A Desert Oasis
Trip Start
Dec 14, 2007
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167
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Trip End
Mar 16, 2009
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Huacachina,
Peru
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
It was a short five hour bus ride to Ica, Peru's wine capital, travelling through arid desert landscapes which reminded us of many of the road trips we took in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) nothing but open space and sand dunes. Ica itself is not a very impressive town with its single story mud / clay brick houses and littered streets, but only 5 km west of Ica was a little town called Huacachina which was a popular tourist destination in the area and even appeared on the back of the Peruvian S/50 banknote.
Huacachina was literally a desert oasis and consisted of a small cluster of houses, hotels and restaurants set around a small lake of fresh water surrounded by towering dunes. Our first choice for accommodation was a hostel called Huacanicero which was apparently one on the quieter hostels in the little town that is known for its all night parties.
We hadn't made any reservations but were lucky to be able to get their last available double room in what turned out to be a beautiful hotel at hostal price's.
On-route to Huachina
The hotel boasted with a refreshing swimming pool, sun loungers, hammocks, three friendly pet parrots and very welcoming staff. Just what we needed a little relaxation before we headed to Cusco and embark on the Inca Trail. I was also hoping the downtime would give Ryan a chance to recover from the flu he'd been battling to get rid of for the past three weeks.On the day we'd arrived we had fantastic weather and decided to climb the dune out the back of the hotel. It initially seemed like it would be a easy climb but the dune turned out to much steeper than it looked from the sun loungers around the pool. The view from the top made it worth all the effort as we had a great view of Huacachina and Ica in the background. We settled on the crest of the dune and sat silently and watched an amazing sunset before descending for cocktails and dinner.
The history of wine making in Peru is fascinating and mostly started way back when the Spanish ruled Peru and longed for their local vino and decided to plant a few vines and grow their own instead of wait months for the next ship to arrive. It turned out that the area in and around Ica where ideal for growing their favourite grape varietals and soon producing some quaffable wines.
The Peruvians however liked things a little stronger which soon led to some of the wines being distilled and turned into liquor commonly called pisco. Pisco is manufactured using white-grapes and is similar to brandy except that it isn't aged in oak barrels.
On-route to Huachina
It soon became the Peruvian national drink and was named after the important port named Pisco which is nearby. Pisco is most frequently served in the famous cocktail pisco sour, a delicious drink made from pisco, whisked egg white, lemon juice, syrup or sugar, crushed ice and a little bitters, resulting in a deliciously refreshing drink.Through the hotel we managed to arrange a wine and pisco tour which included a visit to the two main and only industrial wine farms in Peru, namely Vista Alegre and Tacama as well has some home industry producers. The Vista Algere wines were nothing spectacular but the tour of their grounds and wine and pisco making process was very interesting. They seem to grow and huge number of grape varietals for such a small producer.
The Tacama wines were not much better and we found some of the wines were overwhelmed with alcohol tastes, even though the highest alcohol percentage was 14%, and in general were not very well balanced. Who would have guessed they had a French wine maker and viticulturists. Their sparkling wines were quite interesting though.
The third visit included a pisco tasting and ranged from premium pisco which is considered to be equivalent to a good cognac, to cocktail pisco, which tastes mostly like strong alcohol and is used mainly in cocktails like pisco sour, which has the lemon already included as part of the fermentation process, ending with cream of pisco, which tasted a little like Baileys.
Lastly we visited a more authentic and local family wine farm where sweet red wine as well as many different Pisco's are produced. The family farm also boasted a private museum and although very dusty, was still quite interesting if not a little bizarre.
In conclusion, do not spend money on Peruvian wine if you're not sure it's going to be any good, even the big farms wines can be very disappointing. It would probably be safest to stick to Argentinian or Chilean wine or... pisco!
Sadly even after almost two days in bed Ryan had not recovered as we hoped from his cold/flu and now developed a scary cough, so we both agreed that stronger medicine and maybe a visit to a doctor was required when we got to Cusco. But before we got to Cusco we had a short stop planned in Nasca where we'd booked a flight over mysterious Nasca lines.
