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Published: January 19th 2008
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Next on our grand tour of Peru was Huacachina, an idyllic little oasis ‘town’ nestled amongst gigantic sand dunes in Peru’s western desert area and only a short taxi drive from the recently earthquake hit town of Ica. On driving through Ica from the bus station to Huacachina, the earthquakes destructive forces were evident everywhere from the rubble piles and corrugated sheet boarding up municipal buildings to the shop fronts showing stress cracks with missing facades in the town square. We also saw numerous temporary, makeshift homes scattered along the roadside that the locals had been forced into following the annihilation of their property. This kind of seismic action, although brutal and deadly to the locals is an unfortunate part of life in this part of the world and from my inexperienced eye it certainly looked like the townsfolk were getting on as best possible and were busy reconstructing their livelihoods in this shocked town.
Our taxi wound its way out of town towards our destination in the desert and dropped us at a hotel that had been recommended to us by our former landlady in Nazca. The hotel turned out to be a bit too shabby for our liking,
so we wandered around the little oasis, which took about ten minutes (yes it’s that small a place) and found a more suitable hotel with a lovely pool, a pet monkey called ‘Marvin’ and a pair of giant Tortoise’s all slap bang on the doorstep of the encroaching desert - the monkey clinched it for me! Once upon a time this oasis used to be ‘the’ place for rich and well to-do Peruvian’s to come for a spot of rest and relaxation and on first impressions it reminded me of an old Victorian boating lake albeit with palm trees and promenade surround, and like many such attractions in the U.K. it has unfortunately seen better days and is falling into a steady state of decline with peeling paint and un-repaired buildings. The oasis apparently ‘dried up’ about ten years ago; which may have been when the decline began; and is now topped up each morning by a mains style pipe that is actually visible at the end of the day when the sun has evaporated a good feet or two of surface water to expose it. According to people that we spoke to here, another reason why this idyll slipped
from its former exclusivity was the advent of the thrill seeking backpacker/traveller who insisted on sand buggy adventures and creating the new sport of sand boarding which eventually spoilt the well to do ambiance and created the traveller friendly destination it is today. I say traveller friendly but considering we are in the middle of the desert with extremely hot temperatures during the day we were a bit miffed to find that none of the shops here actually sold sun tan lotion deciding to sell lipstick sized sun block instead? Most prices were a bit higher than we have been used to whilst travelling through Peru and due to its small size and lack of real shops or amenities you may find yourself grabbing a taxi into Ica for an ATM or some pharmaceuticals.
So apart from the obligatory sand buggy ride over the dunes and having a go at the sand boarding, there’s not really a great deal going on here and following our manic dashing around from place to place it was good to be doing nothing for a few days. We found a fantastic restaurant next door to our hotel that was ran by an English
lady who made the most amazing banofee pie and millionaires shortbread along with a lovely pot of tea, her husband was a Peruvian who knew of a local ‘Curandero’ or witch doctor type guy; Claire’s eyes lit up, mine rolled; and the following day we were on a tour of local weirdness. We started our day at the out of town ‘Witches Park’ where there were creepy sculptures amongst the trees, then we were given a tour of the adjacent ‘Witches Museum’ that sported weird pictures and displays of mini figures showing the various forms of magic from around the world, we were finally shown a ‘power pyramid’ which is used for cleansing rituals. Next up was a visit to the Curandero, shaman, magic-man, witch doctor or whatever you want to call him, he didn’t seem that good to me but Claire was the one who wanted to see him so I just looked on with vague fascination and took photos. The ceremony began, lights were lowered, incantations and prayers were muttered, the magicians apprentice was summoned to the ritual and began by drawing lines on the ground around Claire, human skulls were placed down to form a pathway towards
the shrine where the Curandero presided, magical staves were held in both hands, perfume of a sort was spat all over Claire in a ritualistic fashion, all the while our guide was interpreting the reading from the Curandero and answering my ladies questions. It was quite a show to be honest but for me the guy didn’t really command any presence, Claire came away saying much the same adding that he hadn’t been that insightful either, I think Edinson (our guide when taking Ayahuasca in the jungle) hit the nail on the head when he said that all shamans are charlatans and the power of change is within us all. never a truer word said in my opinion. That just about rapped up the day, apart from a quick visit to the local anomalous palm tree that had sprouted seven trunks and which towns folk referred to as the seven-headed serpent, the tree certainly took on a snake like persona, but what that was supposed to signify is anybodies guess.
So that’s about it for this entry, we stayed at Huacachina for about five days and thoroughly enjoyed the sun, sand and solitude it provides in abundance. Next stop
was back to Cuzco for a couple more days aclimatising before our final escapade on and up the Inca Trail, so until then Adios Amigos :o)
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