Huacachina, Peru - An Oasis in the Desert

Huacachina Slide Show

After a busy time getting ready for the trip and a couple days in large, busy Lima, Huacachina was the perfect place to chill for a couple days. Huacachina is a town of 200 people outside Ica on the West coast of Peru. The town has an oasis in the middle, surrounded by 2 blocks of hotels, hostels, and restaurants. All around are huge sand dunes/mountains that go on forever. We were told that it used to be a place for the Peruvian elite, but it has fallen on tougher times and now is mainly for foreign travelers.

To get to Huacachina, we took a bus from Peru through an area of the country that had been devestated by an earthquake a few years ago. It was sad to see the towns in disarray as we rolled through. People are living in buildings that have never been rebuilt. The countryside was beautiful, but the towns will take many years to repair. To see some photos from the bus, click on the following slideshow ==> Lima to Ica. Speaking of earthquakes, we felt our first tremor one morning. When I asked the guy at the front desk about it, he said "Zero, no problema, es safe."
We stayed at a beautiful hostel for only $40 per night, called Hotel El Huacachinero. It had a pool, bar, restaurant, clean rooms, and beautiful views of the sand dunes. We have noticed that at all service places, the Peruvian people are very conscientious about service. They spend most of the day sweeping and cleaning and whatever you ask for gets brought to you as opposed to you picking it up. We had a nice time exchanging stories with fellow travelers from all over the world.
Noah and Jim climbed the sand dune out back of the hotel. It was a difficult climb for Jim, not so difficult for Noah, who climbed it twice. They brought their gloves to the top and had a very unique place to play catch.
The three of us went on a dune buggy tour of the area. The tour also included sand boarding down the dunes. The young people (20 somethings) in our group were impressed with Jennifer's lack of fear as she screamed down the dunes on her belly on the board. Noah and Jim chose to go on their feet, with many falls that led to sand in every exposed orifice. Whoever thought so many miles of sand could be so beautiful and so much fun!
To see a slideshow of Huacachina, click on the following link ==> Huacachina Slide Show.