Huaca-what?

Cold water pool on the left, pisco heater vessel on the right

Wood fire to heat the pisco

                                 

Pisco aging containers

Still on a quest for actual pisco country, we headed further south to Ica, the primary region for the production of pisco in Peru. After our rest and relaxation, we were ready to be touristy again. We had two goals in and around Ica: pisco tasting and sandboarding. Huacachina is the sandboarding capital of Peru, and is located only a few kilometers outside of Ica. We decided to splurge a little our first night to stay at a hotel that is also a producer of pisco. The hotel is in an old hacienda that boasts a restaurant, pool, shop, zoo, and more. As usual...not all of these things were actually in existence or functioning, but it was an impressive estate nonetheless. When we arrived and checked into our room, we decided to explore a bit. Since we obviously didn't know where we were going and probably looked lost, a friendly staff person decided to show us around. It turns out they don't participate in the full pisco-producing process, just the final steps. The pisco is heated by wood fire, and moves up through some tubing that is submerged in cold water. Then the liquid that emerges in the pool at the other end is stored in ceramic containers for months until it is ready to drink. Well, our little tour guide gave us a taste of the raw stuff, straight out of the heater. It packs a punch! Together we didn't even want to finish a half shot.

Life at the hacienda

The next day, we decided to hire a taxi for 15 soles an hour to tour the nearby bodegas, or wineries. Peru isn't known for its wine, but the picso is produced at the same places. It was fun to learn about the process of producing pisco, and also nice to see both a small, family owned operation as well as a full blown commercial one. If only we had come a few weeks earlier, we would have been able to participate in the grape stomping dance! It was also nice to taste some of the stuff that is actually ready to drink.

Our trusty bodega tour guide

Pisco products!

Grape skins have multiple uses...one of them...to keep the dust down

Storage for aging pisco

Official grape squisher

Large scale operation at Tacama, slightly different from the ceramic jugs

Tacama

Vineyard at Tacama

Our jail cell for the night

After our day of pisco tasting, we headed to Huacachina, thinking we would stay there that night and go sandboarding the next day. Well, when we arrived and checked into our hostel, it was clear to both of us that we weren't going to want to stay there more than one night. It was a bit like a mosquito filled jail cell with gross beds, no toilet paper in the bathroom, and hippie backpacker partiers blasting music next door. So for the evening we decided to get out and explore the sand dunes and the tiny town. Huacachina is a picture perfect oasis (except for the garbage piles) in the midst of miles and miles of sand dunes. It used to be a location for the Peruvian elite, but now it's a spot for backpackers looking to do some sandboarding on the dunes. We had thought we would just rent boards and walk up the dunes, but as we hiked around the dunes at sunset we saw all the sand buggies coming back from the tours and it looked like way to much fun. We hadn't known that all the tours left in the evening, while the temperatures were cooler, otherwise we may have planned differently. That night after grabbing some food, we both fell asleep at about 8 pm. Never in Peru have I had such a bad night's sleep because of mosquitoes. There were no nets provided, but we needed the window open in order to have any air to breathe. So, Kyra woke up looking a bit like a leper, and I spent the night trying to find bug spray in the dark or swatting wildly at my own face.

Mosquito bites :(

Our hostel, being eaten by the sand dunes

View to the outside world

Lake/pond? in Huacachina

Huacachina

Sunset on the dunes

A small group of sandboarders

Our little dune buggy!

The next day, not wanting to hang around until our sandboarding tour in the evening, we went back to Ica and secured a much more comfortable hotel, had some coffee and lunch, and relaxed until we had to head back for the tour. Riding in the little dune buggies is just as fun (if not more) than the actual sandboarding. It's like being on a roller coaster without a track, but sand instead. The tour consisted of dune buggy riding to different dunes, starting with the bunny hill dune to try sandboarding. The boards are just laminated pieces of wood that require a lot of wax to continue sliding on the sand. You can either try to ride it like a snowboard or go down head first on your belly. Kyra was better at the snowboard style, while I opted mostly for the belly ride. Apparently people don't always have a lot of common sense, and Peruvians don't have a lot of rules, because people insisted on standing right at the bottom of the hill as the rest of the group came down. Well, for this reason, Kyra and I tended to go down first in order to avoid the madness. It turned out to be a good idea, since our tour ended up sending someone to the hospital. So, after some fun boarding and riding, and some unnecessary excitement with a flat tire and pretty serious injuries, we headed back to Ica.