Huacachina

We took a 3hr bus in the morning at 10am from Lima to Ica. We booked it with Cruz del Sur. The seats were comfy and we got some food on the journey. We arrived and took a taxi from the bus terminal in Ica to a small village 15 minutes drive outside of the city. The village surrounded a lagoon (now man-made, as it dried up) and surrounded by sand dunes. We'd been warned it would be hot in Huacachina in comparison to Lima and it definitely was! Once we arrived at Banana hostel, we changed into our shorts. Our room was tiny and we were sharing with two girls who had been on our bus and were travelling in a group of five. They were called Alice and Laura and were very friendly. We soon found out they were staying in the same hostel in Arequipa too. By that point it was about 3pm and we booked a couple of activities for the next day. Out hostel was located facing the lagoon. We strolled out and around, taking us about 5 mins. We discovered that Huacachina is tiny! There were quite a few people walking up the sand dune immediately by Huacachina, so we decided to go for. It was hard! It seemed like we were taking two steps forward and one step back! We finally got to the very top and realised how steep it was. The sun was setting and we had a great view over Huacachina and Ica in the distance, and then loads of sand dunes behind us. We had a shower and headed a few doors down to 'Huacafuckinchina' (rude I know!), a bar/restaurant. We were served by a girl called Charlotte, who was on her gap year and had just left sixth form and it was her first day working there. It seemed she was there cause her teacher was Peruvian and from Ica. She was trying to improve her Spanish. I'm not sure she'll be talking much Spanish in a tourist spot but each to their own!

The next day we got up at 6am and took a bus to Paracas where we went on a tour to the Islas Ballestas. We thought it would be warm, but it really wasn't and we were really cold on the boat. We saw penguins, sea lions, loads and loads of birds and pelicans. We also saw this indent into the land which was covered in sand. It looked like a big cactus and was similar to the Nazca lines. Also, we decided not to do the Nazca lines because it seems a bit overrated and expensive. There are other things we'd much rather spend our money on! On the journey back form the islands the sun decided to come out and it was really nice. I didn't feel very well, so wasn't up to eating lunch. We chilled in the afternoon, and I read my book a lot of the day.

At 4pm we went sandboarding. We got in this big open car type thing which seated about twelve people. We had a mix of Spanish, Dutch and English speaking people in our group. When our leader picked us up he was this old, short man who looked really grumpy and mean... Oh boy were we wrong. He turned out to be the best 82 year old guide ever! He was so funny and although he was Spanish, we had a translation from the people in the car with us! We whizzed up the sand dunes and it felt like a roller coaster. The suspension was ridiculous. We would drive up the the top of a sand dune and down the other side. It was so steep, it was great fun. Julio (our leader) was such a cheeky chappy. There was no wasting time either. He got everyone to lie on your stomach on a board and slide down the sand. It was sooooo steep! You also had no control over the board, so I almost crashed into a few people, but they ran out of the way! Then we went to three steep sand dunes and went down them all one after another. Julio was waiting at the bottom. It was a great three hours! We had the best time. The sunset was amazing too and the views were awesome. We went to Huakafuckinchina that evening again. We like it there!

We had one more day left so we just chilled, had a massive bowl of fruit for breakfast and I read my book for most of the day around the lagoon. We wanted to have the BBQ at the hostel at 7.30pm, but it wasn't ready so we rushed back to Huacafuckinchina for the third and final time. That evening we were their best friends. We got greeted with kisses and hugs! Anyway, we didn't feel it was rude asking about having our dinner come ASAP as we were catching a bus to Arequipa at 9pm. After all the rush, our bus was delayed by 1hr 15mins which was annoying. Once our bus arrived we got on a went to sleep. We went with Cruz del Sur again. I felt like I was in first class; the seats were massive and so comfy. You had a foot rest that pulled out so we had a little bit of a bed going on, which was nice! I think I slept pretty well.