Ica, Huacachina Peru

After a 6hr journey (Peru bus) we arrived in Ica at noon half dazed.

The main attraction in Ica is Huacachina - an oasis in the middle of the desert 🌵 where you can also book a hostel.

However, Dipesh managed to find a lovely family run hotel 'Hotel Olanta' just on the outskirts of Ica (only 6mins by taxi for 7 soles) which was a lot cheaper and nicer than the pricey hostels at the oasis.

I would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone staying in ica/Huacachina.

The hotel owner, Louis was extremely helpful and welcomed his guests individually. I don't know about you - but these days hotels lack that personal service - Louis definitely went that extra mile to make his guests feel welcome.

The hotel is conveniently located in a safe complex with a mall within 5 mins walk and the main bus stations within 15-20mins walk .

Having washed out our sleepy eyes and tired faces, we got a taxi to Huacachina for three things i) visit the desert and oasis ii) take a ride on the sandbuggies iii) sandboarding (kowabunga!)

We booked our sand buggy/board experience directly at the oasis - There are several tour sellers there desperate for your money so you have some haggling leverage.

We paid 35 soles for 2 hrs per person but I reckon you can haggle the price down to 25 sole p/p depending on the season

The sandbuggy was an amazing adrenaline pumping ride through the soft sandunes.
Which was followed by sandboarding - again this was super cool and very fast down some of the steepest dunes.

It was amazing experience to be in the presence of the mounting sand dunes ...a vastness yet eerie stillness.

Before coming back to the hotel we had a quick bite to eat (papa jones pizza) in the mall which was yet another challenge having to ask for vegetarian pizza amongst the selection of meaty pizzas

The next day we walked to the museum in Ica and attempted to find a vegetarian restaurant recommended to us by Louis (but it was closed)

The Museo Regional Maria Reiche de Ica was really interesting (again walking distance from our hotel) displaying the history of geo ...and a smaller version of the mysterious Nazca Lines (one of the greatest mysteries of South America)

The Nazca lines are a series of animal figures and geometric shapes imprinted on a vast desert. It appears that these gigantic sophisticated motifs are executed in a single continuous line. How or why the Nazca lines were created is still a mystery. This lines can only be seen from flying above the Palpa desert. We skipped this mostly because of £££$$ but also because of some reviews stating that the flights are risky.

The museum also exhibited a mummy as well as several other ancient ritualistic artefacts.

We visited a small zoo (walking distance from hotel) which housed all the usual suspects but also a Llama and a Condor which were HUGE!

Ica is also famous for its production of Pisco (The national Peruvian drink) and wineries.

We visited two wineries again recommended to us by Louis.

Tacama (machinery processed sophisticated winery) It was interesting to see the mass production of wine using maahoosive steel machinery.

There was a quick tour for 10 soles where we saw both old and new tools used at the winery.

Unfortunately, the earthquake of 2007 damaged parts of the factory.

The tour ended with a tasting session of the wines and my first Pisco.

El Catador Bodega Turistica (handprocessed traditional methods)

We were close to not visiting this winery because we were running out of time but also I'm not a big fan of wine - but wanted to see how wine is made

El Catador Bodega Turistica was definitely worth the visit. Our English speaking guide 'Marco' walked us around the winery. He showed us the traditional methods used in the past (no machinery) such clay pots, deep wells to assist the distilleration process ...in typical Peruvian style, the tour ended with wine tasting. We learnt a great deal about wine and more importantly Pisco. Marco also taught us how to drink neat Pisco (swirl a sip of Pisco in your mouth for 5 secs, inhale through your nose, hold your the breath in your stomach, swallow the Pisco, exhale through your nose) so as not to get you drunk.

I never knew of such a technique of drinking! Or the level of attention and perfection that goes into wine making.

It was absolutely fascinating!

We then grabbed our bags from the hotel and headed to the oltursa bus station in readiness for our 12hr overnight coach to Arequipa.Read more