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Published: September 12th 2010
We arrived in Ica, direct from Paracas at around 1pm and hopped straight into a taxi for the short ride, not knowing what to expect of either Huacachina or the sand dunes which this little town is famous for.
The town itself has a great travellers vibe and is set around an idylic lagoon with a handful of local restaurants and hostels. It has only been established in the last 5 - 10 years and was bourne as a direct result of the huge sand dunes and the fact you can sand board and buggy ride over them. We both hope it remains natural and undeveloped, although not convinced it will be the same place in another 10 years time.
The temperature was considerably hotter than Lima and after a quick explore of our new surroundings, a bite to eat and checking into out new home for the next few days we decided to spend a few hours at our pool, with the noisiest parrots we had ever heard, constantly screeching HOLA, HOLA HOLA.
We couldn't spend too long relaxing as we had booked onto a 4pm dune buggy/sand boarding tour of the sand dunes, which involved driving
over the sand dunes at high speed in a metal buggy that seated 8 people, with only a thin belt holding you in for 20 minutes while you are thrown around, like being on a rollercoaster, with sand flying everywhere- we loved it!
Then we reached some sand dunes that were high enough to board down...this is similar to snowboarding where you are supposed to crouch on the board with your feet strapped to it, knees bent and arms out while steering the board down the sand dune with your feet...after several attempts which ended up with us both rolling around in the sand we decided to take the other option and lay on our fronts to surf down the dunes- much better!
After 30 mins of boarding down over several dunes which were around 25-100 metres high, we were now covered head to toe in sand, i mean it was everywhere, hair, trouser pockets, socks and shoes and aching and tired, and we thought that was the end of the trip as we got back in the buggy...but no, the driver gave us an evil grin and said there was more, they were just the beggining and
the big ones were yet to come...! He wasn't kidding, the big ones were enourmous, probably 1/4 mile high, and there was no choice but to board down them...there were 3 of these monsters and at first Vic didnt really fancy it, so Scott was the first in the group to tackle it as he went down on his front, and everyone chereed when he got to the bottom. By the end we both really enjoyed it although we are still aching and covered in bruises now!!
We buggied back whilst the sun was setting which was beautiful, got changed and headed out for some dinner and drinks- considering how hot it was in the day, the nights were freezing- like a winter at home- so we didn't stay out too long- had a quick dinner for £5 then a couple of Pisco Sours- a traditional Peruvian cocktail- made with Pisco (alcohol that tastes like tequilla but nicer), egg whites, sugar and ice which is then blended- much nicer than it sounds!
The next day we were looking forward to a chilled day in the sun after our energetic day before, but not long after slapping on the
sun cream and positioning the loungers Scott was in search of another adventure and decided to climb the biggest sand dune whic was next to our hostel- it was much bigger than the huge ones that we had boarded down the day before and Vic didn't think he'd see it through, but to his credit after half an hour of steep up hill walking, which is really hard in sand as every 3 steps feels like one, he made it to the top! Vic was tired just watching him! All that hard work getting up the dune and Scott then ran down in about a minute!
We chilled the rest of the day by the pool getting some sun and met a cool English couple from Woking, Mindy and Joel, who had been travelling central and south america for 3 months, so spent some time with them and arranged to meet up again in Cusco on Sunday. Popped to Bananas cafe accross the road for some lunch and fresh juice- the juices out here are amazing, always freshly squeezed and big, and are about £1, we can't get enough of them- and saw they had a cute pug dog
called Mini! Our bus to Nazca was at 6.30pm so we got a taxi to the bus station and waited for our bus which was to take around 2 1/2 hours...except it was an hour late and slow so insted of arriving to Nazca at 9pm we didn't get there until after 10pm, but luckily this bus was as good as the others so we got some sleep in out reclining leather seats while a film was on in the background and looked forward to seeing what Nazca had to offer, including the famous Nazca Lines....
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Amanda Moore
non-member comment
Huacachina
Lovin it! Sounds sooo great, happy adventuring! Lots of love to you both Amanda xx