Ica, Peru

My next stop was Ica. The main draw for backpackers to Ica is going on a dune buggy and sandboarding trip in the dunes right outside of the town. This was by far the highlight of Peru so far! I took an evening trip into the dunes with 12 other backpackers. Our first stop was a little dune where our driver got out the board and told us how to sandboard. When we asked if he wanted a to borrow a board to show us how to do it, he laughed in our face and told us that he only drives and doesn't board the dunes. So thats encouraging on the safety front, right? Basically there are 3 ways to get down the hill. You can either lie on your stomach on the board and sled down headfirst (the safest option), or you can sit on the board and sled down the traditional way (2nd safest) or for the dare devils you can attempt to go down on your feet like you are snowboarding(the most dangerous way). I tried all three ways on the "bunny" hill but was only successful at the laying and standing sledding options. I fell in style when I tried the standing approach. After a quick practice he took us to a bigger dune where a few brave people tried standing and going down, I decided it would be best if I stuck to sitting. I had a blast going down...but the real fun came at the next stop. We drove like crazy flying over dunes and making sharp turns until we came to our final test of being a sandboarder. The biggest dune I have ever seen in my life. This dune is the 1st picture, I took it from the bottom and the little black specks are the people who did not brave going down the hill once they saw the drop. It had to be around 250 to 300 feet tall. It was so big the the driver told us we were only allow to go down on our stomachs and no matter what dig your feet into the sand half way down, and don't ask why.

Going down was the craziest experience ever! I couldn't tell if I was enjoying it at first because I was so worried that I was going to fall off or give into wanting to scream bloody hell and get a mouth full of sand. (As you can see in the picture) Once I was safely at the bottom I realized that I had just had the most fun and could not wait for the driver to come pick us up and take us to the top to go again. If you ever get the chance to go sandboarding I would highly recommend it. Once the adrenaline rush of going down the dunes was over we piled back into the buggy and did some more 4 wheel driving then stopped at the top of the dunes to watch the sunset. It was by far the best night I have had in Peru so far.