Sandboarding, dune buggies, and wineries

Trip Start Mar 09, 2007
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Trip End ??? ??, 2008


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Flag of Peru  ,
Monday, April 2, 2007

On Sunday (yesterday) we took a bus to Huacachina.  About 5 hours on the bus brought us to Ica and a 1 dollar cab ride brought us to the oasis in the middle of the sand dunes, Huacachina.  We got in at night, so it was a bit tough to see what our surroundings looked like.  But its a small town that surrounds this little oasis.  The town is surrounded by huge sand dunes that you can make out at night by looking at sky and seeing where the clouds hit and vanish.  

Some BBQ at the hostel along with some drinks and we found ourselves scrambling up the side of the sand dune.   It's steep as hell, you slide back a step for every two that you take, and its a huge sand dune.  It took us a long time to get to the top, but it was well worth it.  We had a great view over the town and it makes for a pretty good make out spot.  The best part is the walk down, or rather the rolling down.  We couldn't resist but tackling each other on the way down.  Sand got lodged in pretty much every orfice of our boddies.  Swimming in the hostel pool pretty much solved that problem.

Today we were slightly hung over and slow moving.  Doing the wine tasting was a bit rough.   The wineries in this area specialize in sweet wines.  The Peruivian specialty wine is Pisco.  Its sweet and they usually make it into a drink called Pisco Sour which consists of Pisco, lemon juice, ice, and egg white and then they blend it.  Its good, just real sweet.

After chilling out at the pool and napping, we got a dune buggy tour through the sand dunes.  We ended up getting a private tour in a small buggy.  It was about an hour and a half tour into and over the sand dunes.  Cost us 40 Soles with tip per person (its about 3.2 Soles per dollar, so it cost about 13 bucks).  The ride was great because they go off of these drops and you get to fly along the rolling dessert, it was a ton of fun.  We also got some sand boarding in.  They give you this board (made of wood and has big velcro straps) and they lube it up with wax on the bottom so that you slide.  Its pretty tough and the wax rubs off quite quick.  I found the funnest thing to actually do is lube it up with wax and ride straight down on your stomach, you go flying.  The best part is the buggy picks you up and takes you to the top.  We got to watch a pretty nice sunset over the sand dunes.

Tonight we are taking a bus to Arrequipa which is in the direction of Cusco.
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