We got the bus from Paracas to Ica with Cruz del Sur at around 10.30am as it's only a 2 hour journey. We hadn't booked any hostels in Ica, as someone told us if you're going to do sand boarding, you are best to actually stay in Huacachina, so we thought we'd just turn up and see what was available. We are on a tight schedule and have to get to cusco in 3 days, so we're only going to stay here for 1 night. When you get off the bus at Ica, you can just take a taxi for around $7 soles to get to Huacachina, which is what we did. We arrived early afternoon and looked around for somewhere to stay, and found a hostel called Carola del Sur which was a large hostel with a pool, garden and hammock and it also does it's own sand boarding and dune buggy rides. We found out that there was a group leaving today at 4pm, so we booked ourselves on the tour. It was only $40 soles each and this included the sand boarding and dune buggying.

Once we were booked on the tour this afternoon, we decided to take a walk around Huacachina . It's such a tiny place that you can walk around it in about half an hour. We walked to the lagoon, which is the centre point of the place, and this is surrounded by enormous sand dunes. It's a pretty place and it's a little desert oasis. It's totally set up for tourism here as there are many restaurants all around the lagoon. We found a hostel that had been recommended to us which was right on the lagoon and is called Desert Nights, but we didn't stay here as they only have dorms. We sat in the restaurant outside the lagoon and had some lunch, it seemed to be a popular place and had tasty food, so win win situation. Once we'd finished lunch, we walked back to our hostel, as we still had a few hours to spare, we went and sat lounging by the pool. John went in the pool, and I just sunbathed nearby and attempted to catch up on the blog. It was too hot, so I sat in the shade. The pool was tiny and couldn't fit many people in it anyway, so I didn't bother with that as we're going sand boarding soon. It would have been good to get in the pool had we not be going sand boarding this afternoon . We left to get ready for our upcoming trip to the dunes.

Dune buggying around the desert

The driver picked us up from outside the hostel. There was a cool green dune buggy which was newer, and a battered, old red buggy, which was smaller. I hoped we'd get to go in the green buggy, but no our luck is that we get the clapped out old buggy! I went to get in the green one, but the guy from the hostel told us to go in the red one. He promised we'd have the best driver who will make our time in the dunes really fun. Once safely strapped into the red buggy with 6 other people, our driver set off crazily down the street. This was even before we got to the dunes, so i'm wondering how much of a crazy driver he can be down the dunes! Once we were off road and heading to the dunes the driver sped off and wizzed past loads of other drivers. Perhaps this was going to be one heck of a drive, like a rollercoaster ride!

We started climbing the dunes and they seemed like massive mountains, I felt scared and apprehensive as if we were driving fast to go up, surely we'll be faster going down! I kept a tight hold of the roll bars, not that it would have made much difference, but I felt safer this way! As we approached the top of a dune and were about to descend, the other girls, along with myself all started screaming as we went down the dune . We were travelling at lightening speeds and I guess we were just worried that we'd roll right over the edge of the dunes! The driver would take us down a near vertical cliff and then suddenly handbrake turn and go down it, so it's the suspense of not being able to see what's coming up over the brow of the hill! I was just glad not to be sitting in the front seat next to the driver, which another girl was! I managed to sit on the middle outside seat so could see everything from there. John would have been better with this seat, and I should have sat in the middle. The driver carried on driving around the dunes for about half and hour and once I'd gotten into it, I actually really enjoyed it. It certainly gave you a good adrenaline rush like you get when on a roller-coaster. We were following other dune buggys and other groups who'd taken the same trip with other companies. We actually passed the green buggy I wanted to go in, and it wasn't travelling as fast as ours as it was a larger dune buggy. So in hindsight I think we actually got in the better dune buggy, with perhaps a crazier driver! We stopped for some photo opportunities right at the top of the dunes, it was just a huge expanse of sand, that seemed to go on forever. The scenery in the dunes was fantastic, especially with the dune buggys in the background. While dune buggying, I tried to capture a video of us moving, but got a bit scared and thought i'd drop the camera because we were shaking around so much, so it's not a good video, but I'll post it anyway .

Sand boarding down the dunes

The session included sand boarding as well as the dune buggy ride, so this meant we all got to try out sliding down the dunes on a sand board. The driver gave us a quick demonstration of how we should go down the dunes and we had to slide down laying down, head first, laying on our tummy. I thought this first dune we slid down looked steep, but apparently they get worse with each time we go down. One of the guys went down first followed by John, so I took a picture and a video of him going down. Then it was the girls turn, so I let the other 2 girls go first, and then went down last. The driver sets you up and pushes you away, I slid down and I was panicking so I tried to slow myself down by digging my feet into the sand as I slid down! John thought I would be a wimp and didn't think i'd go through with it, but I proved him wrong. The only thing was because I went last, there was nobody to take a video or picture of me going down . I enjoyed going down, so perhaps next time, I'll try going a little faster. John was a pro at it as usual and went down really quickly. We had 3 attempts on this particular dune, but it meant you had to walk back up the dune and carry the sand board. For each step you took forward, you also took two steps backwards! It was hard to get back up the dunes, but fairly rewarding once you got to slide back down them. Our driver drove the buggy to the next few dunes ready to take us across more dunes, and much higher and steeper ones. Once everyone had their 3 goes, we walked to meet the drive and get back in the buggy. He set off again, this time going even faster and crazier than he has done before. I think he was easing us in gently!

After another 20 minutes of duning, we came to our next dune that we would be boarding down. This time, the driver said we should try and go down on our hands and knees. John was eager to try this out and went down first again and of course he slid down fast . Some of the other guys were just happy to go down on their tummy and when it came to my turn, I also did the same, so didn't try out going down on my knees. John said I should have tried, but I just felt safer to go down like I had been already. I was worried about falling off and hurting myself, and I didn't want that a few days before we were about to do the inca trail! This was a bigger dune and much steeper, so I couldn't be bothered to climb it 3 times, so just had 2 attempts! John being John wanted to go one step ahead, so he tried going down it standing up! He strapped himself in like you'd do on a snowboard and started to to down. At first he made it look easy and seemed to be going well, but half way down he took a tumble. As he was strapped in, I think it's more dangerous as you have to fall with the board. He rolled down to the bottom and we shouted to him was he ok. He was a bit winded, but soldiered on.

When everyone was finished on the second dune, we carried on more dune buggying, this time going around the highest dunes and I was literally on the edge of my seat as we approached the brow of each cliff . It was so exhilarating and exciting I nearly lost my hair band as it was so windy with the tail winds. By now I was sitting so low down and nearly closing my eyes when we went down the steep dunes. The driver drove us to the highest point and it was literally a vertical cliff. This was going to be the last dune that we are sand boarding down, and the most scary! Nobody readily volunteered to go down this one first, so we elected the boys to go first. I think John went second and he tried to board down standing up. I said he should have gone down on his knees first to test it out, but he was adamant that he wanted to go down standing up. Again it started off well and everyone was admiring how easily he got the hang of it, however fairly near the bottom he took a bad tumble, worse than before and rolled around before coming to a stop. This time, he badly winded himself, so we all rushed to check he was ok. After a few minutes, he stood up and was ok. He rested for a few minutes and carried on. On the second or third attempt of going down the steep dune, he made a near perfect descent, it's just a shame when I tried to video it, the stupid thing was so delayed that it missed most of it! On my turn, I decided to go after John, so as not to go last and he'd climbed back up the dune again, so I got him to push me down. This dune seemed to go on forever and as you were going down, you built up so much speed because of how big the dune was. I was getting a bit scared as I went faster, so I dug my heels in to slow myself down. I only had one go at this one as it was so steep to climb back up, so did some of the others.

Our driver had driven to wait ahead for us, so we had to walk back up the dune at the other side, which was a mission. By now, the sun was starting to set over the dunes and it was amazing to see the sun setting, and watch how the colours changed. I wish we could have stayed in the dunes to watch the sun set completely, but the driver drove off and started driving back to the starting point. It was a lot windier now and luckily the driver wasn't going so crazy, although he did just do a random turn, and I thought we were going down the steepest vertical cliff of them all, but he turned and went the other way, much to my relief. Our time in the dunes was coming to an end, and surprisingly I really enjoyed it here. I preferred the dune buggy ride to sand boarding, it was much more exciting and gave you more of a thrill. It also means if you got a dune buggy that you do don't have to walk around the whole place, which could be quite a mission without the buggy. When we got back to the lagoon, I knew i'd made it safely without any injuries, so all in all, it was a successful experience and one i'd definitely recommend if you come to Peru.