Huacachino Oasis in the Desert of Puno with green mud

As we walked about we met a lovely family from Ica.  They shared their sand-board with my son.

He first enjoyed pushing them down the hill.

Soon he was sand-boarding by himself – and loving it. The addiction has started!

Our first day ended with us finding it difficult to find a budget place to eat.  So we were once again over budget!

Next day I was up early and went for a nice walk around the oasis – it was like a mirror, and the desert town was deserted!

We did get told that each day we stayed meant we had a ticket for free boat hire, so first off was the rowboat with the little palm canopy.  Would you believe the wind picked up so strongly we couldn’t get it back the last 6 meters?

We had to change rooms. We ended up with one a cold shower only but could use the hot shower room they had down the garden hall.
Our latest room was right by the pool, with a little table and chairs, and we liked it.  We decided to stay a few days!

We had booked a sand-buggy ride for sunset that morning.
We booked the front two seats.
When it arrived, the guy had double booked them and it took off without us.
My son started to cry, so management sorted another buggy coming.
It meant our paid for 2-hour ride was only 1.5 hours, but I was glad we had a buggy, and the crying stopped.

We had a great group.
The driver was crazy, but in a careful kinda way, and made sure my son was safe all the time.
He had adjusted his harness to nice and tight which was great.

We took turns jumping off the buggy into the sand.

Then the driver got out the boards.  Time for some serious down-hill slopes.
Far too steep for us to stand – these were for the belly.

I soon learned not to scream or I would have a mouthful of sand.
We each had a turn before he drove down to get us.

We did 2 different sand-dunes before it was time for some more hair-raising slopes.

The ride this time was pretty crazy.  My son was enjoying screaming and smiling at the same time.  He absolutely loved it.  But it was getting cold, and the sun was about to set.

We just missed the sunset, but that was OK, we had time for more running and playing in the soft sand.

In the end, the buggies all lined up and took off racing down the last hill.
It was fabulous fun, and we had a great time!

Next day we were having an early lunch and met a family from Australia (with a Peruvian dad).
Jackson, their son was the same age as my son – 8 years old.
They talked alike, played well and after a dismal attempt at sand-boarding in the boiling sun, and on the boiling sand, we headed back to their hotel for the boys to enjoy the pool.
Whilst their baby napped, we sat and enjoyed drinks and a chat.
It was a lovely time.

We decided to go on a sunset hike up the dunes.
My calves cramped up pretty badly, and it was quite a work-out but we did it.
The fun part was running down on the soft sand.
But somehow there were masses of live bees, lying in the sand, so we had to run with care.