Huacachina... A desert oasis

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After we flew back to Lima, we hopped aboard a bus to Ica, then took a taxi to Huacachina. Huacachina is a tiny town in the desert with a small lake in the center. All the restaurants, hotels, hostals, and bars surround the lake, and surrounding the lake are giant sand dunes. As small as the town is, there is no lack of activities to partake in. We spent our first day going on a tour of some local pisco (a liquor made from grapes) and wine bodegas. We got to see the traditional way of making pisco in one bodega, and the industrial way of making pisco and wine in another bodega. Of course we got to try samples at each one. :) When we got back from our tour, we went on a ride through the desert in a dune buggy. We heard the dune buggy rides were like wild rollercoaster rides, but ours seemed a little tame. We rode up to the tops of the dunes and then got to use sandboards (like snowboards) to go down. Sandboarding is not quite like snowboarding though, as the board gets stuck easily in the sand. So after a couple runs on the sandboard, we decided to use them like sleds and ride down on our stomachs like everyone else was doing. That was super fun. We started at a little baby-sized hill, then went bigger and bigger. The last one was really big and steep and really fun. The finale of the dune buggy trip was watching the sunset from the top of a dune. Really beautiful!

We only stayed in Huacachina a day and a half, but we definitely could have stayed longer. It was really peaceful and beautiful, and the climate was awesome. It's sunny and warm every day and it cools off at night. But, it's very touristy and therefore, not super cheap. Granted, it wasn't as pricey as Lima, but is wasn't cheap as dirt either! Our hostel was about $16 USD per night for the 2 of us and most meals were about $5. We really liked our hostel though. We stayed at Hostal El Barco. It was a two-story hostel with a pool and a restaurant. Very chill, clean, and a lovely place to stay.

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