Sand Dunes and Stars

Sunday, April 18, 2009
Hotel in Nazca

Yesterday was an unforgettable experience. We passed the bus ride watching movies and had just started Aladdin as we pulled into the Oasis de Huacachina. The desert dunes of the “Arabian nights” on the TV screen flowed seamlessly into the barren sand landscape all around us. The Oasis really was a desert oasis, complete with a small lake surrounded by buildings and palm trees, band-wagoned at the base of large mountains of sand. After dropping our bags off at another cute hotel, we were off in some dune buggies heading towards the sand dunes themselves.

Our driver had a penchant for speed and we took off climbing the sand with unbelievable twists and turns. The buggy was going so fast that our bodies were tossed around in our heavy-duty harnesses as we screamed from the top of our lungs. This bested any rollercoaster I’ve been on; the buggy would alternate zooming up mountains (sometimes on a side angle so it felt like we were in the grand prix) and plunging down hundreds of meters at a time. All we could see around us was sand, making me feel as though I were in a virtual 4D ride. At the horizon, we could see the large red-orange sun pre-dominating the sky with its bright and deep hues.

My breath was taken away when we came to a stop at the top of one dune and caught the full effect of the sunset on the desert sand. It seemed like something straight out of Aladdin and I still can’t grasp how I’m witnessing this incredible sight from Perú. From Cusco and the Andean mountains one weekend, La Merced forest the next, and now the desert, the landscape changes so drastically, I don’t know how they fit it into one small country (Fact: Peru has 84 of the world’s 154 biological zones). As the sun set beyond us, we skipped and rolled down the mountain a ways until plopping down in the sand as the last curve of the sun had hidden beyond the horizon. We first discovered how difficult it was to climb up the sliding sand and were off in our dune buggies for part 2 of our desert adventure – sand boarding.

There we were, at the top of a 100 meter pile of sand – about a 30 story building. And we were expected to go down it on a tiny stick on our feet? Many started to go down the mountain using the boards as boogie boards, so I thought I would do that first. It was a blast as I smoothly coasted down the mountain. While waiting for the dune buggy to come down to us, I thought I would try to board down a small slope, and I successfully slid down the sand a good 20 or 30 feet without falling on my first time. I was really excited, especially considering I’ve never done any sort of skiing or boarding before. When we stopped at an even bigger mountain to go down again, I decided I was definitely going down the full way on my feet. Standing on the precipice, my adrenaline was fully pumping before I tipped over and plunged down. Surpisingly, I had a good sense of balance right off the bat and I kept going without falling, although I did bail when I started picking up too much speed because I was afraid of running into some friends at the bottom (and had flashbacks of the last time I went sledding…shout out to the Smith family).

That was the end of our short sand-boarding careers. We strapped back into our belt harnesses just in time to be romped through the dunes to our hotel in the oasis. We came back to swim in a highly chlorinated pool and wash the sand off us. After a dinner around the Oasis lake, we looked up at the palm trees and stars, which were incredible.

Later that night, five of us made the decision to trek up the large mountain/dune behind our hotel. The way up was really tough, the fine loose sand seemed to make me fall back a step for every two I took forward and I eventually took to clambering up on all fours. It was definitely worth it when we reached the top. Our tiny little oasis was below us and we could see the dark outlines of the dunes surrounding it. The highlight, however, were the stars stretched out above us. It was incredible how many we could see, all flickering with various bursts of light. The sky was so clear we could see parts of the Milky Way.

Salsa and other music drifted up to us from a discoteca below as sounds traveled great distances over the sand with ease. Once the heat of the exertion wore off and the chill of the night kicked in, we all huddled close together while lying in the sand and looking at the stars. To our right, a large orange moon hung in the sky like a large bowl and we caught several shooting stars as they traveled between blinks of light. From the very summit, we could see over the other side of the mountain to the city of Ica. When we were ready to head back to our warm sand-free (relatively) beds, we began to run down the hill, which was so much easy than climbing and ten times more fun! With each leap, our feet would sink down to the ankle in sand before quickly plunging forward again. I literally felt like I was walking on the moon! Surprisingly, I didn’t fall.

Another day, another adventure! Coli