Saturday 16 January 2010
Highlights: Extreme driving in a Buggy motor, Sand boarding, Pisco Sour & Wine distillery

Today we headed off to a desert oasis of sorts to go sand boarding after a 4 hour bus ride. Now to get to the sand boarding we had to go on a buggy vehicle and drive through the desert. This alone was worth the price of the day tour; spin outs, mini jumps and just pure speed was the call of the day. Gareth lost his hat very early on and Andrew came close himself. The looks on our faces says it all about the rides.

Now the sanding boarding itself was a little dangerous. You end up going down these huge sand dunes at high speeds, now while we were only our stomachs it was still difficult. A fact Andrew can testify to when he ended up rolling on his 3rd ride. While I managed to stay on I almost went off one time and did get a very bumpy and slightly painful ride on one occasion. Brilliant stuff.

Back at the leaving station we all quickly jumped into the waiting pool only to find out we were supposed to shower off the sand beforehand. Still the drinks in the pool were very relaxing and helped rehydrate after the desert heat.

Next up was a visit to a Pisco Sour and Wine distillery. Most of our group really enjoyed the free samples at the end. I found most of the samples good especially the wine but not surprisingly so the Pisco Sour was too sour for my taste.

Another bus trip to our hotel in Pisco and we finished the night with a BBQ on the balcony overlooking the town.  During the night I started burning DVDs of the photos the group at taken a reminder this journey is almost over. During the night I slept above the covers with the fan on full. A hot last night that we will sleep in South America.