Lost in the desert

Never have I been to a desert before. Nor have I thought that there would be a desert in Peru. However, this maymester trip gave me an opportunity to experience something unforgettable, miles upon miles of sand.

Desert view

A few hour bus ride brought us out of Lima to the little town called Huacachina in the province Ica, where the desert is located. As soon as we arrived, we were split into two groups and hopped in the buggies that were ready to take us on a roller-coaster-like adventure through the sand dunes. The moment the buggies took off, I could feel the warm desert wind and flying sand on my face (and in my eyes because I was too careless to bring sun glasses), but the excitement of climbing and dropping with skilled buggy driving made it all worth it.

The Buggy

At our first stop, we had the opportunity to take in the view (and tons of pictures) of the endless sand dunes touching the clear late afternoon sky at the horizon. Our second stop was at the peak of one sand dune where our buggy driver handed each of us a sandboard. Never having sandboarded before, I was both excited and scared about the height and about what would happen. Clutching at the strips and lying with my belly on the board, I was pushed off from the peak. My hair started flying, my feet were drawing lines along the sand hill and with a tiny bump, my first sand sliding ended with a safe and sound landing. It was in fact more exciting than scary, so we all tried several times more.

Watching the sunset in the desert

Covered in sand from sandboarding, we took off on the buggies again to see the sunset. Watching the sunlight dyeing the sky with different shades of yellow on a desert land was romantic. Nevertheless, the oasis we saw after the sunset was perhaps a more spectacular scene, with a quiet small lake surrounded by banana trees and houses. As night arrived and the moon came out, I was lost in the beauty of the reflection of light on the surface of the oasis.

Oasis at night