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Published: January 7th 2007
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Our Hostel in the Oasis
Surrounded by the dunes and loving the pool...faulty electrical outlets too.. One of the places I was most looking forward to on this trip was the Desert Oasis of Huacachina. And man o man, it definately lived up to the expectations! We arrived in Ica and caught a short ride to Huacachina. We pulled up to this small..hmm...city? Town? I don´t know what i´d call it, an oasis. In the middle of the desert, surrounded by huuuuuge sand dunes. It was filled with tourists, but rightfully so i guess, it was soo cool. We booked into our hotel, which had a pool which was a lifesaver and hopped on in. Although, we had forgotten our swim suits in Pisco..which was a total retard move on our parts, but long story short we got in contact with the hotel we had been staying at and they sent the suits with the next tourist who was heading to huacachina - it all worked out, and we got them back. yay. So we hung out in the pool for a bit, met two guys from Vancouver at our hotel, talked a little vancouver canucks vs. calgary flames action...the guy informed me that we had beat the flames! Woo! Go nucks!
So we hung out
Salvevida!
The lifeguard chair....notice the water...it´s even dirtier than the Vancouver beaches!! by the pool, and then wandered around the ´lake´.. i wouldn´t have swum in it, but there were lifeguards - although none on duty it appeared! So i of course took a picture by the ¨Salvevida¨chair. Obviously!! So we wandered around, bought a few artisan type things (callie has an obsession with rings. and it´s rubbing off!!!) and then we booked our tour for the following day...dune buggies and sandboarding, we couldn´t wait!
So the next day rolls around.. and we start to pack our stuff, because we have to check out of the room before our expedition...so get this. Mom, don´t freak out...haha. nice disclaimer eh?? So i´m packing up my stuff, and i´m sweating, and i am wrapping my pack up with the rain cover (works really well as just a bag cover so you can have your shoes attached to your bag on the outside without them flopping around) ANYWAYS...so my arm apparently brushes along the wall...and then touches an apparently LIVE WIRE. Yeah. i got electrocuted. It was crazy. I screamed on contact and didn´t realize what happened, callie was freaking out but i just started laughing. Because it was obviously not serious - just
Queens of the Dunes!
We totally rocked those dunes! Insane as it was a shock. But yeah, sorta the first ´scare´i suppose! Sorta fun to say i got electrocuted in an oasis town in Peru. Makes for a good story. (See wasnt so bad eh mom?)
So then comes our tour!!! We start off in these 9 people buggies that totally rrrrrip up the dunes. We putz around a bit up adn down the dunes, until we get to these ¨small¨ones to practice on! (They seemed big at the time, and we laughed that they were small...but they really were nothing compared to the huuuuge ass ones we did later!!!!) So instead of standing we opt for the ´lay on your tummy and hold on to the velcro straps´option. It was sooo fun! We did a few of these practices runs, bunny hills if you will, and then hopped back on the buggy for more bumpy rides up and down the dunes until we got to the REAL dunes. And by real i mean 300 meters high with an 75% grade - this was our guides´estimation. And i´m pretty sure he isn´t exaggerating by too much. It was insane. I will post pictures hopefully soon - you can see the iiiittty bittty
Our Buggies
These were the insane death machines we were strapped into. So much fun people at the top of the dune...make your own estimation! After about 2 hours of getting sand EVERY where, we did our final dune and hoped back into the buggy for one last stop...where we were witness to an incredible sunset. Again..pictures to follow. They are sooo beeeauuuuutiful (and not just cuz i´m in them 😉 wiiiiink!! The whole day has been a highlight so far, it was just sooo much fun!
After this amazing day, we got on my first night bus! Woo. 12 hours to Arequipa, 2300m in elevation and a very colonial city with pretty buildings and a good place to stop over on our way to Chile. That 12 hour bus ride was not fun at ALL. They over booked the bus, so we had to take away these seats of this lady and her teenage kid who basically knew they were in the wrong seats, and then she hated us for the whole trip. At about 4 in the morning, as i was half asleep i felt something tugging at my bag (which was at my feet, where i could feel it!) and i turn around and it´s the stupid lady trying to wiggle my
Notice the little dots on the top?
Those are people...like us...that is how far down we went..head first. Just imagine for a moment how much speed you can pick up... bag away from under my seat!! We were near the back, and she was sitting on the floor at the back, and she had crawled up the few feet to my seat! I turn and glare and she scurries back to where she was and she knows i know. It was retarded. I was so pissed off. Needless to say i didn´t sleep very well the rest of the trip. And she stole my sunscreen!! All my ¨worth something¨stuff was in teh main compartment with the lock on it, while the stuff like lotion and sunscreen were in the outside pocket. So she got my SPF45. Damnit. Anyways, better that than a camera or something!! So that was my first long haul bus - what a trip. We left at 9pm and got to Arequipa at about 9am. The bus smelled SO horrid, and there was NO leg room (which turns out to be a good thing in this case cuz i could feel my bag being moved!) But it was a painful ride, and smelly.
Anyways, we spent a day there just chillin out on the top of our hostel drinking mate (their tea of coca leaves to
More dunes
Man it was just so gorgeous! help with the altitude sickness) and wandering around the town. We ate Alpaca for dinner. Yum yum, those cute little llamas-- once they are used for their beautiful wool they are served as dinner! What a life! If you are wondering, they
are pretty tasty! We left Arequipa and headed to the border town of Tacna, Peru. It´s a half hour from the Peru - Chile border. So we took that 5 hour ride, and then took a cab to the border town of Arica on the Chilean side. Went through customs (had to walk, bring our bags, get the dogs to sniff all our stuff, walk more, get stamped, etc - it wasn´t too bad though, didn´t need to bribe anyone :p) So as I write this we are in Arica, Chile. We walked around on saturday, walked down their main pedestrian street, saw the beach, ate some food, took it easy. Woo saturday night in Chile and we were in bed by about 830, watching MTV and Miami Ink. Sunday, today, we went to the bus station to purchase our tickets for..wait for it...our 28 hour bus ride (straight) to Santiago. Even writing that made me cry a
So pretty!
Such a beautiful sunset!! And those 2 girls aren´t bad either...hahah little inside. I think i´m going to die!! But there´s not a whole lot we want to see along the way (lots of desert) and so we figured we´d just suck it up and do it all in one go, get it over with. So that´s tommorrow - monday, the 7th. Say a prayer. I´ll need it to get through that in one piece! So today, we found a cute little restaurant just off the main street and had a faaabulous meal and then went to the beach. We hung out at the beach, I finished my first book, we walked a little (exercised those legs that will be hurtin for 28 hours!) and are now heading off for a little food!
I hope this wasn´t too long for you..I try to brief it up without missing out on the fun little details, like being electrocuted and having my sunscreen stolen and having my face inches from the sand going headfirst down this 300m dune! Love you all, I´ll post pics up asap. For now enjoy the pics of my previous blog! Byyye, Love you!!
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Beckilicious
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OMG Lboss!
Only you would get yourself electrocuted and then of all things, laugh about it! Glad to hear that you're ok... however, that's pretty sucky that mean lady stole your sunscreen... she obviously knew by your great tan that you might not need it after all! ;) Hahaha... not much going on here, first day not being in school, it's kinda weird, spending it job searching, and reading your stories! Soooo keep'em coming! Love the detail! Miss you tons...