Deserted Lagoon

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We had stayed at Loki in Lima and were a little disheartened to be leaving as the city had surprised us by being really modern with all the comforts of home on our doorstep. It was the first place we had seen proper Christmas decorations, and our taxi driver informed us that the celebrations in the city were big. We had only heard negative remarks about the city previously- we were already looking forward to returning.

We were told it was a 5 hour bus to Ica, then a short taxi ride to the small town of Huacahina, which is situated around a lagoon, which in turn is surrounded by sand dunes. Our reason for visiting this place was firstly because it looked and sounded like paradise, and secondly because we could do some wild activities without restrictive health and safety measures. One lesson we have learnt so far on our trip is that just because something looks like paradise in the pictures, it won't (and this is for the most part) necessarily live up to expectations. It is often the places from which you expect the least that impress the most.

Anyway, so we took the 5 hour bus which only took 1 hour longer than anticipated- not bad- and arrived in Ica, a surprisingly large town in the south. We were immediately approached by harassing taxi drivers offering to take us to Huacachina for 5 nuevo soles- about £1.25. How did they know where we were headed- are we really that obvious? Determined not to look like travellers going to the typical traveller spots we held our heads high and continued walking in search of a taxi man to whom we could whisper our destination. However, a French couple who had been on the same bus asked if we wanted to share a taxi with them. We couldn't really refuse as it would cut the pricey fare by half, so we all attempted to struggle into a medium size car- that is 5 adults including the driver, and 4 backpacks and various hand luggages. It really didn't help that the French couple had been carrying all of their camping equipment with them. It was quite amusing to watch the taxi driver determined to squeeze all of our clattering wares including pots and pans and camping mats into his average sized boot. He reversed his car to get some help off a fellow driver. As they were trying to force everything in we quickly realised that the driver had either forgotten to put his handbrake on, or that he just didn't have one. We suspected the latter. Anyway, after a long battle and the car halfway across the terminal forecourt, we were finally on our way. Fortunately the taxi wasn't a GIL (which for those of you who never met her, was a little gold Daewoo Matiz) which seem to be the taxi de choix here in Peru. There are literally thousands of her, particularly in striking gold or yellow. Her predecessor is a little more popular though, particularly in the yellow colour which is a box shape and not at all dissimilar to Simon's car in the Inbetweeners. They are hilarious.

Anyway so we arrived at Huacachina and booked into a hotel with no internet (no internet are you kidding??) with a double room including en-suite for 50 nueve soles, approximately £12.50. This wasn't too bad, but the prices of everything else in the town were extortionate. There was not a lot of choice with regards to tours and food and drink; and we were the tourists- ready and willing to be herded around like cattle in this country. The hotel did have a beautiful location and the complex was literally built into the side of a really steep sand dune. There was a pool which we were determined to take full advantage of, but unfortunately upon closer inspection it looked as if all the local strays had been for a bath in there.
We walked around the lagoon which was really pretty and had little rowing boats and pedalos on it. There seemed to be a few Peruvian tourists there, but in general the resort was pretty dead. We had some dinner which was fairly standard in a restaurant-come-shop. After dinner we climbed a little up one of the dunes and were rewarded with the most stunning suset. After dinner we returned to the hostel where we drank cocktails with our French friends. They were from Nantes and Angers which was pretty exciting.
After being told it was happy hour and two for one, we had ordered a few cocktails. Obviously when the bill came there were no happy hour prices, surprise surprise. We argued the toss and eventually got the price we had been quoted. This happens all of the time- especially in restaurants, bars and taxis. Another scam is that you book trips, and then you get to the place and the admission is not included. Of course you haven't been told this beforehand.

Anyway, the French couple were so annoyed with the waiters at the hostel that they refused to have another drink there- and impressively stuck to this for the rest of their stay. Oh we admire the will of the French. We had seen a bar up the road advertising drinks earlier on, so suggested this to them. They were a little apprehensive as apparently their Lonely Planet had said Huacachina was dangerous at night. We had come to distrust this apparent invaluable source anyway, as it had recommended the exact hostel that we were staying at.

Anyway, with a little convincing of our new friends, we all headed out to another bar for more drinks. We ended up at this place (not really sure what to call it- possibly someone'e back garden?) advertising a barbeque and pool party. We entered and were lead out the back by a nice but strange Peruvian boy who liked to hug a lot. We had found the other Westerners- there were about 15 of us travellers making up the party, but surprisingly no barbeque. A strange thing happened at one point- an Aussie girl came over to us and said the police had been in as apparently it was illegal to serve alcohol after 12 o clock or something, but she had fortunately saved the day by telling him it was a private party and barbeque. Ah, the barbeque. Because apparently that makes a difference? Anyway, their job was done and they left satisfied, and the bar continued to serve. The measures here are huge, and the vodka toxic. After only four drinks each we were on our way and decided to call it a night. In a drunken stupor, when we returned to the hostel we decided it would be a brilliant idea to book a boat trip the following day, which left at 6.30am. Obviously this was no trouble to sort out for our hotel receptionist who was only more than willing to take a healthy cut from our overpriced trip. But hey, if it saved us the hassle- as time really wasn't on our side. So we paid 60 soles each for the trip and headed to bed.

The following morning was drastic. Toxic vodka hangover which had also played havoc with our stomachs. We were in for a real treat. The minibus collected us a little late although we were still fighting over the toilet when it arrived. We boarded the bus where we met an English couple, and a fellow surveyor. After a few more pick ups and embarrassing moment where Katie had to hop off the bus to use the loo in one of the pick-up hotels, we were on our way to the port for our boat trip.

We were able to remain civilised on the bus, although it took every tensed muscle in Katie's body to do this. Fortunately the ride was only one hour, and we were soon at the port ready to board. The trip was ok, but we were not able to leave the boat. We basically cruised around some islands which were inhabited by numerous sealions and birds. The best part was when we saw Pingu and his friends, but they were quite small and we were unable to get very close. Some of the sealions were really cute and they were barking and coughing and fighting with each other. The trip was a smelly affair which didnt really help with the sickness, but it was nice to be out in the fresh air. We were back at the hostel by 12pm and were ready for an afternoon nap. We were definitely not prepared for how hot it gets in the desert in the afternoon. We woke so lethargic and unable to move, and of course we had no fan. In fact, there wasn't one in the whole complex. We were soon to discover the following day that pretty much nowhere in the whole town had taken to the amazing invention of the fan, let alone air conditioning.

In the evening we ordered pizza at the hostel which cost over £11- more than at home! Then headed to bed to continue watching Friends, as we had been watching the whole boxset from start to finish. It is amazing to have so much time on our hands.

The following day we caught a taxi (read man from up the road with his young daughter riding up front with no seat belt) from our hostel to Ica to buy an overnight bus ticket for that evening. We purchased semi-cama seats (they apparently go back less, but we couldn't really tell as the apparent 180 degree ones aren't actually flat anyway) with CIAL for £20 each. We then went to a tiny cafe to use the internet from which we had been deprived of for a few days, and were rewarded with a little nasty electric shock which left us both with a small surface wound. We were ok, but hasten to add we left swiftly.

We had lunch in a little cafe where Luke had lomo saltado, and Katie had steak and egg for around £1 each. Lomo saltado is a national Peruvian dish and is made up of strips of beef mixed with various vegetables including peppers, tomatoes and onions, and bizarrely (or if you have ever been to Peru- not bizarrely) chips. All of these ingredients are mixed together in a brown sauce and served with a side of fried rice. Everything else is served with a side of fried rice and chips. Even if you ask for them to hold it.
After lunch we returned to Huacachina stupidly thinking we might be able to climb some of the dunes whilst the sun was out. As we were in the taxi back to the hostel (we caught a GIL predecessor) we could literally feel the heat radiating off the sand. That option was obviously out of the question then. In fact every option was out of the question we quickly realised as it became hotter and hotter and we just wanted some air conditioning. There was an election going on in Ica which meant that pretty much everywhere in Huacachina was closed, and obviously we were unable to find anywhere cool. We spent the afternoon hiding in a swing chair watching more Friends, and waiting for our sunset dune buggying and sand boarding tour- the main reason we had come to this place.

Our buggy came to collect us already containing three 60 year old Ibizans. We literally zoomed through the town- it was a complete miracle we didn't kill anybody. The buggying itself was really exciting as we powered over the dunes at top speed, taking some break-neck vertical drops in our stride. Our driver was pretty crap and kept under revving meaning we were slipping back down near-vertical dune faces, which was a little nerve wrecking. We stopped on a few occasions to use snow boards to slide down the dunes on our stomachs. Some people on other tours were also doing the boarding with us and some idiots tried to show off by standing up, but spent most of the time on their asses. The last dune was huge and even had a slight inversion so it was not possible to see half of the drop from the top. We safely made it down all of the dunes, which unfortunately couldn't be said for everyone on our trip. One girl had quite a fall as her board got caught in the sand and she rolled off down the hill- but she was ok. We later met some people where on their trip a girl had been so badly injured she came back to the hostel in a wheelchair.

Although our trip was sold as the sunset tour, we did not see a sunset per se. However, we were glad to be off the buggy by the end of the tour as we were close to whiplashed. After a quick shower we headed to the bus stop with our French friends who were booked onto the same bus as us.

In usual fasion (or with our usual flourishing luck, whichever way you look at it) the bus did not arrive at the terminal in time due to it having a mechanical fault. It arrived about 50 minutes late, but we think they commissioned a new bus as a Peruvian was making a scene and crying hysterically. Well either way, our bus arrived, and impressed us all by arriving at 8.07am the following morning, just 7 minutes behind schedule.

Our bus arrived in Arequipa, but we had little interest in staying, and very little time- so decided to catch a bus onwards to Puno, a town on the shores of Lake Titicaca. We allowed ourseves a few hours to go into Arequipa town for lunch where the only thing we could find which wasn't selling another rice and chips ensemble was a pizzeria. It was in the main plaza and surprisingly cheap at 20 soles for a family sized Hawaiin incuding a big bottle of Inca Kola. This is the most popular drink in Peru and apparently outsells traditional Coca Cola. It is yellow and really sweet and tastes a bit like an energy drink.

After lunch we headed back to the bus terminal for some more crap. Our bus was to take 6 hours apparently. We had paid extra for the bus which would take 6, not 7 hours. It was scheduled to leave at 2pm, but by 2.45 we had yet to move. It was so hot, but the bus driver refused to turn on the air conditioning for us when we asked. He told us the delay was due to a problem in the office, then he returned to reading his paper. Just before he told us the journey was in fact 7 hours. Eventually when the office problem was resoved (i.e. they had found sufficient passengers to fill the bus) we left. The journey was horrible as we must have climbed over 3 or 4 thousand metres. The altitude made it difficult to breathe and it was freezing. At one point there was a hail storm that was sending literally huge shards of ice into the bus through the open sunroofs. A few Peruvian men surrounding us tried to shut the one nearest to us (for their own benefit) but were unable to do so. In the usual fasion the Peruvian women looked into their laps and pretended nothing was going on. Eventually an American guy at the front of the bus managed to shut the one closest to him, then kindly proceeded down the bus to shut the rest for everybody else. Not one utter of thanks was directed at him from the locals- the Peruvian people actually turned away. We were disgusted by this and it really was a representation of the poor attitude towards foreigners in this country. Another thing that really pissed us off was that the driver had allowed a Tom or Dick on to try and sell his herbal remedies. Everyone had been asleep on the bus and it was dark. The lights were switched on for him to do his presentation- which everyone ignored as usual. It annoyed us that he was allowed to disrupt the peace as not even a paying customer, and that when we had requested the air-con on when it was sweltering, we had been refused. We were at the end of our tether and relieved to finally arrive in Puno.

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Comments

[Zee]

=)
That sunset at Huacahina looks like something out of a dream!! soooo lovely. cant believe how hostile some of the locals are... just a different way of life there isn't it, weird =/ still, don't let it get to you!! LOTS OF LOVE xxxx