Delbert of Arabia or Huacachina

Having bumped in to Duncan in Nazca we decided to ride together a few hours north to Huacachina. This is somewhere we had heard of on our travels and neither of us knew anything about it but we are very glad we found it.

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The ride up through the Nazca desert was easy and we passed a few more desert etchings.

I played about with the video button on the camera. I have tried to load it here but not sure if you will be able to run ii (will try again when interweb connection is better). It made for a bit of entertainment getting the camera out of the tank bag, out of the case, turn it on and aim it. All whilst doing about 100kms with riding gloves on. I could have done with more teeth. I don't think you will find this exercise in the health and safety manuals.



Duncan likes a fag so we were stopping more often than I am used to and it would have taken two full days to do Cuzco to Nazca with him smoking 20 a day!

We also swapped bikes for part of the journey. If you think I am mad going round South America on mine - you ought to try his! I have a new found respect for his bravery. There were times when the front didn't feel like it was attached to the back. I was very happy to get my bike back under me.

We drove through Ica and turned west to Huacachina. It was nice following Duncan as he had Sat Nav so I didn't need to look at the map once. Very quickly you see why people come here, massive sand dunes soar up to the sky.

Riding in to the tiny Oasis I just needed Ravell's Bolero on the Ipod to complete the "Delbert of Arabia" effect, oh and a Brough Superior (the motorbike he was riding).

Duncan stopped for a fag and we had agreed that we would camp as the climate was perfect and there were one or two places that offered camping, I was getting rather excited about using my camping gear for the first time. Duncan then tried to start his bike. The Starter clutch failed. He had only just had if fixed in Chile a few weeks ago. This meant that we needed somewhere with Wifi so no camping.

It is an ancient Oasis around which several hostels and a few hotels have sprung up. Apparently they sunk so many bore holes and extracted so much water they now have to pump water in from Ica to keep the Oasis alive.

We found a place that seems more like a Kibbutz. The place is home from home for the Israelis including a Star of David stained glass window and Jewish menu. The rooms are clean and cheap, the gardens lovely with rabbits, tortoises and the cutest puppy called Pastul.

 A mechanic was called in from Ica to look at Duncan's bike. To cut a long story short the mechanic in Chile had made a right cock of the repair. It took 2 days and numerous false starts to realise that the previous guy had put the clutch in back to front!!! 

It was quite interesting to shuttle from the poolside lounger to the makeshift workshop as each visit of the mechanic met with more confusion.

The walk up the dunes is a tough one and best undertaken before the sun is up and bakes the sand. It is so soft flips flops are hopeless and bare feet is the only way to go. For every step you take you slip back half the distance. The trip down is the opposite and you slip down effortlessly on your heels it is so steep.

They do sand dune rides and hire out sandboards - as I am no snowboarder I left that to the back pack brigade (who sand boarded with varying degrees of success).It is back pack heaven but it is very peaceful and the climate perfect.

I have drunk more beer in the company of Duncan than I have for some considerable time! He is on a mission to get to Columbia and head in to Central America so he is heading off before me and there is one more place I want to see before reaching Lima.

Just trying to show you how big and steep these dunes are. The black dot is someone having a rest walking up the dune. Oh, just seen you have storms across the UK. There was a breeze today but in 31 degrees if felt very pleasant by the pool.