The Peruvian coast and Arequipa

There is a strange thing about Peru - its whole coast is a desert. But not a nice sunny desert (like we have in Israel for example), but a grey, frustrating desert with very poor settlements along the way (a bit like some parts of Afganistan, as we imagine it). This desert also includes the highest sand dune in the world - the Cerro Blanco, which was our next destination after Huaraz. We took an early bus from Lima as soon as we got there to Ica and from there another taxi to Huacachina. Huacachina is a real Oasis! Like the one you would see in the movies. It is a small village built around a lake in the middle of the sand dune. The are no more than 150 residents, but it is full by five times more tourists. And it is not the cheep restaurants around the lake that attracts them to Huacachina. Huacachina is the sandboard capital of Peru. The main attraction there is to take a buggy and head for the sands. At our hostel we met Yolene, the nice French girl we met at the Santa Cruz trek, who travelled with us from this point until Cusco. After spending the noon watching the Argentina-Mexico match, we took a buggy a guide and 3 sandboards and went sandboarding. The ride on the buggy on the dunes was an experience by itself! Just like riding a crazy roller-coaster while being surrounded by enormous sea of sand. After a short drive we stopped and our guide tried to show us how to sandboard on two relatively small dunes. Lilya proved that her surfing lessons were not useless and stood all the way down. Oren fell down almost immediately. The next dune was much higher and steeper. Lilya was considering sliding down on the stomach like it was offered by the guide. But then Oren said that he didn't take any pictures of her sliding, and that was enough to convince her to slide while standing. She was doing fine at the beginning, until she realized she was going to fast and then she tried to slow down. The result was that she rolled few times on her way down. At the end she had enough sand in her hair, ears, eyes and mouth to sell as a construction material. The last dune was the largest and we all slide down on our bellies. We were still removing some sand out of our ears 3 days later...
On the next day we ere supposed to take a boat to Islas Ballestas, which are often called Galapagos for the poor. We got up early in the morning and took the ride to the Parakas port where we should have taken the boat. Although the sea looked completely flat, we waited for more than two hours until we was told that the Cruz was cancelled due to the stormy sea. But don't worry! We came to see sea birds and we got sea birds. The whole port was full with pelicans and seagulls that came to claim their share in the daily catch of the fishermen. They fly very low and dive to catch the fish in the water, and once in a while go to the shore and make faces to the tourists in return for some food. Oren had a great time photographing the birds until Lilya drag him back to the car that took us back to Ica. The day didn't ended with a disappointment, though. Ica is one of the centers of the production of Pisco which is the traditional Peruvian alcoholic drink, (a sort of Grapa). We got addresses of few vineyards/distilleries from a local convenient store and took a cab to visit them. In each place you get an explanation about the process of production (boring!) and then taste some of the products (fun!). The second distillery had an historical production line including a special place where the juice is squeezed out of the grapes by people that step on them. This method is not being used nowdays, of course, except during the yearly spring festival. We learned there about the historical methods for producing the Pisco and then got a lot of tastings from the Pisco products and the liqueurs. We had no trouble sleeping in the night bus to Arequipa that night!
Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru. Its center built mainly from a white volcanic stone, which gave it the nickname "The white city". We spent the first day wondering around the city and especially in the beautiful main square. At the end we booked a two days tour to Canyon del Colca. We found ourselves in a tourist bus with another 20 tourists. The way was nice, but the tour was very touristic, including the too expansive places for the launch and the inevitable folklore show at the too expansive restaurant at night. At every stopping point there were lots of local women wearing the "traditional" clothes selling their crafts or asking money for a photograph with an alpaca, a baby lamb or a tied hawk.
The highlight was on the second day when we arrived early in the morning to Cruz del Condor. This amazing view point is located above a cliff which is the nesting place of the condors. At 8 a.m, when the air becomes warm enough, they spread their wings and rise up, completely ignoring the hundreds of tourists that stand with their cameras and wait for them. They fly low, letting every amateur photographer get his own condor shot. Only after two hours the condors and the tourists say goodbye and flying (or going) each to his own business.
Our buisness with the Peruvian coast ended that night when we took the night bus to Cusco.


Tip 1: If you are in the area of Ica, spend one day in Huacachina. Staying there is nicer than in the busy Ica.
Tip 2: If you're planning to do sandboarding (and you should), it is better to rent a smaller buggy, with only few people in it. It is much more exciting and you don't have to wait until all the rest of the group finishes to slide down.
Tip 3: It is OK to skip the so called "wine tour", it is not exactly Provance... But if you have some spare time it can be nice. The visit in El Catador distillery was very fun.
Tip 4: In Ica, try the local chocolate, it's really good.
Tip 5: You don't have to go to Canyon del Colca with a tour. You can go there by public transportation and have a small trek into the canyon, which supposed to be very nice. Anyway, don't miss the Cruz del Condor. Even though it is very touristic, the condors are really breathtaking. Don't get there too early, the condors will not fly in the cold sunrise air.