http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Peru , Ica , Huacachina en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:48:00 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:48:00 +0000 It is 11 am on Day 3 im in this beautiful true oasis in the middle of a sand dune desert. I little lagoon surrounded by palm trees and beautiful hotels and restaurants. This little spot used to be the gettaway of Limas rich and famous with dune buggy and sand boarding adventures leaving town constantly and little pelicans to paddle around the lagoon.It was a whirlwind couple of days. Day 1 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-452677.html Hello allTwo weekends ago I went on a great little trip to Nazca and Ica They are to the South of Lima and in a more desert climate. We started by taking a bus down to Nazca about 6 hours away. We woke up early to see the Nazca lines. We rode in this little tiny airplane that flew over some of the famous ones. It was so neat My favorite was the Condor. No one is exactly sure who made the Nazca http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-448440.html Trek over 4 days of sobriety over it was a 16 hour VIP bus to Ica. The journey was great big leather seat in the posh section only a handful of seats on the whole of the downstairs section. Had a nice meal and a few films and i arrived in Ica where i caught a taxi to Huacachina a little Oasis in the middle of the desert. Matt Claire were already there as their little trek finished earlier http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-446440.html Huacachina is definately more like a touristy holiday resort than a travelling destination but all the same it was a nice break Huacachina is a small oasis surrounded by huge sandunes. I couldn't get over how compact this place was you could walk around it within around 10 minutes. On the oasis there were little pedal boats that you could ride on it reminded me of when I was a child. Speaking http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-444704.html MotorstormThey have Motorstorm out here in the desert It actually exists Well kind of.Big beastly megahorsepower buggies fill the air with fumes and three figure decibels as they churn up the desert sand. The reason just as with the fictional Motorstorm purely for your entertainment. In this game though nobody dies or at least not any more. In years gone by these buggies were practica http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-444186.html Today we are in a new destination taking a 5 hour bus from Lima we have arrived in Lilliputian Huacachina. This has got to be the tiniest village I have ever seen smaller still than the impression I had from reading about it just a few months ago. Just two or three streets at best you can walk around this place in five minutes flat it is that small. And in this case small is most certainly b http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-443567.html We arrived in the early evening and as it's such a small place we were able to wander around and look for a good room. We settled on a nice clean double room with a private bathroom for the bargain price of 30 soles around 6 pounds. We met up with our Norwegian friend Lene and an Australian couple for a few beers. It was really quiet as the main tourist season ends in August and so we were t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-440758.html The last couple of days were really full and exciting and I will do my best to describe it to you from the beginning.We left Huaraz the last location I have reported on you know where we walked the difficult trek at night and took a night bus to Lima. We had a very good journey and made it in only 7 hours instead of 8. After less than an hour wait in the bus terminal we hopped on anothe http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-439980.html ok so we bused from lima to paracas stayed the night and went on a boat tip out to the island and sa lots of seals and birds and the candelabra... not particularly exciting as there is sweet bugger all to do in paacas bu we are now in ica staying in a place nea huacachina. We met a wickd taxi driver called william at the bus station and he has been taking us aound ica so far today he has taken http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-434650.html AUGUST 10. HUACACHINA. DESERT OASIS. SAND IN MY SOCKS. Two jumps in a week I bet you think that's pretty clever don't you boyFlying on your motorcycle watching all the ground beneath you dropRadioheadAfter leaving Mancora I skipped through Lima only staying long enough to enjoy a starbucks mocha frappucinio...a little creature comfort in what has otherwise been a long week. Everybody I have http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-429010.html HuacachinaSo we caught a local bus for about 10 soles 3 dollars versus the 35 soles bus company that we have been riding with for a 3 hour ride to Huacachina. We stayed in a very interesting hostal. Ive noticed a pattern of complaining in my blogs so Im gonna try and be positive about this place as much as possible. Creeky wooden floors make it fun to walk across the room my dad calls it ru http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-425431.html When Brim said she wanted to go sandboarding in Peru I have to admit it was not top on my agenda but as I had dragged her to Tango and Whales I could not really argue...and in fact it was such brilliant fun I would probably do it again Please check out Andreas travelblog for me with great panache coming down a sand dune More text in a couple of weeks. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-422806.html So our 15 hour bus journey took us 21 hours Apart from 2 hours sitting at the side of the road from 10pm thinking the driver was just wanting to watch the film as he had come to sit in the seat over the aisle from me however at the end of the film he announced that we could expect a new bus in 20 minutes but apart from this there is no apparent reason for why this bus took so long. All I do http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-422051.html I thought Oasisses only existed in movies and Arabian desserts. In other words I never thought I would actually find myself at one. Happily I was wrongThere is not much more to say about Huacachina since there really isn't much to do at an oasis....except of course play in all the sand Which is exactly what we did by going on a sand dune excursion.The excursion had two parts the dune bugg http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-416629.html Okay this is just me getting some more photos up.Stayed a few nights in Huaccachina a resort that is now a party place. Pretty much people go there to sandboard and to relax in the sun by the poollagoon.We met up with the American girls from the Inca trail and went Dune Buggy Sand boarding with them. Lots of fun.Im still finding sand in my shoes... http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-415182.html Tim Version Got some serious sandboarding done and man it039s awesome Had some good conversations with some locals and enjoyed the end of the line039ness of the place.The sandboarding down a bigass sand dune version with nothing but other dunes to board down in viewHuacachina has a reputation as a party place and dependng on where you stay it certainly lives up to that reputation. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-410850.html After a rough night sleep due to very uncomfortable beds we were awakened by the pidder padder of hammers and loud banging. Of course the hostal is under construction. I have the luck. We traveled into Ica by taxi and went to the museum. We were looking forward to the museum because of the mummies and trophy heads that they claimed to have. The museum sure did not disappoint.Next we went i http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-407946.html Just some pictures of us sand boarding in Huacchina Peru that I forgot to put up. It was a s deadly and dangerous as you can imagine. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-401806.html From Cusco we jumped on our 16 hour super cama first class bus ride to Nazca. Like two little kids we were over excited abouta Free headsets like we dont have our ownb Blanket pillow agin like we dont have our own cooler ones courtesy of my Ibic Free hot dinner even though we paid about 160AUS for the ticketd Free movie with stereo sound that included special background sta http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-398137.html We arrived in Paracas after a 4 hour bus journey yesterday. The hotel was really nice a proper wooden cabin and we headed straight out for dinner fish as we were on the coast I had sole with a lemon sauce which was very nice and I also tried cerviche which is the local speciality of raw fish marinated in lemon juice it was okay bus I dont think Ill be trying it again The bus journey http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-390401.html