Huacachina--the oasis of...tours

Huacachina...I had read about Huacachina and seen pictures of this little oasis in the desert. I had also read (and told people!) about the deserts of Peru, and how dry they were, but I didn´t quite understand it until I saw the giant sand dunes on the taxi ride from the Ica bus station to Huacachina. Ica is one of the cities that was most affected by the earthquake here, and there are a lot of collapsed houses and walls...I just couldn´t bring myself to be touristy enough to take pictures of the demolished buildings, but needless to say there are a lot of people without homes. It´s a difficult thing to see, especially because I feel so helpless and don´t really know what I can do to help, which organizations will let me (after CARE basically denied my volunteer position). So I decided that pumping some of my tourist dollars into the local community is the least I can do. The first tour? Dune buggy and sandboarding. It was awesome! The dune buggy ride was really fun, and our driver (who had previously assured me that he was not a crazy driver) banked higher than any of the tracks on the sand and we caught quite a bit of air. The funniest part was when one of the drunk Canadians up front (who had been egging the driver to drive mas rapido!) after a particularly fun corner/nose dive said --Now that one actually scared me!-- Nice work. Sandboarding was pretty awesome, too! I didn´t take any pictures since it was a little sandy. Yeah, a little sandy...think sand in every nook and cranny you have! But it was pretty fun, and I actually was starting to catch the hang of it by our third dune. Good fun!

The next morning I went out with the Canadians on a tour of a few local vineyards, that also make pisco, the famous Peruvian liquor. Alcohol tours at 9:00 in the morning? Possibly not the best idea, but the clincher was the stop at the chocolate factory afterwards. Yup, that´s what got me. Peruvian tejas, apparently that's the thing. The night before, I had been hanging out with the Canadians (they got their dinner while I got my dessert) and as usual I was testing their Peruvian dessert experiences. They hadn´t tried alfajores yet, so I managed to convince our waiter to buy some alfajores for us the next day. When I went to pick them up from the store, I felt like I was sneaking out highly prized contraband. Wonderful. And they enjoyed their alfajores, oh yes they did. Really, how could they not? Seeing other people enjoy sugar gets me...right here. Yay...

Let's see, then Lita, the tour lady at my hostal lent me one of the English books from their book exchange (I was desperate for some literature in English--although I do love the Pottster, I just wanted a little escape to words of my native language). However, the book ended up being a glimpse into the life of a drug addict. After two chapters of explicit detail about injecting oneself with heroin, I decided the Pottster was in fact a welcome relief. It was really lovely to just sit by the pool of the hostal, in the sun, surrounded by greenery and giant sand dunes reading a book.


The next morning I awoke at the ungodly hour of 5:30 am to go on a tour of the Isla Ballestas off the coast of Paracas. Although the sky was cloudy, it was a nice tour with a fun guide, Luis, who told me that with my language background, I would be adored as a tour guide. (I love the translation of Spanish and English cognates...) The coolest thing about being a tour guide, I think would be choosing the content that you tell your tourists. Luis, for example, educated us on the sex lives of sea lions. Did you know that a female sea lion is almost continuously pregnant after the age of 2? And that she can become impregnated two hours after giving birth? Apparently females belong to one stationary piece of land, which is "owned" by a male sea lion, and therefore he "owns" more or less 15 females. He has to fight to maintain ownership of the land, and after winning, he can't just up and leave his land. So apparently he only eats every 2-3 months (around 30 kilos of food). And he can't digest it all at once, so he eats rocks to help with digestion. (???) Fat of the sea lions apparently goes to the head, not to the stomach. I also got to see penguins, pelicans, and the famous birds whose poo gave Peru a brief influx of dinero (also known as the Guano Boom). Stinky.

Huacachina was a good, relaxing escape, but right before I left, I started having a mini-freak-out. First, I started worrying about all of the upcoming trips I have semi-planned starting in January. But they're not solid. And I was reading about Venezuela and how it's just not all that safe, and I started psyching myself out and getting really worried about getting robbed, and I had the glaring reality of how dangerous it can be to travel by yourself in South America. Especially as a woman. Ugh! Then I started worrying about what the hell I'm doing with my life...really, what am I doing??? The same worry I've had for the last two years or so managed to creep up on me when I least expected...vete! Go away!!! So all of a sudden I had this huge stress-out and I almost broke down, not wanting to travel...not good. I talked to Mama Peruana and she told me that it was no use to worry. Take one day at a time. (Classic advice--if anyone else has any words of wisdom to add, shoot them my way!)