Huacachina Oasis
After spending a few days in Huaraz, hikking in the mountains and beating our altitude record at the Pastoruri Glacier – 5200m asl, our next destination was the town of Ica. We had to change buses in Lima. Better to check twice where the bus stations are, because they are abundant in the capital city of Peru.
Transport from Ica to the Oasis
After making it to Ica we hoped in a taxi, which took us for 10 soles to the wonderful oasis of Huacachina located on the outskirts of the town.
It was a moment when we found ourselves in a completely different landscape. It could have been easily confused for the Sahara Desert. The Oasis is surrounded by some sand dunes that strech all the way to the horizont.
There is a very laid-back vibe around so we felt pretty relaxed. We spent the evening resting on the dunes after the long journey.
Pisco in variety of flavours
The next day, we planned to tick off the most famous local attractions. We started around midday with a tour to vinneries and pisco destillatories. Pisco is a local strong liquor made by destillating grape juice. In the first establishment that we visited the whole production process was described to us in details. Then, we enjoyed the degustation. 4 wines, 3 shots of pisco and 6 flavoured liquores later we were eager to buy some souvenirs. We liked the most the sweet drinks made from pisco and local fruit that we had never heard of before. Next we went to the second establishment and it started all over again…
Sandboarding, dune buggy and sunset
On the same day around 4 pm, we had another great attraction planned: sandboarding and dune buggy ride across the sand dunes. We were having an adrenaline rush during that crazy ride. In the meantime, we stopped for sandboarding. Our driver gave us some tips and not long later, we were sliding down the sandy hills. What a great thing to do! We could test our skills on smaller slops and than continue to the bigger one. We had so much fun. The trip ended with an amazing sunset. The trip lasted 2h and cost us 30 soles each. Highly recommended.
6 comments
That looks like an awesome experience! How long were you able to sandboard?
I would say around 30-40 minutes 🙂
This looks like so much fun! I’ve never heard of sandboarding before, but I want to try it now! Were you able to go pretty fast?
Haha, you can get a very good speed. I was a bit afraid so I slowered myself down few times 😛
What an incredible experience this must have been! I really want to try sandboarding 🙂
The oasis surrounded by desert. Never seen one! Looks surreal