Huacachina

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Huacachina day 1

At 1 pm we started to enter Ica where we got off the bus, thankfully as we didn’t think we could take much more. The bus continued from there for another 7 hours to Lima. From the bus stop we hailed a taxi and were given a good price for the short journey to our next destination Huacachina. Huacachina is a desert oasis, which is set around a green lagoon and surrounded by huge sand dunes. The main draw for coming here is to sand board down the sand dunes.We found a hotel with a pool and spent the rest of the day making use of the pool having a walk around the lagoon and exploring our options for acheaper place to stay for the next few nights.

day 2 and sand buggy tour

After breakfast by the pool and another dip in before the sun got too hot, we packed up our stuff and made our way to a hostel over a restaurant which was cheaper and had views of the lake. The small place is understandebly very touristy with it being made up of camp sites, hostels and restaurants, no houses. We booked ourselves on a tour for the late afternoon, had some lunch and took a dip in the lagoon, which we decided the next day was quite a bad idea due to the smell it was giving off.

The sand buggy tour started at 4pm. We all piled into this huge monster looking open jeep thing, 4 seats wide and held about 15 people. We then made our way up the dunes out of Huacachina and beyond to the vast planes of sand dunes behind it. The driver was great throwing the buggy up and down huge sand dunes and doing sudden turns and jumps which made us all scream. This was interspersed with stopping at 4 different sand dunes, which increased in size, and getting the boards of the buggy, wazing them down then getting on the board on your stomach, face first and sliding down the hill to the bottom. This was a very easy way to do it as it cut out the part of climbing up the sand dune. The tour ended with the driver taking us to this place where you could see the whole vast expanse of the sand dunes as the sun set and Huacachina in the very far distance.

sand boarding

We booked ourselves to stay 2 more nights as the weather was just such a welcome change from Cusco and I was a nice place to relax and do more snad boarding if you felt energetic enough. That is what we did the next day. We hired boards for about 2 pounds for an hour, were given a candle and we set off up the nearest sand dune. This was easier said than done. In the hour I did about 4 descents, the rest of the time was spent trying toget up the sand dune. It was exhausting. Sam got right to the top and instead of following the conventional way of descending he was keen to practice standing up so he did this and actually did quite well. He did end up with a sand beard by the end though! After the hour we went for a cold beer and watched the sun set.

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Photos

From our front seats
Taking the paved road out of the town

Us holding on
and probably me screaming!