Ica and Huacachina

Trip Start Jan 25, 2008

Trip End Jun 01, 2008

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Where I stayed

Las Arenas de Mancora

(Mancora hotels)

Flag of Peru Huacachina, Huacachina, Peru
Monday, May 5, 2008

We took a taxi from Paracas to the Panamerican highway and then hailed down a local bus which took us to Ica. A shortage of cash meant walking into the centre of Ica with our packs before we got a taxi, it was a pretty intimidating walk and we kept catching the word "gringos" and felt like we were being stared at so we ducked into a cafe and Chloe and Katie waited with the bags while Neil went to the bank.

Once the cash was in hand we hailed a cab to drive us out to Huacachina. Ten minutes later we�d arrived at the Oasis town centred around a lagoon and surrounded by towering lagoons. We checked into the hotel arena which was just like a holiday resort with pool side cocktail bar and beautiful girls in bikinis - Neil thought his birthday just kept getting better. There was just time for a quick dip in the swimming pool before our sand dune tour left.

Katie and Chloe sanboarding!

At four oclock we boarded our six seater dune buggy, strapped ourselves in firmly and set off on an amazing rollercoaster ride over the sandunes. The drivers went at breakneck speed and the dunes they drove up were enormous and coming back down the otherside was practically a vertical drop, we were clinging on for dear life but it was thrilling all the way!! After a while the drivers parked up and let us take some snaps of the dessert while they waxed our sandboards. The dunes were so much bigger than in San Pedro and it was pretty scary standing on the top looking down so Katie decided to do the first one laying down on her tummy while Neil impressed everyone getting all the way to the bottom stood up and making it look easy! We sandboarded down about six dunes, each one bigger than the last - the final one was unbelievable and the people who went down on their stomachs were like rockets bombing it down.

The dune buggies picked us up at the bottom and the rollercoaster ride began again with a quick stop to watch the sunset over the sand dunes before returning to Huacachina to make at attempt at washing the sand out of our ears. The hostel had a BBQ that night with free pisco sours and when it was over we stayed around the poolside bar for hours having a few drinks with the bar staff while they tried to teach the girls to salsa! Wicked end to Neil�s birthday celebrations!