Peru Hop Day 2: Paracas to Huacachina
We arose early, checked out of the Hotel Paracas, and walked to a small hotel in the center of town to put our bags in storage. We were a few minutes early, so we wandered along the small beach promenade lined with little restaurants. It was just 7:00am, and the town was still asleep.
Deborah and Paul made sure all of us were accounted for, and then we walked to the docks and boarded the boat for our tour of the Ballestas Islands, a sanctuary for marine wildlife. We saw penguins, seals, and much more! It was an experience worth waking up early for.
We returned to the bus and rode a short way to the Paracas National Reserve, where we stopped to admire Red Beach and Lagunillas Bay. There was no beach access or swimming allowed at that spot, but we could see recreational beaches on the far side of the bay. The bus then took us to the top off the cliffs, where we could look down at Red Beach, out at the blue Pacific Ocean, and across the desolate desert landscape of the reserve. Paracas Bay was just visible on the other side of the isthmus. I had never seen the desert meet the ocean like this before. It was magnificent!
After about an hour’s ride, we stopped at Culturpisco for a traditional lunch. We enjoyed meeting more of our fellow travelers - two Englishmen who had just graduated from “uni,” and a Frenchman who had never lived in France - he grew up in Luxembourg and lived in Amsterdam. After lunch we learned how Pisco is made, and then did a pisco and wine tasting. The pisco was strong stuff! I liked the cherimoya creme.
Back on the bus, I had just dozed off when Steve nudged me awake. I opened my eyes and gasped - there were huge sand dunes all around us! We had reached our last stop for the day, Huachina, a tiny town in a natural oasis. As we walked to the Senoma hotel, the sand dunes towered like mountains behind the buildings - some dunes as much as 500 feet high, the largest in South America!
We could see small specks on the dunes - sandboarders. On the street, people in shorts and flip-flops adjusted their boots and waxed their boards; sandboarders, it seemed, were a cross between snowboarders and surfers. It wasn’t long before we were up on those dunes for our own dune buggy and sandboarding adventure. It was exhilarating!
After an exciting sand dune adventure, we returned to our hotel, eager to wash off all the sand. It had been a VERY long day, packed with activities. So we skipped the Peru Hop group dinner at the Wild Rover Party Hostel, opting for a quiet dinner at our hotel.
