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| Hiking up the mountain of sand |
This morning, Mark and I got up at 4am to surf the sand dunes. As excited as we are about any outdoor activity, waking up at 3 and 4am always seems like a chore. We dressed slowly, and met our French Canadian pal, Max, in the hotel lobby. Outside in the dark, I was surprised to see our guide, Arturo, the very same guy I met at the airport yesterday while Mark was flying above the Nazca lines. Small world. We piled into the back of a mini-car and surveyed our home-made sand boards in the back. They were heavy-duty painted plywood with a curved edge and velcro bindings. I knew we'd be carrying them for the next few hours. I envisioned hiking up a sunny sand hill, but it turns out that the beginning of our trek was more like hiking a rock pile in the dark. Our guide practically sprinted in front of us. We were amazed, and a little insecure about our hiking pace. When we caught up to him an hour later, he called us slow. Ah, traveling can be so uplifting for the self-esteem. We brushed it off and kept walking, slowly.
As the sun rose behind a light covering of clouds, the desert revealed stunning 360 degree maroon, tan, and grey vistas. Max remarked, "Take away the cactus and it's the surface of the moon!" It was true; there were no sounds, no evidence of life, save the antique-looking cacti. We hiked for 3 hours until we reached the top flag signifying of the first of three sand dunes. The Cerro Blanco stands at 2,078 meters, the tallest sand dune in the world. Arturo waxed our boards with a white candle, and we each took turns strapping into our velcro bindings. Having snow-boarded before, I felt like I knew what to expect. Arturo briefed us that it would be a bit slower through the sand, but I was still surprised by the steepness of the hill. On a snow-board, I would be terrified, but in the sand, I was ready to give it a try. Max and Mark tore off down the hill while Arturo steadied my feet at the top of the hill. "Okay, lista!" I tore off down the hill at an alarming pace. I tried to steer by cutting my edges, but the sand had a mind of its own. I screamed with excitement, swooped my feet perpendicular to the hill, and slammed down on my backside, laughing. It was exhilarating. I laughed the whole way down the hill. We hiked over to a second dune, and a third. The final dune was the steepest and longest of the three. Mark's bindings wouldn't stay, so he went super-man style. Arturo said that the top speeds usually ran about 40-50km/hr (when people use their feet to brake). We watched with horror and elation as Mark barreled straight down the hill at an alarming 70km/hr. I told Arturo that I was certain Mark was loving the ride. When my turn arrived, I kept upright through the first 2/3 of the hill, then when the pace became too slow, I switched to sitting on my board, feet-first. The bottom of the board was severely used, thus it had difficulty skimming the sand, and it took a long time to get down the hill to where the guys were waiting.
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| Our friend, Max, from Quebec |
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| Our guide, Arturo, getting Max ready to launch Superman style |
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| Mark at the bottom, Max on the way down |
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| Trying the seated style |
At the bottom, we grabbed our boards and began our one and a half hour trek down through the dried river bed to a waiting car. Our shoes were filled with sand and my left ankle immediately blistered and peeled. I pulled some black electrical tape off of Mark's water bottle to create a make-shift bandaid and got a little relief from the blister. It was impossible to keep up with Arturo. I was also getting hungry, and I was getting tired of carrying around my 10lb dumbbell/ sand board which had callused and blistered my hands. I wanted a snow-boarding lift. We lost the footprint trail from Max and Arturo and ended up hiking up and down some extra sandy and rocky hills. The last section of the trail was like hiking through tan powdered sugar, light, fluffy, and puffy. By the time we reached the car, we were covered in sand and dust.
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| Hiking down to the car |
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| Our sand boarding crew of 4 |
We were tuckered out, but filled with the satisfaction of accomplishing our goal of hiking to the world's tallest sand dune and sand boarding the heck out of it. As with most adventures, the enjoyment was as much about the journey as the destination.
We went with a private tour, but here's where you can book a similar excursion:
http://www.perudreamtravel.com/1day-sandboard-cerro-blanco/
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