ICA BOD
After last week’s mountain marathon, you would expect our next move to be a couple of weeks of rest in some fantasy island, God knows our bodies seem to beg for it, but there is so much still to be seen and do in Peru before we move on to Chile! So we decided to merely overnight in Lima and take the next five hour bus down to the desert town of Ica, to see its famous oasis, Huacachina, with our own eyes. Well, that and I hear some people drew some lines in the sand not far from there that might be worth taking a look at…
It cannot be overstated, the Cruz Del Sur bus lines are the best in the Peruvian biz. We have logged dozens of hours on its leather reclining seats for pennies on the dollar and I am always satisfied upon dismounting, check them out!
We checked into Villa Jazmin, a perfectly cute and serviceable desert hotel in Los Giraflores’ gated community where Gina and I were overjoyed to find an actual King Size bed! You see, there aren’t a lot of those in Latin America, at least not at the level of accommodations we can afford, which is not cheap exactly but monster bedding is, I guess, reserved for the top end only, so we were pretty excited to be able to spread out.
The next day, our limbs in slow motion, we barely made it to breakfast because most places end breakfast at 9:30 based on the assumption that everyone’s Indiana Jones and the Grail is only visible at dawn. We got up at 9:25 and got lucky with a couple of bowls of chocolate cereals and pancakes…
Naturally, it was noon before we decided to head out for our forty-five minute desert walk from Ica to Huacachina, because we’re complete morons. I believe I even saw the clerk at reception shake his head after reluctantly giving us the map to follow. Turns out, Leeloo had a stomach ache mid-walk and we took a covered motorcycle cab out there while Gina and Zoel toughed it out the whole way, under the scorching sun.
When we arrived, it was as if someone had built a set for EXTERIOR – OASIS – DAY, it was absolutely enchanting.
It would have been even more enchanting if this place, invested in the 70s by rich Limaens to escape to, hadn’t been invaded by hippies and run into the ground. Nevertheless, the view from lunch was better than the food, but we made a friend so it’s all good…
Then, it was time to dune buggy into the desert and the kids took their place on the first row with our driver…
Let it be said and never forgotten that they had the time of their lives and their mother almost had a heart attack. As the sun was slowly coming down, we had time to sand surf so the buggies stopped on the very edge of a hill, gave us boards and just said “go” pointing down. Ok then…
Twenty minutes before sunset over this scene straight out of Laurence of Arabia so we settle on a plateau and just wait… Gorgeous.
The desert gets quite cold quite quickly it turns out so, creatures of comfort that we unavoidably are, we jumped in a car and came back to Villa Jazmin, where Leeloo dove in the pool for a “midnight” swim and I went to catch up with Stephen Colbert’s YouTube channel. Don’t miss Huacachina…
Tomorrow, the lines!
