Real Hotel Ica

... much darker skin than that of people in the city.<br>A round man was awaiting our arrival in Ica. He took us, in a crowded cab, to the Oasis town of Huacachina. I heard Califone playing in my head as we drove over towering sand tunes. Palm trees and a softly offensive smelling lake were at the centre of the town. Dunes cast an afternoon shadow over the hostel pool.<br><br>Powerful sand buggies raced towards the horizon. We were buckled in with an older pale<br>couple from the ...

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... The laguna stank a bit like mouldy fish **** and it had it`s usual share of rowing boats and kitsch pedalos to match. We stopped for a well needed drink and Nicki ordered up a fish-bowl full of rum and coke called a Bomba de Cerese The glass was almost as big as half of her head and she began to smile crazily at me after half of it. I decided to join her in the bowl and we both stumbled off like goldfish into the ...

... went extremely quickly. Renee and I didn´t master sand-boarding, but we had a great time trying and Renee managed to negotiate a ceasefire with gravity long enough to stand and ride the last couple of dunes down on her feet. By the time we watched the last of the sun go down over the dunes we had sand everywhere, but had really enjoyed the experience and wanted to do it all over again.<br> <br>Having ridden the gringo trail for a while now we were keen to see ...

... Ica where we decided to stay for a couple of days, the others heading on to Nasca.<br><br>After we checked in we headed into town for some food and also to the Museo Regional. Some interesting exhibits even though some quite spooky as they have mummies and trepanned skulls. The skulls are most bizarre, where they used to use ropes and other contraptions to stretch the skull for aesthetic purposes, starting from babies. Its easy to think they could have been alien skulls!<br>

... to be the hoppin`place we expected, but we figured we´d make do for a bit, grabbed a drink and took a seat around the fire pit (which was good to have, b/c it gets good and chilly there at night). There were already some people there, so we said hi and started chatting away. It turned out our new friends were two Irish couples who were travelling for the next 4 months through South America, with no real plan in mind other than being in Santiago, Chile on December 16th to fly ...

... scrawling that the place used to be a bit of a party hostel; it´s obviously made a transition, but still has a way to go. <br><br>Back at the hotel later we sat by the pool. A huge coach load of loud and brash Americans then arrived. All of them looked odd. Since when are ski sunglasses necessary? Are you skiing? No. Also, is there really any need to attach one of those cords to your sunglasses? No - it´s not 1994. Other highlights included an obese woman who ...

... keep going. I wonder if sand shoes could be effective like snow shoes. At the top of the dunes, of course, you have wonderful views, and then comes the best part: running back down. The dunes are steep and each step forward takes you several down, and with each step, you sink into the sand, creating a bouncing sensation. I run, bounce, and leap my way down the dunes in a zig-zag pattern, laughing all the way and collapsing in an out of breath heap at the ...

... turns... endless outrageous manoeuvres, but the driver knew what he was doing and I absolutely loved it. After five minutes of this we stopped at the peak of a huge dune. The view was inimitably awesome: we were surrounded by towering sand dunes, with a vast expanse of desert in front of us, and Ica in the very distance. However, it quickly transpired that our driver spoke zero English and would not be instructing us on how to sandboard. We were effectively being ...

... we were exhausted and just wanted to shower, eat, and go to sleep. The restaurant didn't open for another hour, though, so we killed some time and finally dragged ourselves to dinner. We were too tired to talk but when we realized the waitors were staring at us from three feet away as we ate, we awkwardly looked at each other and found yet another thing to laugh about all night. <br><br>The day was blissful and so was our first full night of sleep.