So Rob is being a good boy and working on his online job editing papers, so I am hijacking his post.
We left Lima in search of a Pisco sour in Pisco, however, we found out in route that the majority of Pisco comes from Ica, so we went there instead. I am glad we did because the sight of Pisco was quite rough from the bus as we passed it.
We heard of a town just outside Ica called Huacachina. Only one road goes there and towering dunes surround 350° of the town. Traditionally a Malecon is a sea boardwalk, but here the boardwalk partially surrounds a lake and palm beaches finish the way around. The curative properties of this desert oasis are sought after as a perfect escape from the heat of Ica.
The first night we attended a BBQ at a nearby hostel and danced the night away until the early morning. Without much sleep, we climbed the 1500 foot dune out of the back door of our hostel. The climb was a mixture of steps forward and subsequent sliding backwards, but nevertheless, we made it to the peak before sunrise.
Dunes for miles...we couldn't see the end of them. Once again my perfect planning left my cell phone dead in my pocket and my other camera back in the hostel. The day immediately started heating up so we raced straight down the dune at a full sprint. The dune cushions every step making it nearly impossible to fall.
Upon return to the hostel El Bolevard I emptied my pockets of the handfuls of sand, my dead phone, and other effects, yet something was missing. Of course, the key to my locker at the hostel was a splendid donation to the dune. I slumped into bed....that's tomorrow's problem.
We awoke a few hours later and found the dude to open my locker. We walked to Desert Nights hostel for some killer chicken wings--ended up booking a dune buggy tour too.
My heart raced as I boarded the iron skeleton go-cart. I imagined we were in for the best roller coaster of our lives, and as it turns out, I was right. Full throttle the driver would bank, skim, burnt-out, skid, and jump through the dunes.
The driver stopped on a dune with the back wheels teetering on the ridge. He told us to get out, he went to the trunk and pulled out some sandboards. I grabbed the first one he waxed, plopped on my belly and tobogganed to the bottom. The others followed suit. The driver scooped us up, turned and smiled asking one question "more big?" We all screamed yes. He raced to another location and let us out again. One at a time we went with the excitement pulsing through the group. Again the driver smiled and asked "more big?" He took us to the final location a 1000 foot dizzying hill that looked impossible. We went slowly one at a time because after each person went, they laid in the lane pondering how they didn't die for several seconds before clearing out so another person could go. Seriously it was the best 15.00 I've ever spent, for two hours...
The morning of our final day our goal was a vineyard. Ica produces both wine and Pisco. We hired a cab for the day to take us out to the famous vineyards that produce my favorite frozen beverage. They took us on a free tour where we saw the process of the stomp, the initial fermentation, and the final distillation using a fire burning still.
