We went into the desert . . . And we found an oasis

We have repetitively said to each other on this trip how disappointed we are with the lonely planet in South America and our visit to Huacachina was a good example of this. It only gave this place a small section with limited information and little to capture our interest. However, after running into a number of travelers who had stayed here we thought it was a place to definitely add onto the itinerary, especially since neither of us had seen an Oasis. In the desert of Peru (which is a lot of the coastal area) in the region where they make Pisco is the city called Ica. Ica is completely surrounded by sand and just on the edge of the city is a secluded Oasis called Huacachina which seems to exist simply for tourist as bit is idyllic and beautiful and feels like it is a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of the Peruvian cities.

It is said that there is a mermaid that takes a Peruvian man down into the oasis every year, inspiring this amazing mural we saw on the side of the road and many other sculptures and monuments around the town. However, its more likely that the mermaid 'taking' a man can be to deduced to drowning as many locals in Peru can't swim or that the get servere cramps due to the icy waters under the warm top layer. Never the less whilst we are quite good swimmers and not too afraid of bikini clad half woman half fish we were still quite content staying out of the water.

We picked to stay in a small hostel called Bananas (again based on travelers advise) and booked a room which included the obligatory dune buggy ride. The place served great cheap burgers, had a hammock in every corner and a nice pool which was a perfect solution to the desert heat. We had been told that this place was a backpacker paradise and it did not disappoint. After wandering around we also realised that as it was 4 hour from Lima it also appeared to be a getaway for Peruvians too who certianly didn't refrain from expressing their affections for each other - we are in South America! Seeing a bit too much PDA (or for the oldies Public Display of Affection) we thought it was definately time to cash in on our dune buggy ride and sand boarding.

Sounding much like a Harley Davidson with a bad chest infection our sand chariot arrived, so we buckled ourselves in and headed for the dunes. Whilst our seat belts were a one size fits all they seemed sturdy enough to hold us down, even though there was plenty of wiggle room. Initially it was a slow start from leaving the checkpoint and driving up the sand road into the dunes. But once up the top the driver gave it everything, hurtling us down the 100m sand dune. Unfortunately this was almost to be our demise as once we reached the bottom he failed to naviget through a bumpy patch, causing the front to nose dive spraying sand throughout the whole car. Luckily we survived and with scratchy eyes and gritty teeth we powered on with the sandy rollercoaster. Having our stomachs nicely churned up for a good 45mins we then parked up at a reasonably sized dune slop for a spot of sand boarding. Having never snowboarded before we thought it was best to take the first slope on our stomachs, head first of course. Laying on our poor mans snowboards with our head over the edge it really didn't look that high, but once the driver gave that final push and you were hurtling down the dune you realised how silly this was and what's going to happen at the bottom? Same as the buggy? Nose first? No, luckily the bottom was fairly smooth and you just coasted to a slightly bumpy yet hip bruising finish. Considering the first one went so well and our undies weren't completely full of sand yet we decided to keep going. Having mastered the art of face first, I decided to give standing up ago, much to Lou's disapproval. Opting for a small dune to begin with I strapped my feet in and took off down the slope. Fortunately, I did have the good sense to pick the small slope, because the ride was only short lived as I lost balance seconds after taking off tumbling the rest of the way down the hill. With only my pride damaged and hair full of sand I dusted myself off to the laughter of the others at the top of the dune. Considering I didn't hurt myself too badly on the first attempt I kept trying the sand boarding and even managed a couple of successful rides. With nearly our entire bodies covered in sand we hopped back into the buggy for one final and yet terrifying ride though the dunes before catching the last remnants of sunset over the oasis. Check out the video below of some of the action.

We enjoyed our first day in Huacachina so much (and were still recovering from the 24hr bus ride to get there) that over breakfast we decided to extend our stay by another night and do a wine/Pisco tour in the surrounding area before heading to Arequipa. After another morning of getting our lobster on by the pool we got ready and headed off back into the desert for our winery tour. Yes that's correct I did say 'back into the desert for the winery tour' because apparently you an grow grapes in the middle of a dry sandy desert. At the first winery we joined another group of tourists and headed off for a tour around the place. Luckily we didn't have high expectations as the 'winery tour' was more of a tourist place where in March you can join in the process to make the wine/Pisco using the old methods and the other times of the year you just look at the equipment. Whilst the tour itself wasn't anything special, it was a great place to continue working on my photography skills.

After the tour it was time for the fun part, tasting! Each with a shot glass in hand our guide took us through numerous bottles of Pisco beginning with what they call 'young wine', which comes from the botijas before it goes to the distillation stage. Next we tried a premixed Pisco sour, which wasn't as good as the real thing but nice subsitute. As well as this we tried the 3 main varieties of Pisco, puro ..., finally finishing with Crema de Pisco, which is a sort of Baileys style liqueur made with Pisco, herbs, cream and figs. Feeling nicely liquored up we had a quick bite to eat at the restaurant and then jumped back into our taxi for the next winery. But before leaving we of course had to grab some road trip desserts, pecans and caramel covered in chocolate, a local delicacy.

Driving again down the dusty streets and having left a fairly touristy place we weren't to sure what to expect next. We pulled into a small parking area covered in dried grape skins just out front of an old run down shed. Upon leaving the car our driver immediately started winding up the windows and informing us to do the same and to lock the doors. Feeling a bit worried at this point, as we have always been a little on edge when travelling in taxis, we did as we were told and walked cautiously into the building dark and dingy building. Once inside it took a few seconds for our eyes to adjust but to our amazement we were standing inside one of the most incredible wineries we have ever been to. Covering over 80% of the floor were 1000's of botijas in different fermentation phases and in the little space left on the floor and on every wall, shelf, nook and cranny were antiques of all varieties. There was paintings, sculptures, guns and pots, gramma phones, fabrics, mummies and clocks, cash machines, coins, saddles and a horse shoe, they even had a deer head too! Sorry having a Dr Seuss moment... For those of you who don't know us, we love antiques and this place was our Disneyland. After we grounded ourselves, from the vintage high, we got straight into the tasting, which was just as funky as the surroundings. The owner of the fine establishment, after giving us a friendly greeting, grabbed his bamboo pole, dipped it in and out of the first botijas, let the liquid trickle into some small plastic cups and handed them to us with a friendly 'salute!' This contined on through a wide variety of different liquids, most of which we are pretty sure was Pisco, we were a little tipsy by this stage. After the tasting we continued exploring the never ending treasures that filled every room and again practiced more photography.

On the way back to our hostel the driver made a short detour through a small town just outside of Ica to pick up his family. We weren't to sure exactly why, our broken drunken Spanish sort of worked out something about the doctor, we think... But never the less we did not mind the detour as we were feeling pretty merry by this stage. His house was actually quite nice, a large white washed place with a really large yard out the front, down the end of a small cul de sac. Initially his oldest daughter, roughly 8-9, came out and gave us a friendly smile before her dad told her to go grab her mother and other siblings. After running back to the door way and yelling out, her mother emerged with a young baby in arms and younger daughter 3-4. Whilst the mother was very quiet, it was the youngest daughter who made the biggest reaction. Within seconds of approaching the car and seeing me with my large hair in the back seat the poor child burst into tears and had to be carried by her older sister. After a slight struggle they got her into the front seat with her mum where she continued to scream and cry. Whilst Lou thought this was hilarious, I felt pretty bad thinking I have ruined clowns for this poor girl. Thinking of ways to settle her down I tied my hair back, took my glasses off and gave my friendliest smile, to show her I was a real, normal person. This didn't fix the problem straight away, although she did settle down, but never seemed to take her eyes off me in case I changed back to the mop-head monster. With Louise giggling to herself the rest of the trip I just settled back and enjoyed the view from the car window.

Overall our time in Huacachina was really relaxing. We enjoyed the pool, ate good food, downed good drinks, survived the dunes and scared a little girl. The oasis was a first for us and is definately high on our recommendation list for Peru.

dune buggy from Ryan messer on Vimeo.

- Ryan & Louise -