Huacachina, near Ica, south western Peru - 20-24 May

After the Nazca lines we bolted for a bus with our backpacks on in the heat and managed to get it. It was a dodgy local bus so we were on high alert, especially as it was packed. My goodness it was boiling in there. Two or three hours and we arrived in Ica north of Nazca on the coast.

The reason loads of people go to Ica is actually to go to the tiny town of Huacachina about 5 mins away in a taxi from Ica. It´s gorgeous.

Fast facts:
Huacachina is built around a small lake in the desert. Called the "oasis of America," it serves as a resort for local families from the nearby city of Ica, and increasingly as an attraction for tourists drawn by the sport of sandboarding on sand dunes that stretch several hundred feet high.

Legend holds that the lagoon was created when a beautiful native princess was apprehended at her bath by a young hunter. She fled, leaving the pool of water she had been bathing in to become the lagoon. The folds of her mantle, streaming behind her as she ran, became the surrounding sand dunes. And the woman

Our buggy

herself is rumored to still live in the oasis as a mermaid.:

All us gringos go there for the sand boarding, the dune buggies (used to get sandboarders out to the dunes but actually even more of a thrill ride than the sand boarding) and to relax in what is almost like a beach - minus the waves, plus swimming pools. Its also nice and warm here and a good place to chill out after Peru´s many other more taxing natural activities like the Inca Trail, the Colca Canyon or the nightlife in Lima.

We went sand boarding of course. Me, James and the lovely Ellen Maynes from Melbourne went together one afternoon for the sunset session. The ride there in the buggy was unforgettable. Its basically a roll cage on wheels and the drivers HOOOOON up and down the massive dunes like kamikaze pilots. Loads of buggies take off at the same time so all you can see in the distance is loads of little Matchbox tonka trucks full of screeeeeaming people going up and down the dunes getting air over most peaks. How we didn´t roll, I don´t know. Imagine all that and then doing it in the dark because that´s what we did on the way home... Aaaaah!

The sand boarding itself was brilliant. The best I´ve ever done. You might remember from an earlier entry on this blog that we went sand boarding in San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile. It was even better than that. The best difference was that we didn´t have to WALK up the dunes. The buggy took us up every one. :-) Also, Huacachina isn´t at high altitude which makes a massive difference... every step up a sand dune at high altitude is like walking 10 underwater holding your breath.

Anyway, we hooned up and down every massive dune we were allowed to and loved it. Some were so deep you couldn´t even see the bottom. James stood up on his board, like a snow board, but Ellen and I laid down on ours because you go faster that way. Its a scary feeling going face first down those gradients getting faster and faster and faster. The main thing is to not hit any bumps near the bottom because you whack your forearms on the board as it bounces, feeling like hitting concrete, and loads of people get bruises all the way up their forearms. Talk about a rush... this is one experience we will NEVER forget..!

The rest of our time in Huacachina we just chilled out. We stayed in a cool hostel (full of Israelis who screeched at each other from one end of the place to the other rather than walking to each other and speaking in civilised decibels) called Hostel Carolas del Sur which had a lovely pool, lush gardens, good restaurant and bar where everyone from other hostels came to eat and drink, peacocks and even 3 tortoises wandering around the garden..!

We had one massive night out when we ran into some lovely friends we´d met in Arequipa previously... Ellen, Charlotte and Naomi (great Dutch girls) and a few of their mates.

We ate a very good cafe called Bamboo Cafe next door to our hostel which was run by an English woman. James was made up because you could actually get bacon there and other things which have proven culinary rarities on this trip. It was good, healthy food and we showed our appreciation by going back there and back there and back there. It was better food than out our hostel restaurant - there, all the waiters and chefs / cooks were whacked out on dubie the whole time and the food took more than an hour to arrive every time and it always tasted like crap. Not exaggerating.

In short, Huacachina was brilliant..!

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