Tilly Pitt and The Dune Buggy Adventure

"I've just seen a Peruvian man's willy!" If I heard Clare say those words once, I heard her say it at least 10 times. Now, this was not some wierd swinging weekend away, it was the fact that the men as we went south from Lima seem increasingly happy to just wap it out wee in the middle of the road. They have no embarassment and do not care who is watching, after a while I even joined in "willy watch" (coming to a BBC early eveing TV slot soon!).
After willy watch unfortunatley came poverty watch as the divide between the rich and the poor in Peru became increasingly apparent. The journey started in Miraflores (land of the rich) but as we headed onto the PanAmericana road, the rich are quickly left behind and the average Peruvian is seen with shocking regularity. We saw people washing their clothes in streams, children covered in dirt walking to their hut of a house and thousand upon thousands more of those hut 'shanty' homes. It is impossible for a western mind to imagine living in these conditions and the voyeuristic creature lying within us all very quickly springs to the surface as we pass a world unknown, unseen and often hidden from us for most of our lives. I have taught this geography for years but seeing it in such vast numbers is still hard to witness and impossible to actually describe.
The journey we were taking was to carry out a geography 'reccy' for a new fieldtrip. The IB have changed their syllabus and so there is no more ecosystem studies and therefore no more Tambopata, those Capucine monkeys will not be seen again for some time! The new destination will be the desert settlements of Ica and Huacachina (still a vast difference from the Land that Time Forgot that is Morecambe Lancashire).
As you approach Ica, the fields become more fertile as desert farming dominates the landscape and then civilisation again surfaces as you hit Ica. The hotel was called Belle Sands and although very average looking from the outside, the place itself is beautiful and will be a luxury stay for the kids when they come here in August. Our stay was only slightly marred by the fact that the Ica football team were also staying there. A strange bunch who seem to have John Terry as a role model judging by the fact that they were oggling Clare en mass even though I was holding here hand and she was carrying Tilly at the time.
We wnet from the elite professional sportsperson hotel to the oasis resort of Huacachina. Here, we hired two guides to take us on a dune buggy tour. Now anyone from social services may want to stop reading now as we also took Miss Tilly on the dune buggy. We asked that the driver went very very slow but still the looks we got from Peruvians as we drove off in the buggy made us feel like we had just won worse parents in the world award 2010! (Mrs Matthews was not nominated this year). The Peruvian idea of parenting is however very different to ours. Why change your child or give her food if another option is to wrap them in even more layers of clothing and blankets!!!
We drove around the dunes for about half an hour and I was not prepared for the spactacle that we saw. The dunes come very close to Iguazu falls for the most impressive geographical features that I have ever seen. The photos look impressive but they do not do these 200metre high piles of sand justice. They really are breathtaking! and any waorries about Tilly were quickly banished after our first stop when rather than being terrified of the bumpy ride or crying, she had instead fallen fast asleep in the carrier strapped to my chest.
The second stop then saw the drivers go to the back of the buggy and bring out wooden snow boards that they handed to us. The 45 degree slope was suddenly no longer a geographical feature - oh no! - it was now a challenge to be sand boarded down.
"lie on your front and use your feet as brakes" the driver recommended. I may have forgotten to use my feet as brakes and so one bruised hand, sandy pants and broken camera later, I found myself at the bottom of the dune.
The guide clearly gave a sigh of relief when he realised that I not was going to sandboard with Tily on my chest. Although judging by her sleeping during the buggy ride, I think she may have enjoyed it!
The buggy then toured us around the biggest dune in the dune field, to another natural oasis and then to the edge of the dune above the main oasis where we took photos with the camera that still worked.
We then sat at the edge of the oasis having pisco sours until it was time to return up the PanAmericana and back from teh glorious desert sunshine to the cloud and fog of Lima. Just another day in the extraordinary life of Tily Pitt.


p.s. I have found a way to locate all the Flickr photos of our travels onto a map. Just go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonnypitt456/map?&fLat=-13.5071&fLon=-73.1469&zl=12&order_by=recent to see the map and understand a bit more about where we are and what we have been doing.

Adios