21st November

Thank God I didn't have dreams about mummies. Nice Americano breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, jam, juice and coffee. Today we are off to Ica, which is proper desert with huge sand dunes and no rain. Ever. There are 6 of us and the best method of transportation for some 120km appeared to be 1960 America cadillacs. Oh yeah! The photos are hilarious. I reckon the boot was as big as my whole car. Our driver's feet hardly touched the pedals but like every other South American his had never strayed too far from the horn.

We briefly stopped at the viewing tower close to 2 of the Nazca lines but the views were poor. We headed straight for Ica afterwards dicing with death a number of times. Our activity for the morning when we reach the oasis of Ica (Huacachina) will be a dune buggy ride and sand-boarding. Both were great fun - the dune buggy ride was like a 30 minute rollercoaster. We had seatbelts fastened between our legs which bruised the Crown Jewels on a number of occasions when going downhill. The sand-boarding was more fun lying flat, head first on the board rather than the more conventional snow-board approach as Peter found the drag off the sand made traversing impossible. We slid down 4 dunes and drove up many more before heading back to the hotel. The best bit about the return journey was flying, literally, over one dune only to reach to sand once more will all of Newton's laws in attendance. Fair play, Ted did the sand-boarding and Jean loved the buggy ride and wasn't sick.

We returned to the garage unbroken and had a great view of the natural lagoon at the oasis. More sunbathing before lunch and then finally got to try proper Ceviche - raw fish in lime, chili, with onion and peppers and corn. It you forget the fact it hasn't been near an oven it is actually a very pleasant dish.

Gutted England are out of the Euro Championships but at least it will be the end of Steve McClaren.