Huacachina

I don’t know about you but when I want to picture Peru certain things pop in to my head. Machu Picchu is the obvious one, then there are the vast peaks of the Andes mountain range. I might also think of the lush foliage associated with the Amazon or the sprawling buildings of a huge city, such as Lima. One thing that does not spring to mind is a desert.

And yet that’s exactly where we ended up for one day during our southern loop on the gringo trail. And what a fun day it was.

Huacachina is an oasis in the desert. Squeezed in amongst the massive dunes, it is a small town constructed around a central lagoon. Now on the face of it, this shouldn’t be a nice place to visit. It’s certainly not an authentic Peruvian experience as it’s almost totally set up for tourists. The vast majority of the buildings are accommodation, restaurants or shops. And the activities involve either taking a cheap plastic pedalo onto the lagoon or heading off into the dunes on a dune buggy. And yet despite the theme-park type atmosphere, it has a charm all of it’s own and we had an amazing 24 hours there.

We arrived to Huacachina in the late afternoon, so after checking into the hostel, we headed straight out into the dunes to watch the sunset. We headed west out of the town, past the mass of people sprawled on the sand by the edge of the lagoon, and headed up the nearest dune. Our aim was only to get half way up and yet even this was a struggle. After what seemed like an age we finally made it to the lip of the dune and the view on the other side did not disappoint.

On the buses we’d been getting on the southern loop, we met a few people who were planning on skipping Huacachina completely. Their logic was that once you’d seen one oasis you’ve seen them all. Well neither Radka nor I had ever been to a place like this and we found it mesmerising. Watching the sun set behind the massive dunes, creating different patterns with the sand, was not something we’d experienced before and are not likely to forget.

Despite how amazing we found the evening, a better experience was yet to come…

The morning started in a relaxed fashion, having breakfast overlooking the lagoon and watching the wildlife.

But the afternoon was far from relaxing. About 4 o’clock we joined a group heading up into the dunes for a couple of hours of dune buggy and sand boarding. We were a bit apprehensive, as we did not know what to expect, but still volunteered to sit in the front row with the driver. Any notion of nerves were dispelled within seconds of the engine revving up and the buggy hurtling off across the sands. It was just so much fun. The driver flung the buggy over edges and hurtled up dunes. It was the kind of adrenaline filled excitement you would get from a rollercoaster and it was almost a shame when we stopped to have our first go at sand boarding.

Unless you were an experienced snowboarder and had hired some boots, you were advised to lie down on the board and slide down that way, and that was fine by me. Again there was a bit of trepidation beforehand and again it didn’t last for longer than a second or two during the first run. Lying down close to the ground means the slope doesn’t seem so steep and by taking away the possibility of falling, it allows you to just enjoy the experience more. Once all of of group was at the bottom of the slope, we’d rendezvous with the buggy again and head to another slope. This was repeated three times and the slopes got progressively steeper. But the only problem we had came about on the last run. I was holding my GoPro as I went face first down the slope, hit a bump and the camera flew out of its holder. So that required an annoying walk half way back up the slope to get it… Overall, however, it was a really fun experience.

After our third run, the Sun was starting to get low so we headed to a viewpoint to watch the sunset. We had enjoyed watching the sunset the evening before but this location made it so much better. You could see for miles and the Sun was setting on the horizon rather than just behind a dune.

After the Sun had finally sank out of sight, it was time to head back. Despite it getting darker by the moment, I still needed to wear my sunglasses to protect my eyes. And I’m still not sure whether not being able to see properly made the journey back better or worse.

As a side-note, before the activity started there were quite a few people trying to sell bandanas / tunnels / tubes / neck-gaiters, or what ever you want to call them. These are not for the sand boarding as we had thought, but rather for the buggy rides. But for once, I’m glad we were wearing the COVID masks, as they did the same job. If you’re planning on trying this post-COVID, however, I would recommend wearing something over your mouth and chin.

In total, the whole activity was only two hours and yet it was one of the best experiences we had in Peru. We are so happy that we included Huacachina in our southern loop. There’s no point in spending a lot of time here but you need to carve out at least a day in your schedule for this place as it’s just totally different to anywhere else you’ll go in Peru.