on our stomachs. i thought volcano boarding was an adrenaline rush. it ain´t got nothing on sandboarding. down the first dune i went the fastest and the furthest, the canadian guy who came in second stopped right after me. in an attempt to save face, he challenged me to a race down the biggest and baddest dune of all. we rubbed down our boards with extra wax, tres, dos, uno VAMOS, and took off, straight down a solid wall of sand. he was a bit ahead when he hit a rivet, flipped, and rolled, engulfing us both in a massive sand cloud. when i finally got down, he was still rolling, rolling rolling. EPIC bail. he was fine, sand in the eyes, but lived to tell the tale.

victory is mine!

terminator took the ride home slowly during the sunset, casually smoking a cigarette, the orange embers catching wind and floating off in the horizon. but once the sun set, he was off, not bothering to turn on lights, scoping out the untouched dunes, even once screaming himself. he owned those dunes. el rey de la arena, we called him. the king of the sand.

one dusky night we climbed all the way up a massive dune for sunset, our bare feet sinking deep into the sun-drenched sand, up to the ridge. the wind picked up. a massive sand storm, blowing tiny grains into every orfice, left me feeling so small in the midst of something so powerful. the wind swept across the sand, making the dune come alive, moving silently as the day turned to night.

until next time...