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Published: July 28th 2012
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Huacachina
The town from the dunes Day 283 Friday 20th July Still no WiFi in the morning but at least our breakfast was good. On our return to the room we had to get stuck into our packing which as you would after 9 months we are fairly quick at. I am still amazed though how we seem to collect all our belongings which are scattered all over the room and get it all back into our packs and walk out the door with it on our backs. We checked out at 9am and walked straight into the arms of a taxi driver, which of course we had to negotiate our ride to the bus terminal. We got him down from 20 Sol to 15 Sol ($6), which I think is about 3 sol too much but in the end we really can’t be bothered spending all day standing on the kerb arguing over a dollar or two. Sometimes we have the time an inclination while at other times like when you have a bus to catch we are happy to give it to them. Our driver was a nice guy and was able to have a great Spanglish conversation with him whilst we struggled through
Huacachina
The oasis in the centre of town the Lima traffic. We gave him the good news that Lima traffic is just as bad as Sydney’s and he gave us a good laugh when he told us that Lima traffic lights are nothing more than “suggestions”.
It took 45 minutes to get to the Cruz Del Sur bus terminal, where we checked in our luggage and at 10.30 boarded our bus to Ica. The 4 hour trip was through desolate dry country interspersed by the occasional oasis like towns. As we neared towns we would travel through green fields of crops and you had to wonder where they get the water to irrigate the fields as the country is so arid all around, we guess it must be bore water. For the first three hours of the trip we travelled under the leaden skies that persist at winter time in this corner of the world, but for the final hour we got to see blue skies again.
Got to Ica at 2.30 and after getting our bags we picked up tickets for our onward journey to Nazca on Sunday. By the time we got our tickets we were the only ones left in the terminal so
Huacachina
Stop looking at me, so I love papaya when we went to get a taxi the driver thought he would put one on over us. The Ica bus terminal like some other terminals in Peru have a price list for taxis displayed on a board so you have a guide at what should be paid and the going rate to our destination of Huacachina was shown as 7 sols. We have been told that these rates are higher than what you can get in the street but we are happy to pay it, if it saves the hassle. The taxi driver who came up to us started with demanding 15 sol and despite us showing him the board that it should only be 7 persisted with as long haggle till he refused to go below 8. We sort of got a bit stubborn on this one and stuck to our guns demanding 7 and so he thought he would try his bluff by walking away. We countered the bluff by putting on our backpacks and went to walk off to look for another taxi and surprise, surprise he came running back and accepted 7 sols. The evil side of me was tempted to go “thanks mate but now
Huacachina
Our hotel with the dunes behind I think the ride is only worth for 4 sols” but I’m not that sort of guy.
It is only a ten minute ride to the oasis town of Huacachina, and in fact is basically an outer suburb of the much larger town of Ica. For the entire journey our driver persisted on trying to talk us into tours of the other nearby attractions, along with a variety of dune buggy trips, but luckily he was nowhere near as bad as some other touts we have copped.
Our hotel in Huacachina is the old Mossone Hotel, which is regarded as the most expensive and up market of the town’s hotels. Huacachina is a tiny town set around a natural spring and nestled between towering sand dunes and is an old resort town that once was the playground of Peru’s elite but is now more of a backpackers playground (well that is what the Lonely Planet claims), and the Mossone was billed as this old grand hotel that has fallen on hard times. It sort of made us think of the Hydro Majestic at Leura and so splurged on $65 a night, even though we knew it was long
Huacachina
Shelley and Scott on the dunes past its prime. On our arrival the woman on reception was so rude and arrogant we weren’t sure if we should be angry, insulted or just laugh at her attempt at being Basil Fawlty. Despite the woman’s attitude we managed to get a free upgrade to a suite and as expected the place was very run down and well over priced but it made for an interesting stay.
We had a good walk around town which only takes about ten minutes before settling in at a bar for a beer, which led into the night and dinner.
Day 284 Saturday 21st July The breakfast at the Mossone Hotel was a buffet but was pretty good with a great selection including cut fruit, which made a welcome change from scrambled eggs. Most people who come to Huacachina these days are here to either sandboard down the dunes or go on a dune buggy ride over the dunes, but we came here for neither but came here for…..well I am not too sure why we came here. I think we stopped in here because it looked pretty in the photos we saw of it and thought it
Huacachina
Dunes at sunset was on the way and it might be something different. Had originally thought of stopping here for two days but we were glad that had been cropped to one, and in fact all day we kept saying to each other “thank god we are only here for one day”. Not that there is anything that wrong with the place it is just that if you are not into Sand boarding there isn’t a lot here to do. Half thought about getting a trip on one of the dozens of dune buggies that are in town and that roar all over the sand dunes but being crammed into one of them with a dozen others while it just drives over the dunes doesn’t really excite us. We ended up spending the day walking the town eating and watching children back at our hotel pestering the two poor pet turtles. Ended up paying our bill early as the hotel had requested it and got stuck paying an extra 10 percent as a service charge. It seems the more you pay for the hotel the more they try and rip you off. I guess they need the money as the place is begging
for a makeover and alternatively could be restored back to its former glory or transferred into a great backpackers place, but as it stands it is just crumbling into ruins.
Late in the afternoon we finally decided to take a trek up to the top of one of the sand dunes that surrounds the town and discovered just how tough it is to walk in sand up hill, it really is two steps forward one backward. The view from the top of the setting sun and the town was truly stunning and it is well worth visiting here just for the sunset. The only downside is the rubbish between the hotels and the sand dunes and it is even appearing over the sand dunes. As it got dark and the temperature started to plummet we headed back down the dune to town and dinner at the hotel. While we were in the restaurant the wedding groups started to come through and the photographer for one of the couples invited us to get our photos taken with the bride and groom but we graciously declined as we still had the clothes on that we had rolled around in the sand
Huacachina
Town at sunset dunes. We did get a nice photo of them which is included.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
OASIS
Oasis indeed...interesting place as it is that. And if the digs compare to the Hydro Majestic at Medlow Bath...I presume grand and in need of refurbishment. By the way I've stayed at the Hydro Majestic...and at long last it is presently closed for facelift...but I think I'd prefer to be in Peru!