After spending just a few days and a large part of our food budget in Lima, it was time to get back to the more adventurous part of backpacking. We took the quick 5 hour bus ride down to the desert town of Ica, known for its surrounding wineries and the neighboring oasis town of Huacachina.
Ica does not seem to have many hostel options but IcaAdventures 2 was quite a find. Located above a grocery store it featured air conditioned rooms, free breakfast, huge bathrooms, a bar, ping pong table, and many great places to just sit and chill.
Most people travel to Ica as a jumping off point to go to Huacachina, which is just 5 minutes outside of the city. Although one can stay at this location, we don’t recommend it. The town is small and the hotels/hostels seemed pretty rundown and shabby. You can go swimming in the lagoon, but the main attraction is the dune buggies and the huge sand dunes. Not only do you get to go zooming up and down these huge dunes in a massive ride, but you also get to ride a snowboard down some of the larger dunes.
We booked our trip to Huacachina through our hostel. For about $20 USD a person we got a ride to and from the oasis, 2 hours at a hotel pool, and our dune buggy ride booked. We probably would have skipped the two hours at the pool and just done the dunes if we were doing it again. Our time on the dunes ended up beginning around 4:30pm, and we would definitely recommend going late in the day like we did. That way you maximize your time on the dunes, and don’t get torched by the sun.
When I picture dune buggies I think of the coast of North Carolina, with rednecks cruising up and down beaches or the street in small, jerry-rigged pieces of shit. These Peruvian bad boys looked like something out of Mad Max, not Carolina Beach. Seating about 11 people including the driver, these were monsters compared to the dune buggies I had seen before.
At around 4:30 PM we headed out into the desert for some fun. And holy shit, was it fun! The driver would gun it up tall dunes, and then let off the gas as we would go flying down the other side, at what would seem an impossible downhill slope. This was Michelle’s and my first time in a desert like this and words do not do it justice. Who knew a big fucking pile of sand could be so beautiful?
After about half an hour of pure joy and a little terror we stopped at our first sandboarding place. Everyone grabbed a board and quickly applied wax to the bottom. While most of us went down on our stomachs, a few tried to ride down the dunes like they were shredding some mountain in Colorado. These people almost always got a mouthful of sand. After a series of dunes we hoped back in the buggie for more cruising. Soon, we came to another set of dunes for boarding, bigger than the last. After this set it was back to the lagoon for the sunset. Overall this was one of the most unique and fun things we had done.
The next day was Valentines Day, so we decided what better way to spend it than to go boozing together. We were a little suspect of Peruvian wine because who the hell has heard of Peruvian wine? There are many tours taking you around to multiple wineries, we however just chose to hire a taxi (for S/.20 an hour) to visit the largest in Peru, Tacama (with the dubious claim of being the oldest winery in the America’s) which is on the outskirts of Ica. This winery was absolutely gorgeous and offered many different tours. Since we decided we wanted to save our money for alcohol, we chose the free one. The guide spoke English and was very informative. We toured the grounds, watched a short movie on the history of the winery, and even had a free sampling in the end. The wine was pretty sweet as suspected, but not bad.
Tacama also specializes in the making of pisco, which is a brandy like liquor made from grapes. We were even given a few samplings of pisco at the end of the tour as well. Pisco is everywhere in Peru, most notably featured in Pisco Sours, which every bar offers at happy hour as a 2 for 1 special. Not really impressed with the wine or in love with pisco, we decided on a sparkling wine after the tour. It was delicious and we quickly downed the bottle. We happily climbed into our taxi, our heads tingling with bubbles, and headed back to our hostel to continue the party.
Ica was one of the most pleasant surprises of our trip this far. Get in, ride a buggie, and then get drunk.
