Today we went out to explore the desert oasis in Huacachina. We left Rodrigo in the secured parking lot of the hostel and set out on foot to the lagoon. According to the legend, the lagoon was created when a princess was seen bathing by a young hunter. She fled, leaving the pool of water she had been bathing in to become the lagoon. The folds of her mantle became the surrounding sand dunes. The woman herself is rumored to still live in the oasis as a mermaid and to claim one life every year. Although that could also be because Peruvians are bad swimmers – according to our guide book.
The top activity in town, however, is sand boarding. For €1 you can rent a board and you get a piece of candle wax (literally, they break a candle in two and give you a piece) to smoothen the board. Then you can have a small heart attack climbing up a dune in the desert sun. When you’ve recovered, you strap yourself to the board, find your balance and slowly glide down. On the way down you can contemplate about how this is nothing like snowboarding and wonder if it will ever be an Olympic sport. Most of all, you can be a bit disappointed that there is no lift so you have to walk back up again if you want to try it a second time!
We figured out that having lunch is a better way to spend the early afternoon and we headed to a hostel near the lagoon. We had a burger and a sandwich as part of the lunch combo – it only cost us €7 for 2 people and it was really good too.
We left ourselves plenty of time to sit by the pool in our own hostel as well, of course! Tomorrow we are heading further south to Nasca to see the famous lines in the desert!
After two days, in the desert sun,
My skin began to turn red.
After three days, in the desert fun,
I was looking at a river bed.
And the story it told, of a river that flowed,
Made me sad to think it was dead.
Keep Calm and Drive South 