​Conquering The World
​​​by Tomas Cironis
Huacachina 2015
Huacachina 2015
Here we go! Our last trip as a team. We went through all the Arequipa staff, we survived Colca Canyon, visited Machu Picchu, slept in the middle of the Lago Titcaca and thousands more experiences but now we're in the end. Our last trip.
Bus was leaving the Arequipa at 7pm but Rike found that we need to check atleast 40mins in advance which was for some of us impossible. Edmundo and girls were working till 6pm but atleast Edmundo and me we somehow made it in time and we were delaying as much as possible before the others got to the bus station. But you're in Perú, nothing goes on time...
We spent 9 hours in the Bus, arriving to the Nasca at 4am. We were took by some random guy who said he owns a hotell near by and we can stay there. It was really cold outside. And of course he was trying to sell us some of his really expensive trips.
When he finally realised that we're not that type of tourrist he left us with some local guy who agreed to take us to the famous Nasca Lines for 30 soles, which is quite acceptable price. We visited the most important preIncas Lines but honestly, not as good and breathtaking as I expected but it is a MUST SEE when you are in Perú. So I can put the check mark to the Nasca Lines.
Then we took a Bus to Ica where we were looking for buses to Pisco. From there we would need to take another taxi or Combi to get to Paracas, where we booked our Hostel. Sound simple, right ?
We were followed by really anoying taxi drivers all the way in Ica, but we found our Bus in the end. And when we arrived in Pisco we took a Taxi to Paracas. Yes you hear right, we took one Taxi for all six of us. We were fitting in the car right in front of police man and he absolutely didn't care. Me, Edmundo, Fernanda and Julia were sitting in the back and Rike with Luize in the front seat.
It took approx. 30 mins to get to Paracas, we found our Hostel which I think was really good for only 18 soles per night. We had a room for 6 persons so we didn't have to share with anybody else.
After quick refresh we left for a dinner. We need to find a restaurant with Free Wi-Fi because I didn't book any Hostel in Huacachina Oasis
and there aren't many Hostels. And you don't wanna sleep in the desert without Hostel. But we found a restaurant really quickly, we had a good sea food and Pisco Sour for free. And we could pay by Credit Card. Or atleast they told us. Again broken machine... Maybe Deja vú ? I'm not gonna trust any waitor any more about this.
Luckily for everybody they made the machine work so we could pay by VISA. We left for the bar close from the reastaurant. It was owned by guy from Portoriko who lived many years in Florida so he spoke really fluent English. And most importantly he had a German beer. We were just sitting on the roof and relaxing when I start to smell the pancakes from the kitchen. And I had to order them because I hadn't them for years. And they were delicious!
We got up at 6:05 next morning to take a trip to Isla Baleas with all the Penguins, Cormorans, SeaLions, Crabs and so on. It was great experience, we were so close to all the animals, we saw them from distance of few meters. But no foreigners are allowed to step in the islands so we were watching just from the boats.
After coming back we changed the clothes and left to Paracas National Park. I met the couple from Czech republic in a Combi. That was first and so far only czech citizens I met in Perú. We had a little talk, they were teachers from Kutná Hora and they were visiting Perú for 2 weeks. It was nice to hear some czech language again. Edmundo and Rike showed them the basics they've learned already like "Ahoj", "jmenuju se..." a "děkuju". If we work on it for few more weeks they will sound like natives :D
We went to Atacama desert which is here made only by rocks and stones (no sand). We visited the Red beach and many other viewpoint. For example, I saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life. During the way back we talked about Vinnetou movies, which is western from East, so it should be called Eastern, right ?
Then we went for a lunch and headed back to Hostel to leave for Ica. Meanwhile we stopped at the beach to watch the sunset, which is always remarkable experince over here. The Lady from Hostel ordered us Taxi which came on time (really weird!) and we left fot Ica. There I was saved by Edmundo and I didn't even noticed. Some of the locals he tried to steal my Philly's hat but Edmundo showed up and took me away.
When we arrived to Ica it was already dark. We took first trustful Taxi and went to Huacachina Oasis. I don't have to mention that we fit in 6 persons+driver in one small Taxi.
This time we didn't have a Hostel but real Hotel, and for 32 soles only. We paid everything when we arrived and also book the Sandboarding trip which we were all looking forward. We chose our beds and I finally could sleep in the down one, or atleast I thought so. We left for dinner then, there was Happy hour also so we HAD TO drink. After that we split up, others went sleep and me and Rike we went for a walk to dunes and watched the nightsky from there.
And when we came back, of course there was somebody sleeping in my bed! So I had to chose different one. But don't worry, we don't have to get up tomorrow early, I can sleep atleast till 9am.
Of course I woke up at 7:20, as usuall for breakfest. So unfair...
We left to dunes again after breakfest and it's really hard to climb in the sand desert.
We had sand everywhere and later on there was really strong wind so climbing the dunes was more and more difficult. And of course the heat from Sun. But what everything you're willing to sacrfice for a good picture ? :) We were climbing for almost an hour to get to the highest dune to get the overview look and trust me, it was worth it.
We had this good motivation thing, when somebody was thinking of giving up or leaving us we just asked "when you get to Perú again ?" And that made us to visit, see and witness almost everything. And eventhough I had to hear a lot of complain, after all everybody agrees we did right.
In Huacachina I felt like in the Tattoine from Star Wars or the Sahara desert from all the "Mummy" movies. You can witness so different landscapes in Perú; from jungle and rainforrest through the national parks to the rock and sand deserts, all in only one country.
We got back to the Oasis to get the lunch and prepared for the most important... sandboarding! I did snowboarding only few times before with my brother Adam when he borrowed me his snowboard but I never really liked it (maybe only because I am not good at it).
The most favorite movie between all of us volounteers over here is Mad Max: Fury Road, for sure. So you can guess how excited we were when we saw our buggie and were heading to the desert. Only one person in our group (and rest of the world, I believe) who didn't see Mad Max, was Rike. What to say about that....
For example Fernanda and Julia all much more creazy about that movie, so who got more excited when we were hit by sandstrom! And I mean real sandstorm. It came so fast. The temperature went down so quickly. There was really strong wind and we could see only 15 / 20 meters ahead of us. But it was MadMax sandstorm!
Things got really bad somewhere in the middle of our trip when we were driving the boggie for a different spot for sandboarding. We were going through the little canyon between two massive dunas and our buggie lost the hard ground in the right side so we started to drift. It wouldn't be that bad if there wouldn't be rocks under the sand and our buggie started to be falling on its right side. Those buggies are build to drive safely in
the sand dunas but our was full of people which gave us a lot of additional weight and our driver didn't turn the wheels to right side against the drift. He was trying to speed up and went ahead which almost twisted us around. But all good, we stopped few meters from the rocks. Then we got out from buggie and driver just reverse to get back the hard ground.
I must admitt I was afraid for a little while because I was sitting in the rigth side and everybody was falling at me and the only rule when you're in buggie which goes to twist is to keep your hands and legs inside. The construction of buggie is from steel so no problem with twisting, the only danger is when you not keep yourself inside. But all good, atleast we had little adrenalin.
I really regret they didn't allowed me to drive one of those buggies, it would be so cool! Buggies are 4x4 with really big horse power.
The sandboarding itself was quite short, we went only 4 or 5 times because it got really cold in few minutes and we didn't want to be sick in next few days. We left only in T-shirts and shorts because it was hot (we're in a desert, right ?) and then everyone was looking for jackets.
You can read it in bookes, you can see it on TV but until you experience the strenght of sandstorm, you can't imagine. But we were here for sandboarding so let's go! I wanna be first as always, I didn't pay any attention to safety rules or anything the instructor said, I just got on sandboard and went down. And of course I felt down and really hurt myslef during the first ride. Yea, but I think I deserved it :D
And eventhough I know I look cool in the photos I wasn't that good at it. I felt almost every time. Edmundo was really good with the sandboard. Eventhough he felt few times he always could got back to his feet (or his sandboard) and continue the way down. He's really good in this types of sports and you could see in his face how much he enjoys that. Like a small kid...
We tried almost every ways how to drive the sandboards. We were laying on it, which is the fastest way to get from the hill. We were sitting on the board which is the most safe and also most boring possibility of sandboarding. And then standing, my favorite one.
Best from all of us was Rike, she was driving the sandboard in really good looking way. The fastest from us was Luize because her weight is really small number and she doesn't have any mind secure break.
Everytime we got down from the hill we waited for our buggie and then were taken to another hill. So good choice to go with buggie because when I imagined we would have to walked the way up... No way.
Girls want to see the sunset as always but the sandstorm changed their minds. Eventhough they would want to stay there and wait for the sunset, sanstorm was so strong that we even couldn't find the sun. Maybe next time.
Around 6 pm I was glad we were coming back to Oasis because the wind put lot of sand in my eyes and I was wearing my contacts (Rike and Julia too) and it started to hurt. Small pieces of sand got under my contact and I couldn't take them out. I decided to leave it like that because next day in the morning I should've been at Maxi's house so I thought I'm gonna
fix it there. I couldn't be more wrong.
When we got back to Hotel everybody went for a shower. We tried to get rid of as much sand as possible but I think even now, days after our arrival back to Arequipa, I have sand in my ears. Souveniers for free I believe.
When I got to the shower, water was already cold and there was no pressure so I was thinking of giving it up. But you don't wanna spend 12 hours in the Bus with the sand in your clothes. So I took cold shower and I am happy I survived. Later on Edmundo told me that I forgot to turn on something to have hot water but I didn't have the necessary pressure in shower anyway.
I just don't like having shower in cold water.
Then we went for dinner to the restaurant near by. They made us sure we can pay by VISA but it wouldn't be Perú if there wasn't any problem. We had only 30 mins to eat, then we need to take Taxi back to Ica to catch our Bus to Arequipa. And waiter forgot Julia's dinner. We all ate our meal and Julia was just waiting and waiting.
While the others were still having dinner, me and Rike went to catch a Taxi. My negotiating skills in Spanish are getting better and better. Eventhough I couldn't find any Taxi that would take all six of us (I don't want to split up because there are four girls and only me and Edmundo and I don't trust these Taxi drivers) I was able to get 2 taxis for big discount.
I went with Rike and Fernanda, we weren't sure if our Bus leaves at 9pm or 9:30pm so we wanna be at the Bus Station as soon as possible. But we're in Perú so officialy the Bus should leave at 9:30 but it was 10:15 and Bus was still on his way from Lima.
By this time I was feeling bad or maybe even sick and my left eye was getting worst and worst.
Luckily I felt asleep few minutes after our departure. Unfortunately we met another storm, this time from Pacific Ocean. It was raining havily all the night and in the morning when we should be back in Arequipa, we were stuck in the middle of the road. There were falling rocks from mountain next to highway and Bus in front of us was hit by really big
rock. It broke their window in the left side of the Bus. Our Bus Driver decided to pull over and wait for better weather. Eventhough some of the peruvians in the bus disagreed it was really only good idea over here.
We stopped in the motorest to buy something because we had no water, no food etc. We expected to be home at this time. And my eye was so bad. I tried to sleep the rest of the travel but it took next 4 or 5 days to put myself together.
I was really happy when we arrived back to Arequipa eventhough we were 8 hours late. We missed our work and most importantly the lunch...
On the other hand I was quite sad at that time because it was our last trip as a team. On Thursday Rike has to leave back to Germany.
So it means we are breaking our team, our trekking group. We went together through all the trips, dangers and exciting views, we spent so much time all together. After this trip we should call us "Fellowship of the Sand" or "Mad Max: Sandy Road".
When we survived all the trips here in Perú, and especially this one to Huacachina, we can survive anything. I think I'm really gonna miss those guys. We still have almost 6 days with the others so we'll go somewhere maybe, but it won't be same.
Yea, the #FellowshipOfTheSand