Haucachina Sand Dunes!

        We've been traveling for a month in Peru, and losing any interest in the date is a matter of fact when you've been out for a few weeks.  We have met almost no other US travelers in the past month, either.  So, imagine our surprise when we walked into the hostel in Haucachina and an American voice, after hearing us speak to one another,  wished us a Happy Thanksgiving! We had landed in the sandboarding capitol of Peru, and in a hostel that is on the destination list for backpackers world wide : Carola del Sur.  Our host spoke beautiful english, told us to dump our packs and a room would be ready soon.  As is our habit, we found the bar!

Haucachina is an oasis, really, about 10 miles from Ica.  It was a resort destination for the rich people in the early 20th century, and the lovely plaza and old hotels lining the lagoon are evidence a past time of parties and finery. Even the contemporary paddle boats in their gawdy colors made me see parasols and long white dresses in my mind.

Later that afternoon, we hopped in dune buggy with 7 other people for a wildass ride through the largest sand dunes in the world.  I made up that part, but the truth is the sand dunes here go on for miles and miles and days and days. Just look at the never-ending sand in these pictures...  I was unfortunate enough to be assigned the seat in the middle front, right beside the driver.  He had an evil grin on his face when he made sure we were all buckled in.  In a few minutes I was begging to get out of that vehicle and walk back to the oasis!

Our driver had sandboards securely tucked in the back, and soon we came tor a screeching (yes, it did screech in the sand!) stop at the edge of a sand cliff.  We hopped out, waxed our boards with a bit of candle our driver handed us and the real fun began.  Yes, that's me going down the sand dune, giggling like a little kid, all the way to the bottom!  We sandboarded down, struggled back to the top to do it again.  And, yes, Stuart did it too!

Our driver took us to a beautiful valley in the dunes, and we saw a beautiful sunset before screaming our way back to the oasis.  We all begged for one more trip down a dune on our sandboards before we went back, and he obliged us.

We returned to the hostel exhausted and shaking from the wild dune buggy ride and climbing the sand dunes, but giggling.  Stuart and I stood on the walkway outside our room, as did several other sand boarders, and took our clothes off to dump the sand from the pockets of our pants, before jumping in the pool in our ropa interior.  I was washing sand from crevices for several days afterwards!

An international sand boarding contest was held on the biggest sand dune right behind our hostel, and the incredibly skilled competitors were staying there, too.  We sat by the pool the next afternoon, watching in awe, as the experts swished and glided down the steep dunes.

It's a beautiful place.  I think we'll stay here a few more days.