I guess I should have known it before, but now I m certain of it. Life is all about choices: there is no bad or good, because at the end they all making us a bit better or a bit wiser for sure.

I have now been " on the road" for about 2 months, and my eyes have seen so much, more than I could have ever imagined, yet, I´m hungry for more and sometimes i woudl love to give up my sleep to see more, more and more. I know I can´t and I will have to make a choice, and I think so far, I m happy with what I have chosen so far. Maybe is because I did  not know what was behing door number 3, while I was picking door number 1, or peraphs is because I have tried to enjoy what i was doing at the maz, not thinking what else coudl have happened if I was choosing something else..

Now looking back, i can see sometimes, I was really meant to choose that door/path, and sometimes definately not, but on the other hand I dont want to regret what I did, because it only tought me another lesson of life..and made me better for my next choice!

Peru is not known for its wine industry…and rightly so.  Having tried several of the different selections, white and red, dry and sweet, from this small wine-producing area I’ve come to the conclusion that with few exceptions, Peru should stick to making and promoting their grappa-like Pisco.  The Pisco was very good in each of the wine bodegas that I visited today.  One was a commercial enterprise and the other two touristy places with mediocre products all around.  The Malbec/Cabernet I tasted at Vista Allegre was surprisingly good, and at $6 a bottle, quite a good bargain.  I’d easily place it against the same blend from Mendoza in  that price range.  The white however was best forgotten.  In fact it was so bad that I immediately wanted to wash the taste out from my mouth.  It was a Chenin Blanc and I attributed the poor quality to the lack of a hospitable climate for this delicate grape that fares much better in cool climes.  The weather here is simply too hot for any decent whites and for cool-weather reds either.  Cabernet does well, and is about the only grape that can be made into a decent dry wine.  However one winery, Tacama, which was closed today and also doing some repairs still from the effects of the earthquake last August, makes an excellent white that is a blend of three grapes, including chardonnay, viognier and sauvignon blanc I believe.  I’ve had this wine on several occasions and it’s very good.  The only problem is that it’s a bit pricey to be able to compete on an international level.  Tacama’s gran tinto red is also excellent, but with the same problem of pricing.  This tasting was hardly what you’d experience in the U.S., or in other countries either for that matter.  The old woman manning the tasting area acted completely indifferent to me, and even served my first wine in a filthy glass, one that had obviously been used and not cleaned.  I asked her for a clean glass and she seemed a bit miffed at me.  Also, I tasted from outside a barred window through which she handed the products.  I had to solicit everything from her, and she acted as if she were doing me a favor to answer my questions or explain anything to me.  The property though was very pretty.  Never have I seen vines planted in sight of a massive sand dune, and with palm trees growing hardily in the middle!  There were ancient ficus trees towering over the driveway, and my driver said they were close to two hundred years old.

The second winery, Il Catador, which means “sommelier” in Spanish, is clearly a tourist destination.  They offered tours and tastings and a very mediocre food menu which I didn’t try.  Our guide was a nice young guy but his English was very difficult to understand.  I accompanied another English-speaking group around the grounds and then we tasted some of the products.  No dry wines are produced here, just sweet wines and pisco products.  The pisco was decent, especially the pure pisco made from the aromatic Torrontel grape.  This was also my favorite pisco at the last winery we went to, Lazo.  My driver told me that the owner is the great great great grandson of the liberator Simon Bolivar!  They have a collection of various artifacts from the ancient civilizations that lived around the area, and of other paintings and sculptures and detritus all haphazardly occupying the walls and corners of the inside area where the wine is stored in the clay amphorae-like containers that the Incas used for their chicha, the homemade corn beer or liquor (depending on when they stop the fermentation).  These primitive jars probably aren’t the best for maintaining quality, nor the stomping of the grapes by foot that they do at Il Catador.  I suspect that they only do that for the harvest festival, where they elect a queen and get the girls to stomp around in the vat all the while drinking a mixture of pisco and sweet white that they call “Amor Perfetto,” Perfect Love.  One can only imagine that scene at the end of the night.  All in all, I enjoyed the experience.  The day was hot, but not unbearable and I can think of worse ways to while away a few hours.  

The rest of my afternoon was spent enjoying the boisterous scene around the little lagoon oasis.  I watched lots of kids splashing around, taking boards down the dunes, enjoying picnics and ice creams.  A typical Sunday sunny afternoon.  As the sun started to go down, Darcie and Kim, the Canadians I had met the night before, invited me to hike up to the top of the closest dune to watch the sunset over Huacachina and from that vantage point, over Ica as well.  As the sun dipped lower, it threw its last rays out and struck the flanks of the foothills of the Andes on the other side of Ica.  The shimmering pinks and roses slowly turned to reds and violets and finally dark purples as the sun finally sank below the high dune.  Up there, facing away from the oasis and the town, I felt like I could have been in the middle of the Sahara.  The sand, blown into so many evocative shapes and curves, molded, ever-changeable, seemed to have no end.  Just the sight of the perfect blue sky alone, cast into stark relief by the sharp, geometric edges of a dune, was enough to hold my gaze for a long time, as I marveled at the astounding variety of nature’s manifestations.  Our footsteps up the crest of the dune were slowly filling up with sand and I wondered how long it would be before the wind-blown sand erased any trace of our presence.  In silence, we headed back down towards the hostel, filled with similar thoughts and deep contentment.

Tonight, on to Arequipa via night bus!

We woke up early, wanting to do as much as possible in Ica. We knew we wanted to go to the Huacachina (the oasis) and also to The Ballestas Islands (but this is in another town - Paracas). We just had to think about it carefully, because our budget was a bit tight and we left our cards in Lima, just in case.

Anyway, we were just walking around the Main Square, when whe saw a Travel Agency and found they offer a City Tour which includes the Oasis. So, this was our Tour ;)

The Tour left at 10:30 am. We were 4 people: Ricardo, Olga, Sky (the only non Peruvian) & me. Our guide, Armando, was driving and explaining at the same time. Just a small detail. He didnt speak English! So, I became the translator, hahaha.

Well, we drove first to an Industrial Vineyard, but they were full and asked us to come back at noon. Mmm, change of plans. First Stop: Luren's Sanctuary. The Church was bad damaged during the last Earthquake. Until today they are working in it and the Image of Jesus is in another church nearby. The major wanted to move the image from the Sanctuary to Ica's Cathedral, but the people said no and didn't let it happen. Armando told us the story about the "brunette" Jesus and how the image arrived to Ica, originally it was supposed to stay in Lima. It happened long time ago, during the Colony. There was a storm in their way to Lima, so the sailors throw the image to the sea. A fisherman found it and brought it to Ica. The Image turned to brunette, once it got almost burned.

Then we went to Cachiche, best known as Witches' Land. People there believe a lot in witches and witchcrafts. Until today you can find people who read hands and want to tell the fortune. They believe, there was a witch living there. The children wait for the tourists and want to tell the whole story in order to get some tips. We weren't the exception and a little boy told us the story about Cachiche and the magic tree. He was so sweet...

Now, it was time to go to Huacachina - the Oasis! You can also drive the Buggies and practice Sandboard there! We didn't do it, because we didn't have money at that time. The Oasis is so nice! Just finding a lake in the middle of the desert. In order to get a better view, we climbed a dune.  It was really hot and it wasn't as easy as I thought. But it was worth. The view was just Amazing!!!!!

It was around 2pm and we went to the Vineyards. But instead of going to the Industrial one we tried to visit at the beginning, we went to a Traditional one. It was an old fashioned one. Very traditional. They produce not only wine, but also Pisco and Cachina. Both of them made of grapes. We tried the different type of wines, piscos and the cachina. The atmosphere of this vineyard was great, with a lot of antiques. Armando was teaching us the way to try the pisco, so you won't get drunk and could taste it. Also he decided to take us a test regarding what we have visited in Ica. We had a blast there. Just take a look at the pictures.

Anyway, we were hungry. We went to a restarant in the countryside in order to try the traditional food. We spent a nice time over there. Just laughing and talking about what we saw. Sky & me were planning about going to Paracas early next day. Well, it would depend if we can get a wire on time.

Well, the sweet part of the story is over... when we were back at the hostel I noticed I have been robbed!!!! Someone took my wallet and my cell phone from my purse. I didn't care that much about the money, but my ID was in my wallet!!! Sky didn't have any money either. That day in the morning he decided to give me his money in order to keep it with mine. I was supposed to be the safe! His credit card and passport were safe in Lima, ufffff. I was glad, I didn't have my camera inside the purse. The photos are priceless.

So, we were lost in a small city in the middle of the desert withouth money, cell phone and ID. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Ok, I just had to take a deep breath and think about what to do. It was getting late. I tried to remember any phone number, but it didn't work. I sent a SMS to the only number I remembered and hoped I would get an answer that night later or maybe the next day in the morning. What can we do now? Well, actually there was no much to do. Just sleep and wait for a better day...

I have never thaught, it'd be possible for me being so glad about going back home, but it happened.

Today we woke up and tried to think as good as possible how we can get rid of this bad situation. Last night the people of the hostel offered to help me, but they changed their mind. Oh no!!!! We went to the Travel Agency trying to find our guide, but the Agency was closed. There was also a celebration in the Main Square.

We were trying to check out of the hostel, but couldn't do it without paying. I was waiting for a miracle there, when an old sir recommended me to go to the police station. Why didn't I think about that before???? Well, we were in Peru and ...

Anyway, we decided to use the little money we had in going to the police station and report the robbery. When we arrived, a man approached to me and told me, it wouldn't take long to do the report, which I can use instead of my ID. I felt a relief until he sayed: "So come back tomorrow early!" What?!?!?! No way, no way. I said to him that it was impossible. He said there was no way. So I just turned back, started walking, almost crying. Sky was trying to console me. The man noticed it and came just saying: "Don't worry, senorita (Miss), the captain will help you, but please don't cry..." And so he did. The captain arranged everything. But there was missing a receipt. I was supposed to go to the National Bank and pay a fee. But they don't work on Sunday. So he sold me a receipt and proceed with the report.

We had less than US$ 3.00 left, but felt rich just thinking we had a wire waiting for us in the bus station. I was doing the line, asking to myself if the cashier would accept the report as ID or not. He didn't have a problem with that, but he needed a copy of it. Sky and me went for it and in the way had a glass of juice. I was so thirsty that this was the best juice of all my life!!!!!! We went back to the station with the copy and the cashier was almost paying me when he said: "This is fake!" Well, when you pay a fee in the National Bank they write your ID number on it. In this case the ID number of the receipt wasn't mine. I tried to explain it to him, but he didn't want to listen to me. And this time, I couldn't help it and started to cry. Sky came and also an old watchman with a glass of water. He talked to the cashier and asked him to help me. I was explaining them the whole situation as the same time I was traslating it to Sky. At the end, the cashier talked to his boss by phone and I could cash the wire. Ufffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

I felt so good. Sky and me had another juice, went back to the hostel, picked up our stuff, grabbed something to eat and left Ica ASAP (as soon as possible). We just wanted to be back in the safe Lima.

I have to accept that I was desperate then. Now I can look back with a big smile and laugh about everything. It has been quite an adventure. That's for sure I won't forget this trip in a looooooooooooooooooong time. Or maybe never.  Well, if it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger ;)

  After we got off the boats we boarded the bus and headed south toward our destination  for tonight,Nazca.

  Just as we were getting hungery for lunch we came to Ica and Huacachina Oasis.  We went to one of the restaurants (do not know the name as I was not keeping a journal at that time) but we had a very nice lunch and for everone who wanted to went on a dunebuggy-ride out into the dunes and did some sandboarding--Both the ride and sandboarding were a lot of fun.  One of the girls did fall off the sandboard and really had a black-eye and some bruising the next day but she handled it well.  Still went down again after her fall

BUS JOURNEY AND 1ST NIGHT

The journey was pretty short which was good as I felt rough as hell from last nights escapades. We arrived in Ica and were both exhausted but we went for a walk anyway. It is a crazy place. The small town is literally surrounded by enormous sand hills and desert. We climbed to the top of one which was extremely difficult, basically every step you slide back half a step. At the top the view was stunning and Ill upload some brilliant photos later when Im not on a computer which is not so slow!

After some chow we headed back to our Hostal and just read, listened to music and then hit the sack.

DAY 1

We woke up and booked sandboarding and a sand buggy ride. It was roasting(as you might expect from a desert) so we chilled beside the Hostal pool just reading and relaxing.

The Buggy ride was fantastic! Although I will warn all guys that the harness loops over a very sensitive part of our anatomy so be prepared for some pain when you go over little jumps and hills. I might not be able to have kids anymore, haha. Oh well, looks like a life of travelling for me then!

Anyway the buggy goes over some almost vertical slopes and it is pretty scary not being able to see the sand until you are facing downwards.

Sandboarding was also very cool and I found it surprisingly easy, although judging from other efforts and painful looking falls this was not the norm.

You can get going really fast and this resulted in me falling once and now my ass is actually killing me! One cheek is proper red. So Im kinda limping about and hating to sit down but it was well worth it and I would highly recommend it.

Today I saw the islas Ballestas. The islands are off the coast near the Paracas peninsula and are a retreat for many birds and sealions. The boatride was wet (The spray from the boat hit exactly the place I was sitting), but very very beautiful.

When you near the islands you start to smell the Guano (bird droppings) and I can tell you that it does not smell good. I thought I was going to get sick, but after a while I got used to it. I got to take some really nice pictures of groups of  sealions, a lot of birds and a couple of penguins.

After this I went to a Pisco farm near Ica. It was very touristic and I liked the tasting part the best :-)

Then to the highlight of the day: an oasis in the desert around Ica. Coming close to the oasis you can see massive sand dunes rising up high above the road. It is a very impressive sight. Using a sandbuggy we entered the desert and very soon I had a "rollercoaster feeling". The drivers drive like mad and they speed up and down the slopes making turns at the highest point they can reach!

After a stop at a viewpoint over the oasis the next stop was at the top of a steep slope where I got a sandboard pushed into my hands and the driver made clear that I had to slide down. I´ve never sandboarded or snowboarded before so I layed down on the board and went down head-first. This was really cool... The next stop was an even steeper and longer slope which was even more fun to slide down from.

As the sun set the buggy returned to the oasis. I went to look at the oasis itself which was not really interesting. It was like a pond with muddy water surrounded by some buildings and palmtrees. Instead of eating in the hotel (which was not good last night) I went to a restaurant that looked like the Peruvian KFC. It is called Roky´s (or something) and they have really good food.

Today I travelled from Lima to Ica over the Panamerican highway to the South. I stopped to have a look at a archeological site near Lima and to see the beach at Punto Negra.

The further South you get the more you can see of the devastation caused by the earthquake earlier this year. A lot of the houses have collapsed and a lot of people now have to live in tents while they try to rebuild their homes. The homes are often no more then four instable walls with a simple roof and the houses are packed up together.

The landscape is a dry and dusty desert, sometimes dotted with green spots of vegetation. On the other side there is the ocean. There are a lot of new villages being build. I really don´t get how people can live here without electricty or running water...

Because it is not very safe in Ica I´m to eating in the hotel.

I've never encountered a sand dune before, so when I found out about the dunes in Ica, I immediately made reservations to see the oasis I had read about in my beloved Lonely Planet, which by the way, I accidentally left on my bed! :( Luckily, one of my friends is arriving on the 15th and will be able to carry it with her:) I took Cruz Azul, which is the only bus line that my friend's aunt and uncle would allow me to take! Great comfy seats, snacks along the way, and wonderful companions as I began the trip at 4am to Ica! We traveled along the coast, and I had the chance to view Pisco, Paracas, and the ever beautiful coastline. We stopped along the way at various resorts that I had read about online... $75.00, $35.00, $40.00. Did I want to pay that much for a room??? I didn't have a reservation, and I decided to wait until the bus station thinking that I'd have time to narrow down the possibilities as well as ask a few questions from the locals about the venues. Upon arrival, I was picked up by a local taxi driver who offered to show me Huacachina. I kindly refused and showed him my list of establishments. He looked them over, laughed, and showed me the Huacachina pamphlet again as he asked me what I wanted to do in Ica. I told him that I wanted to sandboard and ride the dune buggies, to which he laughed again, and told me that I needed to stay in Huacachina where the sand dunes were located. I looked at him, and decided to take his advice, and off we went!

I found myself in a deep discussion with my taxi driver from the moment I entered the car as I asked questions about the town, about his family, about the educational system, and the economic situation, about the protests and the government. My eyes were opened as I discovered more information about the lovely people thriving or surviving in Peru. Such hard workers, such community-oriented people. It is beautiful to see. They take care of one another, even when it means sacrificing their own happiness. They fight for one another, even when it means the loss of a job or a friendship. They encourage and support one another. So, I was taken to his family's hostel, I couldn't help but take one of the rooms. $6.00 for my own room... I was in heaven EVEN if the hot water didn't work the entire time:) I realized that I was helping a family, and that, in itself, made me smile.

I explored the town by taking a 30 minute jog around the center determining where I would eat and what I would do while staying in the oasis town of Huacachina. There is a lovely pond in the center of the town, filled with paddleboats and benches along the side. It's a lovely town center... it truly is an oasis where people are expected to relax and breathe in the beauty of the place.. to sit and think.. to enjoy their surroundings.

I met some people along the way who told me about their sandboarding experiences, and I quickly signed up with my hostel. I traveled with 3 guys from Israel and a gal from Japan across the dunes in a red dune buggy:) My first sandboarding experience... we waxed our boards, climbed up to the highest peak, and as I got ready to slide down the embankment, I stopped myself as I saw the steep incline... I let my feet go, and flew down the sand, enjoying the wind on my face and the swooshing sound as I traveled down the dune. We traveled again up and down the dunes flying through the air with the sand flying through our hair, mixing with our clothes and gathering in every crevice:) We sailed over the dunes on our boards trying to outdo one another in quickness and in adventurous moves... only to be met with disaster as one of the guys sailed down the dune, not remembering to keep his arms in... falling and crashing .. receiving sand burns along his chest, his arms, and his face, bleeding profusely! It was a battle wound:)

I traveled back to the Oasis where I tried to shower only to find that unfortunately, there was no more water! I traveled out with companions from Brazil, Swiza, Australia, and Ecuador, finding myself laughing until the wee hours of the morning with my new amigos... God's blessings abound... as I saw His beauty in the desert, His beauty in the people, and His grace in providing a safe place to stay and wonderful companions for the day:)

Huacachina is the beginning of a new rule that I am now setting for my travels.  From now on I am also spending a minimum of two consecutive nights in a city.  I guess I am getting old, but traveling to a new city every day just isn´t enjoyable and you end up spending up half of the time in buses and negotiation on rooms.

This is a nice change of pace.  About 150 people live in Huacachina which I guess is more of a neighborhood of Ica.  It is a desert Oasis with a small like and surrounded by huge sand dunes.  It is still cold a night, but hot enough during the day that I was only willing to stay out by the pool for about a half hour because I was a little worried about getting burned.  The key sports here are riding sand dunes and sandboarding.  I didn´t do very well at the sandboarding but learned that you get going pretty fast while like on the sandboard on your stomache and the drivers are pretty crazy in their dune buggy´s.

Ica is the place for wine in Peru, sadly the wine isnt that fabulous, but its still a fun day out. We visited two vineyards, both making the same sort of vino and pisco. We got to try a few different types. Everything from Rosso, red, blanco and pisco´s. The pisco is prob the strangest short i have tried since my uni days. It hits you right down your middle, and helps you breathe, think a crystal cough drink, very hard indeed. The wines were interesting, and so cheap, a bottle of rosso was only 5soles, but to be fair its strong and would make a great paint stripper. I did like one of the wines, a blanco, but we never got the name of it. Liz thought the day out was also good fun, we both paid 25soles from our hostel, and that included two vineyard tours, testing the vinos, and a trip to a chocolate factory, and transport (in a pimped out car) it was a fun day out, and i am glad we did it.

Well Peru hasn't been that kind to us as of yet.  Unfortunately we got stung at the border crossing with about $40 worth of fake notes.  We didn't realise until the landlady at our hotel looked at us with a sorry expression and said "Falsa".  It is a word that we didn't know until Peru, but we've heard it being used a lot recently. We were able to fob some of it off on a local lady (felt a bit guilty, but she'll just give it to the next gringo... and then we´ll probably get it again! Suppose that's karma for you).    

From the dusty border town of Tumbas we decided to go all the way through to the capital Lima.  An +18 hour overnighter...  Uuuurgh!  We decided to splurge in a Bed-Bus and were extremely suprised to see the size of the chairs, virtually a couch it was, and we had the best night sleep in ages.  Fresh off the bus the next moring we decided that with nothing inticing us to stay in Lima we'd get on another 3 hour bus ride to Pisco.  We were in such high spirits that we didn't even notice Pisco slipping by the window. After 4 hours we realised that the pleasant oasis of Pisco was actually the less serene transit town of Ica. 

For US$7 a night, this is a simple and clean hostal within walking distance to central Ica, the cinemas and the bus station, but in a very quiet suburban area away from the mototaxi runs. You might not meet anyone here (I didn´t, staying in a 3-bed dorm) as there´s no common area and no kitchen facilities, but at least they´ve made the rooms more interesting by painting big pictures of Chimu ceramics on the wall. The bathrooms are sparkly with lots of mirrors and green faux-marble and has what someone else described as ¨the best showers in Peru¨- that is, hot, and with decent water pressure.

I believe the hostal is owned by a woman who lives on the bottom floor with her family. You have to leave your key at the front desk before going out and have to be let in by someone, which means security is great, but it´s not really ideal if you´re the sort of person who likes to come and go as you please. They´re all very friendly (not sure if they speak any English) and leaving my bags in the deposit for the day was no problem and cost no extra. It would be nice if they published their actual address on their flyers.

Ica is hot. Not jeans weather at all, although everyone still wears them. I have refrained from buying ¨hot weather clothes¨ and only mildly regret sending home a nice summery skirt I bought in Huancayo when I wanted to wash all my clothes.

I arrived in Ica very early in the morning and was kindly let in the hostal by the woman who runs/owns it (see review elsewhere). I spent the first day orienting myself; the hostal is in a quiet, upmarket suburban area that reminds me of Miraflores in Lima. Actually, I´m also reminded of parts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, without the humidity - the city is shrouded by a dusty sort of cover (though the sun still burns) and gives it a hot, hazy feel. It´s very cool to turn a corner and suddenly see, off in the distance, sand dunes looming.

Mototaxis are everywhere. They´re incredibly cute, being about 5´ in height and half the width of a normal car, with three wheels and the capacity to fit 3-4 people. However, they´re quite insistent and it´s impossible to walk down the street without some mototaxi driver trying to convince you (in a series of beeps, of course) that you want to get in his taxi, even though you´re walking determinedly in the other direction, head down.

The Plaza de Armas of Ica is open and sunny, surrounded by tour agencies, restaurants and money changers, and the city itself is lively and bustling with people. I had ceviche in a restaurant on the first day and again at the markets on my last - it´s just the thing to eat in the hot sun. There is a cinema in Ica, and not more than 10 minutes´ walk from the hostal. I had two choices: X-Men 3 or The Da Vinci Code. I opted for X-Men as it was in English with Spanish subtitles, and I wasn´t sure if I´d be able to keep up with the dubbing on the Da Vinci Code (even though I´ve read the book). The cinema feels very new and has the nicest bathrooms I´ve seen in Peru. I never eat popcorn at the movies but for 2 soles for a gigantic ¨chica¨ box, I couldn´t help myself.

Apart from mototaxis, Ica is full of people pushing trishaws selling sweet pastries (and the usual fruit, snacks and watch batteries, etc.). I don´t know what they´re called but they´re round, deep fried balls of dough very much like doughnuts but with a crunchier exterior, and they´re served drizzled with syrup. Heart attacks in a ball? However bad they are for me, all I can say is, I hope Arequipa has them! (Just as an aside: the other pastries that I had in Huancavelica are distinctively not as good here in Ica).

I had some interesting social encounters in the main plaza at night - quietly eating my dinner of chicken and chips. Children selling sweets as income is fairly common, from what I´ve seen, and I usually buy some; shortly after I bought lollies off a little girl, she came back with more as a present from some guys sitting nearby. I sort of waved thanks to them and continued to eat my dinner, feeling rather awkward. Soon after, some gypsies came along (how can you tell, you ask? I don´t know. They were wearing long floral dresses and skirts and had long dirty hair and some were gringoes) and sat next to me and the couple sitting next to me on the bench and starting talking about how they needed money to feed their baby or whatnot. Now, I´ve had some not-so-nice encounters with gypsies before (outside the Alhambra, with Nick) and anyone asking directly for money makes me wary, so I offered her the sweets instead. But she wouldn´t go away and wanted to take my hand and tell my fortune (I thought: she´s going to take my hand then rob me!) so I gave her 50 cents for her trouble and refused to give her my hand. In the distance I could see an older Peruvian woman waving her hands at me and shaking her head with wide eyes. Eventually, the gypsies pranced away to prey on more people and the lady came over to me and said she´d seen a Japanese tourist get robbed earlier and that the gypsies are always in the plaza asking for money. I thanked her for trying to warn me but admitted giving her money seemed the only nice way to get rid of her. Afterwards, I gave back one of the lollies to the guys and found out they were from Arequipa, here to negotiate the sale of a care - they´re all taxi drivers. (As another aside: taxi drivers in Arequipa work 15-hour days and make around 30 soles a day.)

The next day I spent at the museum and sandboarding (reviews elsewhere) but I also had a very cheap, very tasty lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant. The standard 3.50 soles menu bought me a big bowl of creamy, eggy soup with rice and vegetables in it, and fried pieces of calamari on a bed of rice and potatoes (why oh why) with a tomato and onion salad, plus a drink.

I quite like Ica, but it lacks something - a beach (the lake at Huacachina doesn´t count). I think that´s the only way I would be able to survive its hot weather and bright, bleached feel. Other than that, it´s lively and more blasé than Huancayo but I suspect it lacks the beauty I´m going to find in Arequipa...

The ¨thing¨ to do in Ica is go to Huacachina, a little oasis about 7 minutes outside of Ica, which is surrounded by sand dunes and where you can go sandboarding. I went in search of a tour agency because I wasn´t sure if you could just rock up to the dunes and pay for the sandboarding there. I found Angel Tours and spoke to Angel himself, who takes the tours. There are basically two tours: the standard US$15 2-hour tour which includes a dune buggy ride and sandboarding down various dunes, and a US$45 tour that includes the whole sandboarding experience plus lessons on the north side, and a tour of a local winery (bodega). I was tempted to do the latter tour, but thought getting drunk on my own with a slightly dubious tour guide would not be a good idea. I also didn´t want to go sandboarding by myself - even if that meant one-on-one lessons. It´s hard to explain, but I wanted to be part of that whole touristy gringo experience, at least for this experience. I ended up going to another travel agency recommended by the hostal.

When I turned up at the scheduled time, 4pm (so your sandboarding experience can include the sunset), I was the only one being shepherded into the taxi and I had a moment of mild panic – maybe I was going to be on my own. But as soon as we reached Huacachina, my tour guide (I think) flagged down a passing dune buggy full of gringos and ushered me on it. And then we were off.

The buggies, from what I saw, come in two varieties: a gigantic squarish monster of a vehicle and a sort of new-age helmet-shaped metal cage. Ours was the monster vehicle, but a lot of fun to ride in – and the ride really is like a rollercoaster, with the driver taking sharpish turns in the sand, and deliberately driving up big hills just to speed down them and make us scream. I felt sorry for the guys in the group, as the seatbelt that goes over the head clips to a belt that comes up between your legs. Ouch.

The dune buggies more or less go to the same places and it feels pretty planned out, ie. No risk of crashing into another buggy coming over the dune in the other direction. We stopped at certain lookout points to take photos – of Huacachina, of the oasis (no lagoon, as it´s dried out), of distant Ica, of the sun setting over the dunes. In between, we did our sandboarding – starting with a hill about 10m high. Now, I´ve never been skiing before, let alone snowboarding, so I have no experience going down steep hills on things meant to go fast. The boards are wooden with Velcro foot straps which were predictably too big for me. The guide waxed the back of the boards every time we went down; I´m not sure how much difference this makes.

I´m told snowboarding is very different, because some way or another you can get down the sand dune, and it´s easier to stop and fall on sand than it is on snow. After my first couple of runs on the 10m hill, I was ready to declare sandboarding my hidden talent, until we got to a hill more than twice the height and I managed to foot wrestle the dune and end up with sand in my mouth about 10 times. However, I had a nice run down a shorter but steeper hill which ended up in a spectacular stack, prompting the others to ask if I was ok (I was). You can go really fast on the boards, which usually provoked an instinctive reaction to slow down, which usually ended up in me falling. For people who are scared, it´s recommended to go on your stomach the first time, although you end up going a hell of a lot faster and straighter than everyone else and it´s not recommended on the really big or really steep hills.

As a ¨thing to do¨ in Ica/Huacachina, I highly recommend sandboarding, and at US$15 for the 2 hours, it´s worth doing again if you have the time. Just make sure you have access to a good shower afterwards, as you´ll end up with sand in places you didn´t even know you had. Sunglasses are essential. Also bring a camera, as the dunes are amazing and otherworldly, and if you go at sunset (recommended) you´ll get to see some lovely dusk colours over the dunes.