PART 2: From Humboldt Penguins to Desert Oasis |
Where: Huacachina, near Ica, Peru - South America When: October 5, 2016 Peru trip: October 3 -11, 2016 |
I have done many adventurous, and adrenaline filled activities in my life, yet nothing was as crazy as the dune buggy ride we experienced in Huacachina, a desert oasis near the town of Ica! And if you don’t believe me, just ask my fearless man who’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest a time or two… Huacachina has become a tourist attraction for the dune buggy rides and sand-boarding on the rolling dunes, which I definitely recommend. There really isn’t much around, some hotels and cafes for the tourists, but that’s ok because the dune buggy ride was well worth the day trip! The tours usually last around 2 hours and start at 4 pm to avoid the afternoon heat. We had a fun group of 7 people plus the driver. The tour started off great with the driver jumping straight to business, and flooring the gas pedal while driving off some sand jumps. We thought he was crazy! In between these ‘rides’ we stopped at several large sand dunes where we were able to sand-board down the hill (more like slide, or sit). Unfortunately, the boards did not have good straps and several of the snowboarders (including Dima) weren’t really happy about that. After we were done with the last slide, we all got back in the dune buggy and the driver asked if we wanted our last dune buggy ride to be fast or slow, mentioning in broken English “ride fast, pay tip.” Together we all yelled out “FAST, FAST”, but little did we know that we hadn't experienced "fast" yet! The driver drove straight off a crazy drop off, screaming, and holding on for my life, I hit my head on the ceiling several times. Then somewhere in between driving sideways, feeling like we would flip over at any second, and the driver drifting in the sand, we hit a huge jump and caught around 3 feet of air!! This jump was so crazy that the bench in front of us broke and the 3 people sitting on it could have gotten hurt pretty bad if their heads would have hit the metal beams sticking out. I can’t describe it in words other than that it was insane!! Thankfully we filmed a little bit on the GoPro, although you can barely see the slopes in pictures/videos. But maybe our face expressions will :) Watch video below.
I am an animal lover so definitely enjoyed this post! Thanks for me the opportunity to be part of your adventure.
I think you might have successfully convinced me not to do the dune buggy tour! Maybe if they gave you a helmet but that sounds sketchy! Bummer about the sand boards too but looks like Dima made out ok! Thanks for the post!
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This blog is long overdue! I've wanted to start it years ago, but never got around to it. Traveling is my passion. My dream is to one day visit all continents, countries and states in the U.S. Thankfully I have had the opportunity to visit 39 countries in 4 different continents so far. Keep posted for my adventures and life events on my blog! - Rebecca
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