We crossed the border into Aguas Verdes in Peru unsure what to expect from apparently the worst border crossing in South America....quite a claim! Everyone we had met aimed to avoid it by taking a longer route through Ecuador but not us...we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Disappointingly it was just like any other border, we didn't even have to bribe anyone to get across....although there were definitely plenty of people willing to relieve gullible travelers of a few quid but then what's new!

Our first stop was Mancora, having heard good things about this beach destination. We hoped for a bit of tanning and relaxation before beginning the hard work that is sightseeing! Sadly for us we timed our visit with close season renovations. The main strip of beach had been dug up and resembled a building site, as did our hotel which was half finished. Still we managed to strike a good deal for the room and set out to have a good time, starting with a few beers and a beach BBQ. On the advice of the rather hyperactive gringo chef we ordered the Langostene which, 2 hours and several beers later, turned out to be just that...one Langostene. Residing ourselves to needing a second dinner we tucked in and, after taking a big bite, soon realised that we might also need the toilet very shortly. The gloopy slimy mess now in our mouths was in fact a slightly warm but still raw Langostene....who knows what the chef had been doing for two hours, one thing he wasn't doing was cooking crustaceans! After a quick apology and another twenty minutes he replaced it with a smaller version which was downed in one mouthful. Still hungry we asked for the bill and, to our surprise, the chef asked us to pay more to cover the extra shrimp....needless to say we gave him a chuckle and left. Just to top off our evening the son of the owner of the hotel we were staying in went out and got drunk, locking us out. When he eventually returned we gave him a few choice words before craftily negotiating an even better nightly rate for not telling his Dad!

A little disappointed with Mancora we upped and headed towards Trujillo, stopping halfway in Chiclayo to see a Shaman Market. Laziness got the better of us though and instead of visiting the market we got back on the bus the next day and headed straight to the surfing hangout of Huanchaco just outside Trujillo in search of that elusive beach time. Again we were foiled. Windy days meant sitting on the beach was was an exercise in sandblasting and the sea, well you needed to put a wetsuit on just to look at it...it was freezing!

Giving up on Peruvian beaches we took the long bus to Lima, stopping only for the night. The bus was longer for some than others, a local lady had crammed around fifty guinea pigs into small crates and put them in the luggage hold. When she arrived in Lima all of the little critters had died and she wasn't happy. We left her arguing in vain with the bus driver for replacement dinner and found a cheap place to crash for the evening. Next day we headed onwards to Lunahuana, hoping to wash away our sandy disappointments in Peruvian wine country, a place that smelt rather like a nasty hangover! We quickly discovered that Peru doesn't really sparkle in the world of wine, unless of course you like it sweet, red, and served at around 30ºC....in which case you are in for a treat! We spent a day visiting vineyards and sampling their wares in a vain attempt to find something tasty...we failed, but at a couple of quid a bottle it was fun trying!

Shaking off the red wine haze we headed off to Huacachina, a real life oasis in the middle of the Peruvian desert. After scaling the towering sand dunes there was nothing more to do than wait out the heat of the day on sun loungers around our hotel swimming pool....yes we had a swimming pool, albeit a pretty murky one but a pool nonetheless! Once the searing heat had subsided we dragged ourselves away from some serious lounging to try our hands at sandboarding....honestly, we thought, how hard could it be?? After tackling a couple of small dunes with varying degrees of success we moved onto the bigger ones. A few spectacular falls later we had pretty much got the hang of straight lines, althrough turning and stopping were an entirely different ball game, one that usually ended with a mouthful of sand! It's safe to say we won't be quitting the day jobs for the globetrotting life of a sandboarder!!

Next up we headed for Nasca to check out those mysterious lines in the desert. Shortly after arranging a trip in a five seater Cessna we were airborne and, flying low across the desert, marvelling at these strange etchings in the sand. It wasn't the most pleasant of rides and we landed feeling rather sick and happy to be back on terra firma again. As for the drawings, well we're not convinced they weren't the result of some elaborate drunken hoax....one of them looks like Tweety Pie!