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Published: November 6th 2006
Seals
heapsa them. In the background you can see the thousands strong sea-lion colleny known as the maternity ward.Huacachina is an oasis town in the middle of the peruvian coastal dessert. Massive rolling sand dunes give way to a town centred around a lagoon and palm trees. In between the sounds of reving engines the calls of the local bird life can be heard throughout the day. Rainbow coloured parrots, brown skinned sunbathers, and sand covered boarders provide the town with a truely unique feel, and a great appeal to the outside world.
We arrived in Huacachina at 6am in the morning, after a rather long bus ride from Arequipa. Our keen to get there taxi driver drove us (often leaving the ground over bumps, and going onto two wheels around corners) through the rather boring town of Ica, (which gave us a less then appealing impression of the place). But to round a corner to see mountains of sand, and then to drive between the dunes to set our eyes upon the airey early morning oasis town of Huacachina quickly dissolved any preconceptions we had. The place was brilliant.
We checked into the nearsest hostel to catch up on sleep, and then hit the pool, went out on a dune buggy ride, and hit the slopes for some
Hammocked up
Hanging out in a Huacachina hostel that seemed to be more like a five star resort. But only grazed our bank accounts. throat wrecking, sandloaded fun.
The sandboarding seems like safe fun, but having arrived from a very extreme buggy ride (with forces similar to those experienced on roller coasters, and still hoping to have somebody demonstrate the method), to be standing at the crest of a thirty metre slope with a generously waxed board, and no snow boarding experience is a little daunting. To add Tracey having gone down trouble free before me didn´t help the pressure either. (She did later nail herself, but was alright. I never nailed myself! I´m not saying I´m better, but what a coincidence).
After having succeeded at getting down the 30 metre slopes we all loaded into the buggys and went for another adrenaline packed thrill ride (people without sunglasses must have gone near blind from the killer sand blasting we recieved). We parked up at the crest of an even steeper slope. From here on there was to be no standing for either of us, the superman was the position of choice, and as we continued the buggy rides got more and more extreme, and the slopes got steeper and bigger. It was a great time.
Sand found every recess imaginable, and a 40
In a sandy rush
Just pioneering a few moves for the locals to practice once I leave. minute swim in the pool was the only way to find some of those sneaky grains. The bbq was brilliant too!
We checked out of our original party orintated hostel and into the resort style hostel next door for some R&R, and for 5 soles more we were well happy with the superior gardens, pools, rooms, and facilities. It was far better then any other hostel we have yet encountered.
We moved on after having had a run in with a local waiter (who accused us of theft), to seek refuge in Pisco (a town known for its neighbouring wildlife in Paracas). We stayed with the hostel of a travel agent we met on the bus and did a full day tour of the national park of Paracas, and the marine wildlife in the area. The wildlife consisted of thousands of sea-lions, a dolphin and tens of thousands of guano (shit) producing birds. The tour guide was very interested in the guano, and made a point of discussing all the ways that guano impacts the area. The beaches and sea cliffs with there obvious geological appeal were the highlight for me, but I was admitadly mildly interested in the
Makes you thirsty
Me and the dessert, that stretches on nearly the entirity of the Peruvian coastline guano (they actually have guano collecters that live on the isolated islands).
Being completely guanoed out, and having appreciated Paracas and Piscos attractions in two days, we arranged a bus to continue our epic journey of discovery onto Lima.
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Tomas
non-member comment
Que Bueno
Me allegro que ustedes han salido de Bolivia. Talvece soy muy nervioso para su bienistad pero estoy feliz ustedes estan en Peru porque seguro seria un golpe del estado alla muy pronto. El oasis adentro las arenas se suena muy interesante. Nunca he visto algo asi. No tengo mucho tiempo hoy para escribir mas pero espero que, como siempre, todo anadria bien y que ustedes van a disfrutar Lima. Es un cuidad enorme y feo pero hay rincones cual son lindo y ensima es el punto de cual van a ir al Inca Trail y yo se sin dunda que esto seria impresionante. Un abrazo, Tomas