Would you rather....

...Die in the desert or the Antarctic? Definitely the Antarctic. I realised 1 third up a giant sand dune at midday that my gut feeling about deserts was bang on. I hate missing out but I had to give up the challenge and sit on the side of the dune while I watched greg and our travelling buddy's Kate and Stef reach the summit. We were in huacachina, an oasis in the desert, like something out of a Indiana jones film, however not quite the same with the few hostels and bars built round it. Later that day I got my chance to see the views from the top of even taller dunes when we went sand buggy and boarding then watched the sunset. The sand buggy was brilliant, like a roller coaster but with amazing views over the desert and city of ica to the Andes. 
We opted for the more camacazie style of boarding and laid on the board head first! At the top of some dunes they were so steep you lost sight of the person in front of you, it was awesome! 

After another day lazing in the sun in hammocks, we caught our next bus and arrived in nazca at 10pm. Promisingly our hostel pick up was waiting for us, but after arriving at half built building at the end of an unfinished dug up road we weren't so sure. The hostel owner then tried to flog us nazca flights and put the pressure on to make a decision. We eventually opted for a tour instead of the flights which seemed expensive, and finally got to sleep, albeit in our sleeping bags instead of the dirty sheets. The next day seemed brighter, and the morning tour was really interesting, all about Maria reiche who was a german woman who dedicated her life to studying the lines. By lunch we decided we would be missing out if we didn't do the flight so we got our guide to take us directly to the airport and we got on a tiny 5 seat plane for a lot cheaper. The flight was bumpy and quite scary but really fun, and we got a much better view of the lines nasca lines which were pretty cool. we then went on to see mummy's, gold mining and pot making, it felt very much like a school trip!

All in all nazca was dirty, scary, broken and very poor, but the lines were amazing. 

I have currently just got off a 9 hour overnight bus ride to Arequipa, I think by the feel of it it's a good thing it was dark as the mountain roads were pretty hairy. We arrived at 6 am, to the sight of a pretty white building city overlooked by 3 snow topped volcanos, I think this is going to be a cool place....