Arrived in Huacachina

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As yesterday was the last full day with our group members, we felt it was cause to celebrate. We picked up about 50 soles in alcohol... which in Peru amounts to 2 bottles of wine, a bottle of sambuca, and a bottle of baileys. We started "celebrating" at 10:00 PM, 2 hours later we were all out of alcohol and were being pestered by the hotel staff for making too much noise. It was a good time had by all.

Next morning I woke up bright an early, as the body detected the alcohol needed to be returned promptly at 5:30 AM.

At around 10:00 AM we said our goodbyes to Sam, our tour leader from G.A.P.

He pointed us in the right direction and we were off to the bus station. We picked up some tickets to the city of Ica (5 hours south of Lima)

Our final destination for today was the tiny oasis resort town of Huacachina (10 min from Ica)

I was surprised at the unusual beauty of Huacachina nestled around a spring feed oasis centered between two massive sand dunes.

We splurged and picked up a hotel room for 40 soles (with private bath). I couldn't resist the temptation to climb one of the sand dunes. I rented a sand board for 5 soles, and began my trek up the hill. 20 minutes later I was out of breath and only half way up. I eventually made it in time for the sunset. Amazing photos.

I then strapped the piece of milled plywood to my feet and attempted to slide down the hill. At first it seemed something was wrong as I couldn't go any faster than about 2 miles per hour. A slight tilt to the board corrected that problem by reducing the sand friction to the edge of the board. Five seconds later I was careening down the dune at 40 miles per hour with absolutely no control. Alessandra said I looked extremely cool until I caught an edge, flipped in mid air landed on my head, and tumbled a quarter way down the hill. She was laughing so hard she failed to take picture due to the auto focus being unable to counter act her shaking the camera.

Tomorrow we are off to Istla Balesta (poor mans Galapagos) just off the coast near Pisco.

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Photos

Sand dune - pre-climb
Me ready to climb massive sand dune behind hotel

Comments

[tom]

too funnny
Great pictures