Pushing Pesos: Huacachina

We had heard of an Oasis in the sand dunes from people who had visited Peru and we were keen to see this for ourselves. We were told to catch a bus to a city called ICA and from there we could catch a taxi to Huacachina as its only five minutes away. When we pulled up we were not dissapointed, it was utterly bizarre to see this patch of green in the middle of the dunes.

The Oasis is not very big, you could do a lap around the lagoon in 10 minutes. Around the lagoon was a few hotels and restaurants so it was not possible to get lost in Huacachina. The main attraction for visitors is the vast sand dunes surrounding this little oasis. You can hire out sandboards to take to the dunes or join a dune buggy tour which takes you around the dunes for a hair raising ride.

We opted for the dune buggy tour and our driver was called Martin who was crazy. Once strapped in he drove the dune buggy up and down huge sand dunes, making your belly turn at every perilous drop. Every time someone would scream, Martin would then dismount another terrifyingly large sand dune. It was an exhilarating ride which left everyone wanting more. Inbetween riding the dune buggy we stopped at 3 large dunes to go sandboarding. On the first dune you could sand board down head first on your belly which was a lot of fun. On the second and third you went down standing but normally ended up at the bottom on your arse. Michael did really well and managed to reach the bottom still standing.

There was a girl in our group who was scared to go down the dunes but on our third dune she had mustered the courage to go down head first. Unfortunately, as she was going down however, another person collided with her that whacked her nose. The board had left her nose with a nasty bump but luckily it was not broken. Our trip back to the Oasis was a little subdued after this but this did not deter Martin, he reved and turned that bugggy like a mad man all the way back to the little Oasis. Here are some pics!