sand, sand everywhere
huacachina is a pretty desert oasis, a shock of green water ambitiously described as a lagoon surrounded by vaunting brilliantly yellow sand dunes themselves emerging unexpectedly from the grimy brown hues of southern peru. the settlement is awash with building sites as various operators realise the opportunity that the dunes offer to bored travellers keen for a quick adrenaline hit amongst the more sedate colonial and inca trails. everyone has sandboards for hire and dune buggy tours to sell.having arrived from lima the most pleasant surprise was the clear blue skies which we had both feared we would not see until we were finishing off our three months in rio. the sandboarding itself, for people who have never snowboarded, looked fraught with hazard. this was an opinion which appeared to be shared by various people who, filled with bravado and a rented board strapped to their back, traipsed up steep dunes for 45 minutes before peering down the sheer slopes and realising that maybe the sandboarding lark was trickier than the $1 rental might have suggested before half running back down to a more forgiving precipice. i had a crack this morning though i must admit i was considerably more proficient sitting on a board then standing (an option which i effectively precluded myself from by being barefoot as always). fun enough but i couldn´t help but feel that the reward of the short, mildly exhilarating, slide down was far outweighed by the sweaty effort of battling the fine shifting sands to gain a bit of a potential energy. the option favoured by many of our fellow travellers was to get on a dune buggy tour and rip around the dunes being taken up to various drop off points for an hour but that really didn´t apppeal, partly because the idea of being strapped in and surrounded by testosterone fuelled jock yanks seemed hellish at best, but also moreover because i had grown to resent the constant angry growls of the buggies ruining the otherwise peaceful ambience on the dunes. all in all therfore although huacachina is nice enough, in the absence of any desire to party hard or ability to properly ride the dunes we are going to keep going on to arequipa.
a general point which has become tangible as we slip back into the groove of travelling is that the effect of the global economic crunch has bled down to backwater peru. on my previous travels people have bitten my hand off for the harder currencies. this time around however people, amazingly, are wrinkling their nose at the greenback and asking for soles instead. i´m sure there are some profound globalisation related generalisations that can be drawn from this but an afternoon lazing in the sun has rendered me happy to leave it merely as an observation, albeit on reading back not that interesting a one.
posted by bicrom @ 9:03 pm
<< Home