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Huacachina. All of it. 

The weekend of the 23-25, we moved our Monday class so we could go to Ica. We combi'd to Lima right after teaching Saturday, and then hopped on a bus and drove 5 hours southwest to Huacachina, "a small little hipster back-pack town right over the dunes from the city of Ica," according to Alena. This is so accurate a description, I'm not going to try to do better. Huacachina literally consists of a few shops, restaurants, and hostels studding a street wrapped around a lagoon. The whole place is a clean, bright, comfy vacation pueblo in the middle of miles and miles of sand dunes which provide Huacachina's main attractions. Backpackers from all over travel there to sandboard, dunebuggy and relax.

We showed up to Banana's Adventure at about 7:30 and put our backpacks down. Banana's Adventure is the coolest, quaintest little hostel we could have found. It consisted of individual rooms (freshly constructed wooden boxes, actually) with bunks, outlining a common garden area dotted with banana trees (hence the name, I'm assuming), hammocks, and chairs for lounging. In the middle, next to the pool, there was a bar that served food, drinks, and desserts. The hostel was very outdoor-oriented. And now that I come to think about it, it wouldn't have really been possible to keep that same atmosphere if it rained. Going on two months, and I still haven't seen rain. The dependable climate makes it possible for a lot of the open structure of buildings and businesses here.

Banana's Adventure

After chatting with the bartender/cook, Alan, we walked down the street to see if we could find someplace to eat. It didn't take any time at all to find a little pub. Our waiter was from London, and it was his last day of work because had to head to Bolivia to renew his passport. To celebrate the occasion, he'd started off the day drinking Pisco, which is Perú's beloved alcoholic drink. Needless to say, he was quite friendly. 

Hammocking outside of our room at Banana's

After dinner, we went back to Banana's and relaxed in the hammocks. When the four guys and Binita from CAP (Change Agent Project, which is the other project organized by my boss at San Carlos) showed up, we went back to the same pub so they could eat and we could get cake. They had taken a later bus after they finished teaching classes that day, so they were starving after their five hour ride. When we went back to the pub, there was a band setting up, so we stayed and listened (it was so loud talking wasn't an option) for a while and then headed out. A couple of us bought bracelets or necklaces off the guy with a stand outside. There is no shortage of sidewalk displays of hand made jewelry, other nicknacks, or food in any city I've visited in Perú.

Lobos Marinos in Paracas

The next day we got up really early to head to Paracas for our boat tour of the shore. Paracas is famous for the rock islands filled with different birds (including adorable little penguins), lobos marino (seals), and guano (poop). The guano is gathered every eight years by some poor people that work at the reserva nacional. It was an awesome, cold, and only rarely smelly boat ride. After that, some of us headed back to the hostel to chill, and the others climbed the dunes. At four, we all climbed in the dune buggies. Each buggy held ten people including a driver. Our driver was around sixty and a part of the family that ran the hostel. I think he'd been taking people out for a long time. At least that's what I was hoping when we were flying through the sand and he was turned around, talking to us without a seatbelt on. The dunebuggying was indescribable. Not only was it fun because of the adrenaline rush of racing up and down very steep hills of sand, but we went out for around two and a half hours and saw the entire sunset while we buggied and sandboarded. Sandboarding was a new experience as well. It's like snowboarding, except on sand. But I've only ever been skiing, so it took some getting used to. You can also go down the hills on your board on your stomach, which can be more fun because it's faster. Everyone fell down a lot when we went down the slopes on our feet, but both Lemmy and I had at least one perfect run!

The next day the CAP trainees left really early in the morning because they had to teach that afternoon. Fortunately, those of us in English Impact had changed that Monday morning class so we didn't have to catch a bus until four. We took that opportunity to go on a pisco/ wine tasting. We went to two different bodegas, and learned about the process of making wines and piscos. Our tour guide was crazy, and we all had a really good time. After the bodegas, we walked around, sat in the dunes, and then had a leisurely lunch where we saw the British guy that was our waiter at the pub. He sat down with us for a while and we talked about his travels. Meeting people like him is definitely a highlight of traveling. These are the people that inspire and encourage you to do something different and amazing with your life. These are the people with the stories that you remember.