Lima the Gray Octopus, Peru

Sandboarding in the Chilca Desert

From southern Peru to northern Chile lies the Atacama desert. It is the driest place on earth. It gets less than 1mm of rainfall per year. This gives you an idea of how dry Lima and its environs are. It also has unusual reddish sand. Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey was filmed there. (Hey, that’s why the aliens love Peru. The red sand reminds them of home.) One hour outside of Lima is the Chilca desert.

Our last day in Peru was spent surfing the dunes.

I tried, I really did. But, I kept falling over and it was embarrassing and exhausting to crawl back up the dune so I gave up. Donavin took to it like a speckled puppy under a red wagon. Yes, he did. You should’ve seen him go. At one point, I watched in horror as they fell headfirst and rolled down the hill. Anything harder than sand and you could break a neck that way. I say this from experience.

Outnumbered

We were about to head out of the desert when suddenly we were swarmed by dirt bikes, jeeps, and motorcycles. I counted about 20 of them all headed towards us. Holy Scheisse. They whizzed past us and around us winding up and over the dunes and then back again. It was crazy. We stood there and watched. We couldn’t move. They were riding too close. Eventually, they left and we were free to leave the desert.

After sandboarding, our two guides took us on a wild ride up and down the dunes. It was fun. The three of us were squished together in the back seat laughing. We’d get to the top of a 70 ft. hill and then sink into the sand and fly down the other side. The next day, we flew up to the other side of the equator and home.