Desert Oasis

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The morning of October 28th we woke up in our hostel Pariwana. The night before we experienced an earthquake the size of a 4.9! So this morning we basically felt like we were survivors of a natural disaster and we also took full responsibility of how dramatic we sounded! We had an Uber coming to pick us up at 830AM to take us to the bus station to catch the bus to a town of Ica. We had a little bit of difficulty finding our Uber even when it said, "it had arrived." Luckily our Uber driver spotted three confused looking girls and assumed we were his next customers! We hopped into his taxi and he drove us to the bus station. The taxi was super small and the traffic super heavy. Now let me tell you about the traffic in Peru...it is CRAZY! There are traffic divider lines but literally everyone drives into each other and it some how doesn't create an accident! We all decided we would never want to try driving here. We arrived safely at this bus terminal and waited for our bus to arrive. I am surprised at how easy it is to maneuver around South America so far. I think when we were planning this trip at home, South America seemed so big and vast but being here it's much easier to navigate. (If we can do it, anyone can!) While on the five hour bus ride from Lima to Ica, I took in the sights. We went from city to sand real quick! On the bus ride, I finally started to get excited about the adventure we were on while looking out the window. To imagine the sights we had the potential to see on this trip made me feel elated!

We arrived in Ica and were quickly approached by a taxi driver who agreed to drive us into Huacachina for 10 soles ($3 USD). He was very friendly and nice. He dropped us off and we arrived at our next hostel, Bananas Adventure. The hostel itself is in such a cool setting! We are basically in a desert oasis surrounded by sand dunes and it is breathtaking! The hostel is cool too! It's small but mighty! The price was $23 a night. A little on the high end for us but it included a BBQ dinner and a sand buggy and sand boarding tour! So for us, it was worth it. (Side note: I also met a dog and named her Penny at dinner! And may or may not have given her chicken!) The hostel has a nice pool, bar and lots of seating areas. The room itself is like a "tiny house." It isliterally like a wooden box with two bunk beds, a locker, and a dresser but it works for us! 

That day we walked around Huacachina. It has restaurants and shops surrounding a lagoon that is in the middle of it all. We walked the sand dunes a bit and had an aerial view of the town. We then made our way back to the hostel and hung out until the BBQ. The food was amazing and it was all you can eat! We had chicken, bbq chicken wings, sausage, vegetables, avocado, potatoes, noodles, and fried rice! We then went to bed. The hostel itself is a bit of a party hostel and we discovered that as we laid in bed like old ladies at 930PM (LOL!). The music was blaring and people were feeling it! Jackie and I then discovered the quality of the DJ into the later hours...he played about ten seconds of a song and then went to the next. We could not stop laughing! We then fell asleep around 12AM.

This morning we woke up around 830AM and laid in bed until about 1030AM. We met our new room mate, Florian. He is from Switzerland and is attempting to travel the world for a year! He's super nice and loves to tell us about his travels and we love to listen! We then walked around the town again and I bought some post cards to snail mail back home! We had lunch at a nice little restaurant called, "Huacachina Sunset Hostel." Again, it was filled with mostly locals and then there was us. We felt pretty proud to stumble upon this gem! We all got water and a nice meal of lomo saltado, chicken and rice, and their speciality "papa a la huancaina." Each meal was $4! What a deal! And at the end of our lunch a band came in and serenaded us with their music! We then walked down by the water and met a nice local who let me pet his dog. After walking for a bit we made our way to buy our bus tickets to Nasca tomorrow morning then headed back to our hostel to await for our sand dune adventure tour!

The tour was amazing! I had low expectations and it blew me away! It was SO. MUCH. FUN! We were driven at a fast speed around the sand dunes and the views were spectacular! Sand was EVERYWHERE and it was beautiful! The driver whipped us around and took us down steep dunes. It felt like a rollercoaster. We had the opportunity to sand board, but it seemed dangerous and a little shady for me. We had fun watching everyone try it! After the tour we got back to our hostel and Jackie had the idea of walking up the sand dunes to watch the sun set. Walking up the sand dunes is hard work! We almost gave up, but in my mind "if we can't do this, how are we going to hike in Patagonia?!" So we pushed through and it was absolutely worth it! The sunset was amazing and it was a great moment to share together. We made it back to the hostel and showered and re packed our bags!

So far, I have been very happy that I took Spanish in high school (thanks dad!) because it is coming in handy on this leg of the trip! I have found if you at least attempt to speak the local language people will appreciate you more. Knowing a little bit of the basics helps because it helps us navigate around town and everything! Hopefully, by the end of our trip I'll have learned more to build on what I already know! But by the time I get Spanish down, it'll be time to move onto the next continent! Hope all is well at home with everyone! We miss you all and we are very excited to share this adventure with you! Next stop: NASCA, PERU!  XOXO