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Published: November 18th 2007
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After our great experience in Huaraz, we headed down to Huacachina, which is a tiny desert oasis town near Ica. The earthquake that struck Peru in the summer of 2007 was centred on the towns of Ica and Pisco (which were en route), and it was clear to see that when we travelled through, they had still not recovered. The quality of the buildings is these towns was such that the earthquake flattened anything over one storey in height. What were once large and thriving towns are now reduced to disorganised shanty towns, with rubble strewn everywhere. The temporary tents that were given in the relief effort are still clearly being used as homes, as people are so poor they cannot afford to rebuild straight away. It was shocking to see that these people were all but forgotten after the initial relief effort, now that the earthquake is old news.
Huacachina is a different kettle of fish altogether however. Once a holiday playground for Peru´s rich and famous, it now serves to amuse passing backpackers, who wander amongst the now-shabby beautiful buildings by the oasis. It exists solely for tourism, but that doesn´t detract from it at all. On our
Pisco
Earthquake aftermath first morning we decided that after breakfast we´d go and have a walk up one of the giant sand dunes that surround the town. For me this experience made me think of those in the French Foreign Leigion, as i slowly scaled a giant dune in the midday sun. It must have been 35C, with the sand burning the soles of my feet through my shoes. With every step forward my foot slid back in the sand. I finally made it to the top, and i can safely say it was one of the hardest things i have ever done, but the view was worth it! Sprinting down in the soft sand was a welcome reward!
That afternoon Kate and I were booked in for a 2 hour sand buggy and sandboarding silica-fest. The buggy, which looked like a cross between a monster truck and a prison cell, was driven by a suave 50-something, with complete disregard for human life. There were about 8 in our group, who all screamed and squealed as our Paris-Dakar wannabe plummeted over gigantic sand dunes with blind crests. As we pelted over the sand the occasional plastic bottle lying in the sun gave
Pisco
Earthquake aftermath the impresssion of speed in the otherwise featureless terrain. Apparently with only second and fifth gear functioning, the ride was anything but smooth, but i reckoned we hit 80mph. Finally, with teeth full of sand and streaming eyes, we stopped to go sandboarding. Forget your Burton or Forum snowboards, these sandboards looked like Bart Simpson´s carpentry project. With velcro straps to hold your feet, how could you feel anything BUT safe.... With a squirt of grease on the bottom of each plank, we all strapped in. Having done "the real thing" on snow, i was fairly confident, and slithered down my first dune in one piece, but the friction of the sand spoilt my fun. I then looked up to see Kate, lying on her board face first, rocketing down the dune screaming with delight/mortal fear. After another couple of dunes i resorted to this clearly superior technique, and it was so much better! While the others in our group stubbornly tried to prove themselves as ´boarders, Kate, I and another friendly chap flew down face first.
These dunes are hard to describe, they were so big. One of them was so steep that someone would go down and
Huacachina
Oasis at Sunset disappear from view, only to reappear 20 seconds later as a tiny speck miles away. The best run of the day has to go to Kate, who on her last go was going the fastest of anyone that day. She tried to put her feet down to slow herself, but it had no effect. As she passed me at Mach 3, she lost it over the bumpy sand, and had an awesome wipeout. Only her feet and hands could be seen from the cloud of sand that engulfed her, and after 6 rolls came to a stop. I was sure she had broken something. Alas the sand settled, and there she was giggling, with her teeth black with sand. To this day she is still trying to get rid of sand from places God never intended sand to go...
The rest of the time in Huacachina was spend eating, paddling around the oasis, and removing sand from various nooks and crannies. On our second night we tried to recreate the now infamous video of Gregory McGovern and chums hammered and conked out in an undisclosed bar in Huacachina. Undisclosed because they were all so drunk they couldn´t remember where
Huacachina
Hostel Pool they were. We even went to the effort of calling him to ask for directions, but to no avail (remember there are about 5 bars in the whole town...). We found somewhere that passed for the location, and enjoyed a cocktail.
The next day we caught the bus back to Lima, with the luxurious Cruz Del Sur. Reclining seats, food and movies made the trip fly by. When we hopped in a taxi at the bus station, we asked the driver to head to our hostel in the neighbourhood of San Isidro. We were quite surprised when the driver turned around in his seat and said "Esta muy peligroso!" and put his fingers in the shape of a gun to his head. Lonely Planet, as a general rule, is more reliable than your average South American taxi driver, and assured us that it was one of the safest areas in Lima. We managed to convince him to go there anyway, but his game was obvious when he handed us flyers for another hostel in Miraflores. Subtle, i think not.
That evening, once safely installed in our new hostel (which was really nice) we headed for the local supermarket
to treat ourselves to a homecooked meal. We´ve never been so excited about being in a supermarket in our lives- the size of a football pitch with a shop assistant in every aisle, cocktail demonstrations, and every product under the sun presented in a glitzy fashion. I approached a woman dressed as an Energizer battery and expressed an interest in some triple A´s. 10 minutes later she had successfully stalked me to the other end of the supermarket, AAA´s in hand- what a service! We made ourselves BLT´s that night and washed them down with some cheap fizz, perfect!
The next day we had a great lunch where Kate finally got her Ceviche, wandered around the department stores in San Isidro, and generally enjoyed affluent Lima life. We headed to a Chifa restaurant for dinner, which is a Peruvian-Chinese mishmash, which was delicious and predictably far too much to ever finish. After that we did what you are never meant to do...We went to the casino to win back some money....
Lucky 7s had robbed us of 70 Soles (€17) and we wanted it back. We marched in and sat down in the same seats on the same
roulette table, and looked up at the digital display. The board was almost all red, so we went with it. Looking around we saw the same faces as before, the addicted regulars. Before we had 3 beers we had doubled our money, but then our luck started to change, so we quit while we were ahead, and took our winnings to the cash desk. As Kate went to the toilet I looked at the other roulette table, and the digital display was all red again: it was a sign! It was too early to leave, so we plonked ourselves down at the second table, ordered more free beers, and started piling the chips on red. We kept on winning! By the time we were finished, we had our fill of beers, had made back the 70 Soles from the first trip, and 70 Soles more in profit! We were delighted with ourselves, we had beaten the system! Lucky 7s had effectively paid for our whole night out, and we were grateful.
Off to Cuzco, with money in our pockets and wind in our sails....
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Nabil
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Hostel in Huacachina
Hi, what was the name of the hostel with a pool in Huacachina please, we are going there in 2 days Thanks