We arrived to Ica by bus then took a short taxi ride into Huacachina which is a desert town situated around an oasis. When you look up all you see are dunes in the distance. What a contrast to the places we´ve been so far in South America. The weather was hot and sunny during the day and a little cooler at night. (How perfect!) We spent our days relaxing by the pool or swinging in a hammock, a nice reward after all the hiking that we had done.
DUNE BUGGYING and SANDBOARDING:
Our last full day in the dessert we went on dune buggy tour which included sand boarding. As we left our hotel at dusk for the dunes I noticed our crazy Peruvian driver genuflect himself before driving off at record speed! Thoughts going through my mind.... holy shit are we going to die tonight? Somehow Andrew convinced me to sit in the front with him and the driver... it was the scarriest seat possible. When the driver would race up the dunes it was impossible to see the drop that was coming up ahead. All very frightening for a wimp like me! After the adrenaline was pumping we stopped at the top of a dune to sandboard.
The two options were lie on your tummy and hold on to a strap or to strap your ankles on to the wood board and ride it like a snowboard. I obviously opted for the tummy ride. The guide pushed me down the hill and I went speeding down the hill like a bullet. Since I was lighter than most on the tour I went the fastest down the dune and the furthest. For the first few times Andrew also decided to go down on his tummy. After the first two dunes we were fully pumped and ready for higher dunes. I must admit even I thought that it was fun. Then our driver took us to the " Mother of all dunes" The first half was small and easy and I was unable to see over the second half... so when we were at the half way mark to my surprise it was extremely steep and scary. At that point it was too late to turn back as the dune buggy picked you up at the bottom. Lesson learned.... don´t atempt to sandboard a dune that you can´t see where it ends! Of course Andrew fully enjoyed the whole thing!!! For the smaller first half he decided to try riding the board like a snowboard. For the second half he decided to go on his belly (as an Israeli fellow broke his neck and died one month before doing that) Being a gentleman Andrew decided to go first to show me which way to go down on the board, which left me stranded at the top and a prisoner to my fears!!!! Finally after much contemplation I decided I couldn´t go down the dune, and a British girl and I walked down with our boards!!!! hehe
After 5 days of desert paradise we left for a bus to Trujillo and the beach town of Huanchaco
~Nicola
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| Huacachina, Peru |
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