Natalie had last Thursday and Friday off for two Peruvian national holidays, so I took a vacation day and we went on a mini vacation to Huacachina!

It’s one of those strange towns which is only for tourists—locals live in the nearby town of Ica, but Huacachina is all gringo hostels, weird terrible overpriced seashell sculptures, dune buggy tours, and menus full of chicken wings. But it’s a desert oasis. Like, literally a desert oasis.

Like in Aladdin after the Cave of Wonders. Like an actual oasis. With palm trees and everything.

Our first night in town, we hiked up the dunes to watch the sunset. It was absolutely magical. The trek was tough going, but the views were stunning. Sitting up on the ridge of a sand dune, drinking a cold beer with my wife, talking at her about how sand dunes get preserved in the geologic record. It was special. And seriously, those views were something else.

The top one is from our dune buggy ride, but the rest are from sunset hikes up the dunes.

I stuck my phone in my shoe to try to grab a time lapse of the sunset on Friday night. You can also see some pretty cool patterns changing in the foreground sand near the end, which is the start of how new ridges and features form. Geology rocks.

The hike up was absurdly slow going, but the run down was too much fun. I’m also overusing the slow-mo and time lapse features in the new iOS, I know, but whatever it’s fun.

Saturday, we did a dune buggy tour in the desert. It was like a roller coaster ride, but off the tracks. Our driver took us tearing across the sand, careening around banked curves, or creeping up a dune face then cresting the ridge and plumetting down the other side. We showed up early to get the front row seats, next to the driver, and Natalie chatted with him in Spanish. The conversations went something like this:

Natalie: ¡Más rápido!

Driver: ¿Más rápido?

Natalie: ¡Más rápidoooo!

Ben: Shrieks, drowned out by revving motor

Driver: Floors it across the sand

Natalie: Claps and squeals with glee

Ben: White knuckles his seat belt straps

Good times. Halfway through the tour we stopped to ride sandboards down the dunes. We rode down this face, then down the face on the other side of the ridge you see folks sitting on. Would have loved to go down a few more times, but it was definitely a great time. Like sledding, but in hot sand instead of cold snow, and headfirst down the hill.

Overall it was just a wonderful vacation. It was great to get some sun after all those grey winter days in Lima (not that I’m complaining, missing out on a DC summer is definitely fine by me), and the desert was spectacular. We can’t wait to take more trips around Peru—we’re a bus ride away from mountains, jungles, and seashores, and there’s so much more to explore in this country. Stay tuned.