The last couple of weeks have involved some exciting adventures around Inca sites, city walks and trying the local cocktail speciality, pisco sour. However nothing so far as compared to my two nigh visit to Huacachina: a mini desert oasis about a 4 hour bus ride south of Lima.
The only desert in South America, Huacachina is a one stop shop for backpackers looking for an adrenaline rush with a difference. Most people tend to stay one night as the sandboarding is the main offering in this 200 population town. However, I loved it so much that I stayed the extra night to repeat the tour which is reasonably priced at 50 soles (I did meet some people who managed to find a tour operator that offers it at 30 soles so shop around if on a tight budget).
My tour left at 4pm which is great because you miss the midday desert heat and you get to see the sunset. You get organised into groups of around 9 and assigned to a sand buggy. I’d recommend not carrying too much – ideally just your phone me water or some items in a small bag/bumbag or you’ll have to leave it on the buggy when you sandboard.
The buggies are an experience in themselves, I’d say as fun, if not better than the boarding. The drivers are crazy and go up and down huge dunes, turning at the last minute to give you a great ride…it’s even more fun if they don’t adjust your seatbelts so you jump out your seat! There are loads of photo opportunities along the way to your first ride, giving you great views across Huacachina town.
Once you get to your first dune (in theory the smallest), you will be shocked to see quite a steep drop, but the descent is gentler than you’d imagine. They wax up the boards and handily give you a Spanish only explanation and a hefty push and you’re away! Thankfully someone in my group translated how to use the brakes (your feet!).
During the afternoon you do three or four dunes. Small, medium, large and the second day, extra large! Although the last one looked terrifying, I found the height didn’t really affect my speed. But my confidence did haha! I raised my feet on the last one to go faster and found it so fun and more long lasting. Luckily I avoided the dune bumps at the bottom which saw a few tour goers rolling down the last bit. A few brave souls attempted to snow board down properly, but I only witnessed one success story and have since seen a couple of people sporting crutches in the hostel bar. I haven’t asked why but I can only assume the dunes got the better of them.
The final buggy stop is at sunset (around 6pm). This was perfect on the first day, but on round two, our guides made us walk the ascent back to the buggy and some tourists missed it!
After a long shower and about 100 wet wipes (sorry world) to get the remaining grains of sand away, I was ready for a pisco sour or two at the hostel bar. I later saw a family I’d met on the dunes, who had brought their 9 year old daughter boarding. She was so sweet, but very scared to go down, not helped by the blasé attitude of the guide who’d done it a hundred times before. I showed her how and proudly watched her race down the largest at the end. Her mum bought me a drink that evening and thanked me for being a ‘mentor for her’. She explained that she wanted to take her kids travelling because you never know what might happen and she wanted them to have great life experience. That’s why I love travelling; for the people you meet along the way.
Marriarty 