Desert oasis

June 12th - Today was a long day of travelling. I would head 6 hours south to the town of huacachina. It is a tiny speck of a town that surrounds a palm tree rimmed lagoon in the middle of the Peruvian desert. Imagine a mirage-like small oasis in the middle of the sahara desert....and that's exactly what this town looks like. The plan was to get there and go sand boarding, its kinda like snow-boarding but on giant sand dunes instead of snow. The bus ride was very comfortable. No chicken bus today. As we drove south I noticed some towns right up against the highway where the buildings were literally concreate boxes with tin roofs and nothing but desert for miles. No grass, no vegitation, no people. I wondered if these were deserted villages or if all the people were working someplace else. It was a strange site and a mystery to me.
I arrived in Ica (bordering town) well rested. When I hopped off the bus, I made two new friends, an adorable couple from Belgium (Michael and margreet). I ended up sharing a hostel with them that night. I felt kinda bad about encroaching on their sexy time but they said it was alright. They are wonderful people. Michael is a French chef and a seasoned traveller. He's been travelling for over a year and started his journey in Asia and eventually worked his way to the U.S., Canada, and down to central then south America. His girlfriend margreet is in school to be a social worker and has very little travelling under her belt but she seems to be going with the flow quite nicely. We had a lovely dinner and conversation together. Tonight we digest our thoughts and food and get some good rest. Tomorrow we take on the dunes!