What do you think if you hear the word Peru? Inca ruins perched atop mountains wreathed in cloud? Boats cruising lazily down rivers in the sweltering jungle? Perhaps. What about prisitine beaches, perfect for surfing, or enormous sand dunes rearing out of vast deserts, again perfect, but for the less known sport of sandboarding? Thought not!
We have spent about a month on Peru´s scorching desert coast, being beach bums in the fishing village of Huanchaco, and lazing around the desert oasis of Huacachina. It has been a very chilled, slow-paced, rum-soaked time, and we enjoyed it so much that after a month in the mountains, we are now back in Huanchaco, doing it all over again!
But first, let me tell you about the sandboarding. Imagine snowboarding, but on sand, and there you have it. It is a fun way to kill a few afternoons, but it kills your legs, and sand gets everywhere! Weeks after leaving the oasis town of Huacachina I was finding sand in places I best not mention.
Renting a sandboard costs about 1 pound for 2 or 3 hours, but the majority of that time is spent traipsing up dunes at a snail´s pace. After two days of unsuccessfully trying to descend a dune without falling, I abandoned my board and just decided to run down the dune as fast as possible. Lo and behold, it was more fun than with the board! Granted, I face planted at high speed, winded myself, ate buckets of sand and ripped my trousers, but these are the experience we cross oceans for!
After sandboarding, we had a taste for adventure, and went surfing in Huanchaco. Well, Tash went surfing. I laid down on a big plastic board and paddled around a bit. I surfed 6 years ago in Huanchaco, and was determined to do it again, as standing on the board, riding bodacious waves is an experience like no other. however, after paying for my lesson, squeezing painfully into my wetsuit and paddling into the big blue Pacific, something gave in my back. I tried to stand on my board, but it felt like an elastic band had snapped on my spine and I couldn´t stand up. No matter how hard I tried my back just twinged, refused to straighten, thus leaving me bent over like a puppet with no master, into I fell in the water, and wanted to drown from embarrassment. A 7 year old kid in my class was practically tap dancing on her board.
Tash had much more success. Not exactly like a fish in the water, I was shocked she even tried, but when she got going, she didn´t want to leave! She is now a budding surfer chick, and keeps using words like "gnarly", "radical", and "awesome".
So, Peru, surf mecca. It gave me great pleasure to know that whilst I was sat on a beach licking my ice cream, everyone back home was dreadfully cold, enduring a lovely British winter. Hahahahaha!!!
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