Huacachina is a small oasis town in the Ica desert region. This desert is the northernmost part of the Atacama desert. Whilst largely a jumping off point for various activities, the town itself is really pretty, with the sand dunes above and the calm oasis in the centre.
Weather:
Hot hot hot!
Where we stayed:
We stayed at a nice simple hostel, although with all our activities we probably only spent about 7 hours there!
Sand boarding and buggy ride:
Our first activity, shortly after arriving, was a 2-hour ride across the huge sand dunes, stopping for sand boarding and to watch the sunset. I don’t know our driver’s name, only that his colleagues said we were with ‘El Loco’. Well, his driving certainly confirmed his loco status. We swerved round basins, leapt from sand dune ridges, and were thoroughly thrown from side to side in the back.
The sand boarding only left us with a few bruises here and there, but was well worth it for the exhilarating speed as you approach the bottom.
The sunset across this landscape was simply beautiful.
Day trip to Paracas, Las Islas Ballestas, and Paracas National Reserve
This day trip started (after a minibus ride) with boating around some sparse and hostile looking islands, which were nonetheless home to some native flora and fauna, and economic activity.
There were huge colonies of various types of birds, sea spiders (basically crabs if you ask me), sea lions, and our favourite of all, penguins. Waddling warily by the rocky cliff face, the petite penguins were adorable. [F: Chris loves his alliteration…] All of these birds give rise to the local economy of collecting bird poo which is used as fertiliser.
The afternoon saw us exploring the national reserve, driving along roads made of compacted salt, and taking in the fairly barren landscape. We had a refreshing swim in the perfectly cold water, enjoyed lunch at a different beach area with restaurants, and finally saw a reddish beach, due to iron oxide in the sand.
Bonus:
Just in case a 5.30am start to our day trip wasn’t early enough, the Nazca tectonic plate decided to wake us up in the night with a shake – by which I mean a magnitude 6 earthquake!* This was a little scary, but passed quite quickly.
*Earthquake of magnitude 6.0 with an epicentre 35 miles away. Some buildings were damaged at the epicentre but no injury or loss of life reported.
Next stop, Arequipa, also known as The White City.
Besos,
Chris y Florence
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