Our van picked us
up at 6:50am to go to Isla Ballestas. We rode with about 5 Peruvians,
one who lives in New Jersey, and two girls from Austria. They were on
a 7 month trip of Asia and South America. We drove through desert for
really the first time on this trip and past vineyards and orange
groves. We arrived at the waterfront and saw many boats and pelicans.
We paid our boat tax and got on a medium sized speed boat that held
about 30-40 people, 1 level. There was a group of English girls we
sat by and one named Emma told me she had two cameras stolen in
Argentina. Her first one, then she bought another, and that one a
week later. She was on a several month trip as well. This seems like
a very very young travel destination. We headed out in the Pacific
Ocean and after about 20 minutes got to Isla Ballestas. Beautiful.
Large rock cliff islands covered in guano, which the government comes
and collects every 7 years evidently to use for fertilizer. There are
arches in many of the rocks and there are 1000s of birds everywhere.
Boobies, gulls and many other types. The highlights were the peguins
and sea lions. We rode around the islands for about 30 minutes and
then headed back. Back at port, they gave us about 30 more minutes to
shop at the stands and I bought a couple of coin purses and some
jewelry for souvenirs. I wanted a mask, but not sure if I have the
room to carry it yet. May have to wait until Cusco.
Got back in the
van and got dropped off @ the hostal in Ica again. About 1230pm, we
checked out and got a mototaxi ride for s/4 to Huacachina
(wok-a-chee-na). We heard you go sand dune surfing there, and decided
to check it out. We arrived and after about 5 minutes realized we
should have stayed here the night before. We checked the prices at a
few hostals and picked Casa de Arena. It looked really nice and was
only s/25 each, and booked a sand boarding excursion with them for
s/40, but received a slight discount on the room for doing so. So for
s/60 ($20 USD), we got a sweet pool, with a bar, a bunch of young
people, double room, and the boarding tour. We dropped our stuff, and
found a pub up the block. Huacachina is nice and much quieter and
cleaner than Ica, no dogs, roosters or constant whistle blowing from
3am to 6am, and they obviously have a much better nightlife. It is an
oasis town, literally. A lake in the desert, where they've built a
tourist spot. Mark had a burger at the pub, I had skirt steak with
rice, fires and grilled bananas. I saved a banana and got a scoop of
ice cream for dessert, and made kind of a poor man's bananas foster.
Two of the
workers at the pub, Mike, a graphic designer from England, and Diego,
from Argentina, in advertising both only planned on being here a day
or two, but got jobs at the bar and are staying for a few months.
It;s pretty badass. We went back to the hostal to get some pool time
before we went boarding. Met a great Australian girl named Lauren,
who is traveling alone, now jobless, and going through a lot of
Mexico and South America. A lot of people seem to quit their jobs,
get rid of their possessions and travel, and a lot of them are in
Peru. We got ready to board and loaded into a dune buggy that held
about 10 people. We drove past the lake, and bombed up into the
dunes, huge, hundreds of feet tall dunes at speeds of up to 40 mph.
We got to the top of a dune, we stop and the driver gives us wooden
“sandboards” and some wax. The boards have velcro straps that go
over your shoes, and are just like crappy snowboards you find at
Kmart. I went first, and it is a blast! So fun. At the bottom, you
climb a little, up a small hill, and you're at the top of another
dune drop. Repeat again, and then the buggy picks you up and takes
you to another place to do it again. The dunes get progressively
larger too. We were with 5 Israelis who were all pretty cool and we
enjoyed our boarding experience a lot. Mark and I both agreed,
totally worth it. Neither of us had ever been to a dune type
terrain/environment, and it was just an amazing experience. The
shapes, colors, and shadows alone all make amazing pictures, as well
as the wonder of geology, of the “constantly shifting mountains”
that change locations completely over time just by the wind. I was
kick-ass at sandboarding, riding most of the way down if not all the
way down on most every dune, and loved it. Our buggy ran out of gas
and our driver siphoned some from another buggy and we were on our
way. Another buggy broke down and we tried to help, but in the end,
had to send for a new buggy to come pick them up. After watching the
sun set over the dunes and taking some group photos, we headed back
to town. The dunes provided a great overlook of the lake and other
buggies were stopped for photo opps, but our buggy started sliding
down past the other buggies, so we kept going, not sure if we didn't
want to block the others' photos, were in a hurry, aor had to get
help for the stalled buggy, but I would have loved to get a shot of
that lake at sunset. Oh well, it's in here (points to head). Anyway,
we get back to our hostal, I spend a little time writing, getting
ready for the BBQ tonight. All-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink
pisco and rum for s/25. I went to the BBQ and got a plate, we had
beef and chicken with salad and noodles. The beef was awful. Toughest
piece of meat in memory. I had to put it in my mouth and yank my head
around like a dog to get a piece off and eat it. He chicken was good
and the noodles were really good. We had access to unlimited pisco
sours and took full advantage. We talked with Lorina and Lauren most
of the time at the bar where we were eating. Lorina is from Portugal
and has a masters in physical science, and Lauren is from Melbourne
and is a scientist/mathematician. We also met some Kiwis, Cameron and
Katrina and got along really with them also. Everyone started to feel
the pisco and we decided to do after hours at the sister hotel down
the road. Our group was pretty much the only ones in the bar dance
area and we talked and drank and danced all night long. At one point,
there was a quadruple kiss session, Lauren hanging from the rafters
and Lorina samba'd the night away. Found my way back eventually and
passed out.
No comments:
Post a Comment