Our long bus ride between Huancayo back to Lima out of the way, we stayed one more night in Lima before leaving on an early bus down the coast the next morning.
The only gringos on the bus, we were wary every time it stopped at a new village or at the side of the dusty, desert road. We kept our beady eyes on the locker below to make sure no one ran off with our bags - they'd have a job to be honest, they're so heavy despite us having left half our stuff in Lima! We travelled through desert dunes, the likes of which we'd only seen in Dubai before this. There really is no denying Lima's desert status.
The locals seem to travel with an awful lot of bags - the women will always be carting a couple of huge, tartan plastic bags full of potatoes and all sorts as well as having a baby on their back.
We'd decided to stop at a town called Ica on our way to Cusco. Just over the dunes from here lies a desert oasis village called Huacachina that our friends Marc and Manna had recommended we not miss - they'd spent a lovely few days relaxing and catching up with sleep here.
To be honest, having only just arrived in Peru excited to learn all about its history, Chris and I were not yet at the stage where we needed a break from travel but were more keen to get on and explore the culture Peru has to offer. We were thus a little disappointed with Huacachina as it was literally a village full of gringo hotels, hostels and a few restaurants. It apparently used to be popular with the Peruvian elite until gringo backpackers took over to party all night.
Crazy as it was - a lagoon in the middle of the desert - there was nothing of cultural interest here for us geekoids. It did satisfy my geographical curiosity however as I've never seen anything like it and always thought this kind of place only existed in cartoons.
Of course we spent an hour and a half wandering round in search of perfect accomodation before realising the only thing in our budget was the first place we'd checked: a dorm room in the youth hostel.
There were two activities on offer here: sand-boarding and dune bashing, both of which are obligatory on the gap year students' itinerary but neither of which we fancied as we're lucky enough to have done both of these in Dubai a couple of years ago.
Instead, we woke up early the next morning to catch the sunrise. By 6am we had already made it to the top of one of the steepest, highest dunes, sitting down breathless to wait for a sunrise that of course never happened on this cloudy day.
The popular religious symbol here in Peru since the Spanish invasion and conversion,
on a very cloudy sand dune...
Running back down the dunes at full pelt is an absolute must though and anyone who comes here, well, this must be your number one activity! Forget dune-bashing, just get yourself up to the dunes on foot and run down again - it seriously feels like you are flying. Was the best feeling in the world and certainly the higlight of my 24 hour stay in Huacachina. Apart from... New Zealand's goal in the 88th minute of their first World Cup Match which earned them a draw! We watched the game at the hostel and laughed along with the Kiwis as the English commentator constantly questionned whether they would ever get a goal. There were real celebrations in that 88th minute, let me tell you!
Nothing else left for us to do in Huacachina, we took the five minute taxi ride back to the larger city of Ica. Here, there was plenty to fill our time while we waited for our night bus to Cusco.
The first thing we did was to go for the obligatory chicken and chips lunch (there honestly doesn't seem to be any other choice unless you want soup, but we always cave in with the 1/4 chicken!).
Back in the land of the tuk-tuk
Full to the brim, we took a walk to the main plaza past many electric goods shops also selling motorbikes. It had been the same in Huancayo and I forgot to write about them in the blog: there are a huge number of 'Dixons'-style shops selling household electrical items such as fridges, washing machines, televisions and then also, brand new motorbikes blocking the doorways! Chris even saw one with a tuktuk as the showroom centerpiece. Random.
Chris even has his own juice here in Peru!
´Llamadas´... Or ´Call girls´in some sense, I suppose. These girls stand on the streets with pocketfuls of mobile phones chained to them as an alternative to a phone box. Something we´ve seen only in Peru so far. Wow!
We sat in Ica's main square for a while and watched while a world record attempt at making the largest Chocoteja caramel was getting started. Chocoteja is apparently a special chocolate toffee famous in Ica. The Spanish really did a good job bringing the idea of Plazas over to South America. It's always a pleasure to sit in these sunny, well-maintained squares and watch the world go by. They're always a bustle of activity.
The world record attempt
Once our food had settled, we took a taxi out to a vineyard Chris had read about and had a private tour along with winetastings. The wine here is so sweet, especially the reds. It's such a change after Argentina and it's a struggle to find one we like.
The man explained to us how the famous Pisco brandy is made (the town Pisco is just half an hour away) and showed us the huge vats where both this and the wine are fermented. Some of their barrels were a couple of hundred years old and still used. Chris obviously loved this outing and wrote his own mini-blog about it that night on the bus.
Chris: Wine in Peru? Apparently the bright and 'eternal sunny' climate in Ica has long been an ideal place to plant grapes. The Vista Alegre Vineyard is in fact one of the oldest 'bodegas' in South America. We were met by Jesus Enchentee, enchentee, as he liked to introduce himself. He took us on a very informal and informative walk around the winery and the beautiful distillery with antique brass fermentation tanks. We were literally ducking under tanks and hopping over gaps that let's just say you wouldn't want to fall in.
This was a big operation, not a family-run Peruvian winery where you can still go fill up your jug. Finally we tasted some wines made from Quebranta de Peru, which is the national grape. It was an unexpected and pleasant way to spend a sunny afternoon before boarding yet another South American nightbus.
As Chris said, Health and Safety regulations certainly weren't top priority which was quite refreshing even if we did almost fall down a few holes and even into one of the vats at one stage! 'Almost' being the key word there and justifying really why H+S is quite unnecessary!
At the vineyard, Enchantee also showed us some ceramic vats, unused now. The base was pointy so they couldn't actually stand up and we were told that these would be buried under the ground to keep the alcohol at a stable temperature while it fermented. Interesting.
By the time we got back to the main square, the world record attempt had been beaten and before us was a huge crowd fighting for a piece of Ica's Chocoteja. Chris and I got in on the action and, being gringos, we're taller than the locals. As soon as she spotted us over the crowd, the lady handing out the caramel ran over to hand us a piece. I felt guilty as we'd only just arrived and the locals had been pushing, shoving and fighting for a piece for goodness knows how long. Yet, rather than being angry that we'd unintentionally jumped the queue, the locals just smiled at us and nodded as soon as they saw we were foreigners - it was as though they were pleased and proud for us to try this taste of their country. Apparently the company who organised the record breaking attempt have done the same for the last four years.
We headed back to a bench in the square to enjoy our chocolate and a lovely old man sat down to talk to us after saying hello to every other old man also sitting in the square.
The Chocoteja
He spoke broken English and along with our even more broken Spanish we managed a lovely conversation about 'the mysteries of Peru'. He told us that there's so much that remains unknown about this country and its people before the Spanish conquered and destroyed much of it. The Incas and pre-Incas built things that still aren't understood - how they did a lot of what they did remains unknown. He described this as 'the mysteries of Peru' or 'mucho mysterioso' - the Nazca lines being one such mystery that Chris and I hope to visit on our way back up through Peru after Bolivia.
Having spent much of our time in Ica solely in the main square, we didn't witness any of the damage caused by the massive earthquake in 2007 which wrecked the region. Having said that, an entire side of the Plaza de Armas was destroyed but they've done a great job of rebuilding because we wouldn't have known.
We walked back to the bus terminal listening to the sound of a brass band that had just turned up in the square. There really is a lot going on in Peru, I absolutely love this country so far.
We took the made-for-gringos 'Cruz del Sur' night bus to Cusco which was incredibly comfy. We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks on the overhead tv screen while the hostess handed out bingo cards, the prize for winning being a free return trip. I was pleased when the only local woman on the bus won but did wonder if it was a set-up with these re-usable bingo cards.
We got an OK night's sleep all things considered and arrived early in Cusco ready for more culture and history...
The only gringos on the bus, we were wary every time it stopped at a new village or at the side of the dusty, desert road. We kept our beady eyes on the locker below to make sure no one ran off with our bags - they'd have a job to be honest, they're so heavy despite us having left half our stuff in Lima! We travelled through desert dunes, the likes of which we'd only seen in Dubai before this. There really is no denying Lima's desert status.
The locals seem to travel with an awful lot of bags - the women will always be carting a couple of huge, tartan plastic bags full of potatoes and all sorts as well as having a baby on their back.
We'd decided to stop at a town called Ica on our way to Cusco. Just over the dunes from here lies a desert oasis village called Huacachina that our friends Marc and Manna had recommended we not miss - they'd spent a lovely few days relaxing and catching up with sleep here.
To be honest, having only just arrived in Peru excited to learn all about its history, Chris and I were not yet at the stage where we needed a break from travel but were more keen to get on and explore the culture Peru has to offer. We were thus a little disappointed with Huacachina as it was literally a village full of gringo hotels, hostels and a few restaurants. It apparently used to be popular with the Peruvian elite until gringo backpackers took over to party all night.
Crazy as it was - a lagoon in the middle of the desert - there was nothing of cultural interest here for us geekoids. It did satisfy my geographical curiosity however as I've never seen anything like it and always thought this kind of place only existed in cartoons.
Of course we spent an hour and a half wandering round in search of perfect accomodation before realising the only thing in our budget was the first place we'd checked: a dorm room in the youth hostel.
There were two activities on offer here: sand-boarding and dune bashing, both of which are obligatory on the gap year students' itinerary but neither of which we fancied as we're lucky enough to have done both of these in Dubai a couple of years ago.
Instead, we woke up early the next morning to catch the sunrise. By 6am we had already made it to the top of one of the steepest, highest dunes, sitting down breathless to wait for a sunrise that of course never happened on this cloudy day.
The popular religious symbol here in Peru since the Spanish invasion and conversion,on a very cloudy sand dune...
Running back down the dunes at full pelt is an absolute must though and anyone who comes here, well, this must be your number one activity! Forget dune-bashing, just get yourself up to the dunes on foot and run down again - it seriously feels like you are flying. Was the best feeling in the world and certainly the higlight of my 24 hour stay in Huacachina. Apart from... New Zealand's goal in the 88th minute of their first World Cup Match which earned them a draw! We watched the game at the hostel and laughed along with the Kiwis as the English commentator constantly questionned whether they would ever get a goal. There were real celebrations in that 88th minute, let me tell you!
Nothing else left for us to do in Huacachina, we took the five minute taxi ride back to the larger city of Ica. Here, there was plenty to fill our time while we waited for our night bus to Cusco.
The first thing we did was to go for the obligatory chicken and chips lunch (there honestly doesn't seem to be any other choice unless you want soup, but we always cave in with the 1/4 chicken!).
Back in the land of the tuk-tukFull to the brim, we took a walk to the main plaza past many electric goods shops also selling motorbikes. It had been the same in Huancayo and I forgot to write about them in the blog: there are a huge number of 'Dixons'-style shops selling household electrical items such as fridges, washing machines, televisions and then also, brand new motorbikes blocking the doorways! Chris even saw one with a tuktuk as the showroom centerpiece. Random.
Chris even has his own juice here in Peru!
´Llamadas´... Or ´Call girls´in some sense, I suppose. These girls stand on the streets with pocketfuls of mobile phones chained to them as an alternative to a phone box. Something we´ve seen only in Peru so far. Wow!We sat in Ica's main square for a while and watched while a world record attempt at making the largest Chocoteja caramel was getting started. Chocoteja is apparently a special chocolate toffee famous in Ica. The Spanish really did a good job bringing the idea of Plazas over to South America. It's always a pleasure to sit in these sunny, well-maintained squares and watch the world go by. They're always a bustle of activity.
The world record attemptOnce our food had settled, we took a taxi out to a vineyard Chris had read about and had a private tour along with winetastings. The wine here is so sweet, especially the reds. It's such a change after Argentina and it's a struggle to find one we like.
The man explained to us how the famous Pisco brandy is made (the town Pisco is just half an hour away) and showed us the huge vats where both this and the wine are fermented. Some of their barrels were a couple of hundred years old and still used. Chris obviously loved this outing and wrote his own mini-blog about it that night on the bus.
Chris: Wine in Peru? Apparently the bright and 'eternal sunny' climate in Ica has long been an ideal place to plant grapes. The Vista Alegre Vineyard is in fact one of the oldest 'bodegas' in South America. We were met by Jesus Enchentee, enchentee, as he liked to introduce himself. He took us on a very informal and informative walk around the winery and the beautiful distillery with antique brass fermentation tanks. We were literally ducking under tanks and hopping over gaps that let's just say you wouldn't want to fall in.
This was a big operation, not a family-run Peruvian winery where you can still go fill up your jug. Finally we tasted some wines made from Quebranta de Peru, which is the national grape. It was an unexpected and pleasant way to spend a sunny afternoon before boarding yet another South American nightbus.
As Chris said, Health and Safety regulations certainly weren't top priority which was quite refreshing even if we did almost fall down a few holes and even into one of the vats at one stage! 'Almost' being the key word there and justifying really why H+S is quite unnecessary!
At the vineyard, Enchantee also showed us some ceramic vats, unused now. The base was pointy so they couldn't actually stand up and we were told that these would be buried under the ground to keep the alcohol at a stable temperature while it fermented. Interesting.
By the time we got back to the main square, the world record attempt had been beaten and before us was a huge crowd fighting for a piece of Ica's Chocoteja. Chris and I got in on the action and, being gringos, we're taller than the locals. As soon as she spotted us over the crowd, the lady handing out the caramel ran over to hand us a piece. I felt guilty as we'd only just arrived and the locals had been pushing, shoving and fighting for a piece for goodness knows how long. Yet, rather than being angry that we'd unintentionally jumped the queue, the locals just smiled at us and nodded as soon as they saw we were foreigners - it was as though they were pleased and proud for us to try this taste of their country. Apparently the company who organised the record breaking attempt have done the same for the last four years.
We headed back to a bench in the square to enjoy our chocolate and a lovely old man sat down to talk to us after saying hello to every other old man also sitting in the square.
The ChocotejaHaving spent much of our time in Ica solely in the main square, we didn't witness any of the damage caused by the massive earthquake in 2007 which wrecked the region. Having said that, an entire side of the Plaza de Armas was destroyed but they've done a great job of rebuilding because we wouldn't have known.
We walked back to the bus terminal listening to the sound of a brass band that had just turned up in the square. There really is a lot going on in Peru, I absolutely love this country so far.
We took the made-for-gringos 'Cruz del Sur' night bus to Cusco which was incredibly comfy. We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks on the overhead tv screen while the hostess handed out bingo cards, the prize for winning being a free return trip. I was pleased when the only local woman on the bus won but did wonder if it was a set-up with these re-usable bingo cards.
We got an OK night's sleep all things considered and arrived early in Cusco ready for more culture and history...
Ica es ridiculisimo
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