HuacachinaHuacachina is a natural desert oasis, just outside the city of
Ica. There’s a small lagoon, surrounded by high sand dunes. There are
maybe a hundred residents and thousands of visiting tourists each
year. It was once a getaway for Peru’s elite, a secluded garden to
enjoy nature and relax. It’s a cup like valley in the midst of massive
sand dunes. Most people either ride dune buggies, sandboard, or ski
down the dunes. None of those really appealed to us, so we just
chilled in quiet nature. I climbed up to the top of the biggest nearby
dune to get a view of the surrounding desert, and look down on the
lagoon. The hike itself isn’t too bad, maybe a couple hundred metres
of elevation gain, but walking on the ridge line was more nerve
racking than I expected. Those dunes are tall and steep. It looks
like you could easily fall, and if you did you’d tumble all the way to
the bottom.
DunesOn the way back I stopped to take some pictures of the sun setting
over the oasis, then walked back to the hostel. I think at least one
of these dunes is currently in use as a standard Mac OS “Mojave”
background picture. On my way I passed the local feral cats picking
over the dumpster.
Huacachina is a nice place to stop if you want to try sliding down the
giant dunes, or if you want to see what may be the only natural desert
oasis in the Americas, but otherwise there’s not a lot there.
