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Huacachina, Peru June 20, 2007
Yes of course I did some real surfing on this world tour of mine but honestly, can you think of a better title after finding a place that has mountain sized sand dunes that can be surfed? I think not.
So like I said, purely by accident, I stumble across this little . . no not even a town . . a location . . an oasis, literally an oasis, an hour or so north of Nazca. It has a little sulfur pond surrounded by monstrous cliffs of sand. Just an unbelievable, otherworldly setting. I've seen a few big dunes at Pismo Beach and I guess the Cali deserts have some big dunes, but Dude, I doubt any place this side of the Sahara has anything like this. Seriously, they're HUGE and what's even more amazing, they go on forever. Nobody could give me a straight answer as to how big an area the sand dunes cover because they go on to the horizon in every direction except West, where the Andes decide to have a say.
Walking barefoot through the warm sand is wonderful but climbing the dunes takes work. I made a couple of attempts to a respectable height but some of these backpacker kids spent hours trudging to the top of these monsters. God bless em. Me, I was thrilled with a couple of hundred feet up. Seeing the colors of the sunset over the dunes was just magic. Sitting on the whaleback top of the dune, digging my toes down to the cold of the sand, watching the world below felt like I was master of all, if not my own domain anyway. I've really never experienced anything like that enviornment. It's just surreal, swimming a sea of sand.
Susan mentioned recently us sleeping through a hurricane on the boat when were kids off Block Island I think. That memory led to another near forgotten childhood moment for me here. Taking the boat across to Fire Island from the East Meriches house and tumbling down the big sand dunes, again and again. That was fun, but I think I've topped it. Sand surfing. Yep, just like it sounds. More like Sandboarding actually but either way it's a blast. You could hike up and down all day, earning your turns as they say, but why bother when for just $15 a tricked out Dune Buggy can do the work for you.
The ride alone through the Dune sea (no spice though) is a blast but then they drop you off a bunch of spots so you can strap on a board and surf your way down the behemoths. Too fun. Definitely harder to maneuver than say snowboarding but a LOT softer when you fall. Momentum is key however because believe it or not sand is not as slippery as snow or water. Who knew? It's definitely a safari destination for amazing waves, but one thing: when these waves crash the sand gets every where, and I do mean everywhere. Walking gently is required until shower time.
Kowabunga
Bill
previous travel blog entry
BOBBO says:
JUST LIKE A BOARDER TO TRACK UP SOME FRESH WIND BLOWN SAND!!! THE DUNES WLL NEVER BE THE SAME.