One of the reasons Peru is so magical is because you can be in the city, on the water, in the desert, in a forest or mountains all in one trip. Peru Hop offers a two day excursion south of Lima to visit a few of these terrains. It starts with a short trip to the coastal town Paracas and then on to South America’s only desert oasis Huacachina. Everything was extremely organized, our guide was fantastic and our group had a blast!
DAY 1
We were picked up from our Miraflores hotel at 5:30AM on the dot. From here, we made two more stops in the van to pick up the others: a professor from California and two younger guys from NY. It was a smaller vehicle than Peru Hop usually transports people in because there were only 5 of us. In peak times, there could be as many as 40, split into smaller groups. After initial introductions, we were all lulled to sleep until we reached a rest stop two hours later. It was a combination grocery store, coffee shop and gas station and we all ordered a coffee and a few snacks to hold us over until lunch.
Two hours later we reached our first destination: Paracas. This is a resort destination for residents. The main street was clearly targeted to tourists with restaurants and food stalls all along the waterfront. The bay was speckled with fisherman boats and pelicans.
First on the to-do list was Isla Ballestas, also known as “the poor man’s Galapagos Islands.” Pretty quickly we were ushered over to the one lone speedboat at the end of the dock. A line had formed and we all squeezed in like sardines. My friend and I happened to be in the very back corner and we laughed at the madness of the life jackets, masks and shield combo, wondering if we would have to keep them on.
We learned there was no way, and everyone eventually took the shield off. The tour is narrated, though if you are in the back you don’t hear much! The two-hour tour started with a trip along the northern face of the Paracas Penisula to see the The Candelabra. It is a geoglyph (a motif designed in the ground) dating back approximately two thousand years. The colors of the hills were stunning!
Then the boat shot into the Pacific Ocean until we hit a formation of rocks called the Isla Ballestas. Our eyes darted around noticing all the birds, penguins and seals, and our noses noticed the overwhelming odor. No one talks about this part, but it smells terrible! We cruised around the little islands, getting close up looks of all the sea life, as well as the people that live there full time. Their main jobs are fishing and collecting the bird poop for fertilizer.
After we returned, our guide took us on a short 20 minute walk through the town, pointing out the surprisingly upscale hotels in the area. The beach was quiet, both because the beach is better one town over, but also because beaches were closed due to covid.
Then it was time for lunch at Rustik Arreja. Our server offered pisco sour shots to start us off and they were delicious. Our guide suggested several local meals, highlighting the seafood, and we all enjoyed our food.
We were only one hour from the town of Ica and our final destination, Huacachina. Huacachina is the only remaining desert oasis in South America and the little community they’ve created around the lagoon. Just a couple minutes from Ica, the town is almost entirely composed of hotels and restaurants for tourists. We were dropped off at our hotel DM Mossone, which was absolutely stunning with it’s own courtyard oasis. This was not one of the Peru Hop partners so we had booked it separately for a small amount more.
The temperature had increased to about 80 degrees so we changed into shorts and met the crew just half an hour later. Usually the dune bungees are lined up next to Huacachina, but because of the lack of tourism we drove a van to the “starting point.” Here we jumped into a 10-man dune bungee and we were off.
We zoomed through the desert, going up and down the steep dunes. We stopped for the sand boarding, which I would really call “sand sledding” because you loop your hands into the straps and go down on your stomach. The drop-offs were no joke so you can go very fast if you lift your feet up. We did three different hills and I got more comfortable with each.
Then we were picked up via buggie and taken to our sunset location. It felt like a movie and I couldn’t get over how stunning the light on the sand was. We were dropped off close to the lagoon and walked down just as it was starting to get dark.
We changed and met the crew for dinner at Wild Olive. Splitting an app, an entree, dessert and a drink came out to $13 and it was very filling. We went back to our rooms to enjoy some much needed sleep.
DAY 2
Today was one of the few days we were able to sleep in on the whole trip. Breakfast was included at the hotel: scrambled eggs, yogurt, toast and coffee. We learned this is the typical hotel breakfast offering.
We met our group at 11AM for a tour of the town of Ica. I’ll tell you there’s not much going on. But the main cathedral square is beautiful and we also took a short tour of Cachiche, a site dedicated to wizardry. While it was interesting, my friend commented that there should be a fog machine and music going and I have to agree that they could up their game. Maybe offer some swordplay… Next, we drove to the winery, Nietto.
The two-story winery is surrounded by vineyards. Downstairs is a series of presentation stations and the upstairs is the restaurant. We learned about the grapes that were used both for wine and pisco. For the pisco, the Vintners suggested we swish the pisco in our mouths for 3 seconds before swallowing to take the burn away – instead it burns your mouth. Surprisingly, the presentation was very inappropriate. Lots of sexual and suggestive innuendos, just a warning. We grabbed lunch after and enjoyed another round of Crema de Coco which was one of our favorites during the tasting.
We only had a few hours left in Huacachina and the group split. The guys decided to do 4x4s and we wanted to explore the town more and enjoy the pool. The guys did recommend the 4x4s if the opportunity presents itself. I was eager to relax, given our hiking schedule coming up.
Around 6PM, we left Huacachina for a 4 hour drive back to Lima. We stopped once to use the banos and get a snack, since there wasn’t an opportunity for a real dinner. We got back to our hotel around 10PM and we both whole heartily agreed it was a fantastic two-day adventure.
