Nov 23, 2012 - Huaccachina , peru

Peru is not our friend:( sneaky sneaky bus thieves) Camera gone. Seriously mi5 should recruit here. Andy had is feet actually on the bag the entire time. By the time we realised it was gone the 'helpful' guy in the seat opposite said ( and I'm paraphrasing here,what with him saying it in Spanish with a few actions) ' ah yeah the guy sat behind you was ferreting about under his seat for ages and then got off ' we checked his ticket, even have his name and he got off 3 stops early. Sad face. Still Peru police stations are fun. Never more...

Nov 12, 2011 - Huacachina Oasis and Nazca Desert.

AN OASIS and SAND DUNE BUGGYING Next we went to an oasis out in the Nazca desert, called Huacachina. It is a green lagoon ringed with palm and huarangos trees. We road on dune buggies. It was so exhilarating. The dunes were veryhigh and so steep. Our driver had us screaming. We stopped and did some "sand boarding". But not standing up; just lying on our tummies. When we got to the bottom of the sand dune we were covered in sand. Back at the oasis there were showers so we could wash all the sand off our bodies. There was also a pool to...

Sep 22, 2011 - More miles of nothing, but sugar cane and asparagus.

Huacachina 22/09/11 More miles of nothing, but sugar cane and asparagus. From Trujillo it was a 10 hour bus ride to Lima. We had an hour and a half wait at Cruz Del Sur’s bus terminal. It’s a bit like an airport terminal with gates for departure and arrival, baggage check inn and a café. If there were more bus companies like this in Europe I think that more people would use them. On the trip south from Trujillo we passed fields upon fields of asparagus. Apparently Peru is the number one producer in the world. Once we arrived at Ica we...

Jun 19, 2010 - Huacachina

Huacachina handler mest om sand og palmer...og om at slippe sit indre legebarn loes. Hvornaar har man sidst proevet at sandboarde ned ad stejle sandbjerge i det perfekte oerkenblandskab? Eller at race op og ned ad sandbjerge og dale i en sandbuggy med 100 km/t? Det var virkeligt fedt! Byen var blot en lille oase midt i den kaempe oerken, saa her stod den paa fuld afslapning ved poolen og leg i sandet. Dejligt efter et par hektiske dage i Lima.

Feb 15, 2010 - Huacachina

The next stop after Arequipa was the desert oasis town of Huacachina. This place is tiny and consists solely of a man made lake and some budget restaurants, accommodations and tour agencies. It is surrounded by huge sand dunes and the reason for coming here was to sand board down these dunes. It was an awesome experience. Equally as awesome was the ride across the dunes in the sand buggy. The guide loved speeding up and over blind summits. I´m not convinced that he knew there was no other buggy coming the other way on these summits, but it...

Jan 2, 2010 - "And another big load of potatoes!"

Hello everyone! We hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and New Year´s! Congratulations to Dee & Mike and Carlyn & Dustin who got married on New Year´s Eve. Wish we could have been there! Although we hear it is quite cold there this time of year. We´ve done quite alot since our last blog. This entry is aptly named because neither one of us wants to ever eat or see another potatoe. Fried, boiled, mashed, on rice, even on spaghetti! Soups are made with potatoe base. There are chips and crisps. They come in all varieties: yellow, white,...

Oct 20, 2008 - Huacachina, Peru

Ravi -- Huacachina is an oasis, literally. In the middle of hill upon hill of sand dunes sits a small lake (presumably fed by underwater sources) and a few blocks of buildings surrounding it for those visiting (the permanent population is around 200 people). It´s only 5km from Ica, a town of 200K or so, so not really in the middle of nowhere, but from the sand dunes above, it looks like an isolated desert oasis straight from the Saharan movies. As one can imagine, it is a very chill place, full of both native and foreign tourists. We got...

Oct 6, 2008 - The start of an action packed 48 hours...

Awoke this morning to Matt telling someone else that he had been biten by a dog whilst our on a run this morning. The dog, apparently quite a large one, was with two others and just decided to go for him for no reason at all. He was quite shaken up by it and ended up needing to go to the hospital to get it checked out and to get some injections and tablets in case of rabies... Fortunately one of the girls who joined the tour yesterday is a doctor so was able to clean it up to start with for him... Gave him quite a scare though. After...

Sep 26, 2008 - Peru, Huacachina

This tiny little oasis in the desert is surrounded by the highest sand dunes in the world. It is basically a one street town looping around a central lagoon which is supposed to have curative properties but looked very uninviting so we were not game to find out. After a busy week in Cuzco and Macchu Pichu and another overnight bus to get here we spent a few days lazying around by the pool in the hostel. One day we set off with Britt and Anthony to go sandboarding in the dunes. A big dune buggy picked us up late in the afternoon and took us...

Sep 25, 2008 - Huacachina

Days 74-75 Huacachina is a desert oasis (really) 10 min drive from Ica. Whilst initially Huacachina was really just to break up the trip from Cusco to Lima, it turned out to b e a great 3 day change of pace. The place is surrounded by huge sand dunes on all sides, so other than sandboarding, buggy rides and sitting by the pool, there wasn´t too much to do - perfect! The buggies were crazy (as were the drivers), old chopped and modified 4WDs from Chevy and Toyota fitted with roll cages were everywhere. The sandboarding was high and fast....

Jun 10, 2008 - Cruising down sand dunes

Today we headed into the desert and visited Huacachina Oasis. In the middle of a massive sandy desert, surrounded by huge sand dunes was a gorgeous oasis with palm trees and a lagoon which is said to contain therapeutic properties. We broke up in to 2 groups and took a ride on dune buggies through he desert and down the sand dunes. Our driver was a lot of fun and loved to hear us scream. On the back of the dune buggies were a bunch of sandboards - just like snowboards - and we were all given one each to sandboard our way down the sand...

May 7, 2008 - Having fun in the sand at Huacachina, Ica, Peru

The night bus from Arequipa to Huacachina, Ica, Peru is a 10 hour ride. Early in the morning when the sun just rose from the horizon, we passed through the famous area of the Nazca Lines. Spread across 500 sq. Km of desert, rock-strewn plan, teh Nazca Lines form a striking network of 800 lines, 300 geometric figures, and some 70 animal and plant drawings. The drawing were so big one has to fly an airpline to see the figures from the air. Due to the high cost of flying (USD45/person for 30 minutes flight), we decided not to visit this area....