Ica and Huacachina (Day 1)

It was about a 4 hour bus ride to Ica and the hostel was close to the bus station. The “hostel” I stayed at was a really nice family run hotel. I don’t know the difference between the two because everyone had their own room and bathroom. Anyways, I arrived kind of late and they didn’t have my name on the list of rooms but he saw that I booked it on Airbnb, I was a little nervous he wasn’t going to be able to find a room but after a short while they found a room. The next day though they moved me from my two bed spot to a nicer one bed spot.

Anyways… the trip. I asked at the hostel if they knew a company to do some tours and they hooked me up with a company. I hit them up and they gave me a price tag that I thought was a bit high but I said whatever, it’s tourist stuff right? $100 USD is kind of the going rate for two days worth of activities… WRONG! So after agreeing on a time and all of that stuff, I ended up taking a walk to the town square, there a young man told me that the exact same thing was going to be about 100 soles. For those counting at home, that’s about $30. I felt slightly bad about cancelling but whatever, I appreciate the money.

Aight, so the first day was the Ica City tour. I’ve done quite a few city tours and it was pretty standard. I thought we were going to be walking as most are walking tours but this one was primarily in a packed van. We started at a church, then drove by the plaza of arms, then to sample some nasty pisco (Well the mint one was good) and then to the plaza of witches or something like that. Funny/awkward story, throughout the sampling of pisco, the tour guide had all of the misogynistic sayings that were very umm.. heterocentric if you will. Anyway, I was sitting next to these two young dudes who were very clearly a couple. The tour guide was an older man who kept on referring to them as “companeros” ( more or less friends) and the heterosexual couples as “parejas.” (couples) Every time he said that, the entire group cringed until at one point the couple said something to the effect of “parejos.” (male couple) He spoke to them afterward and I’m fairly certain he apologized to them. Anyways, next we went to a witch park which was very okay.

                                    Where I thought we were going to try Pisco 

                                                            Where we tried Pisco and our guide 

                                                     

                                                    

Lima is a BEAUTIFUL country and the highlight of this day was definitely the desert and Huacachina. We drove to the desert which is about 10-15 minutes from the city center. We rode on a buggy up and down sane dunes which was like a roller coaster. Hella dope! We stopped at one point and did some sand boarding which was again was hella dope.

We then took the buggy to Huacachina. Huacachina is a lake in the middle of the desert. It was REALLY REALLY cool to see, especially at night even if it was a tourist trap! Also, when getting sand out of my shoes, I definitely didn’t notice people behind me and gave them a face full of sand. My bad folks.