Sandboarding, Desert Oasis, and Cat Parks in Perú

Lorena and I arrived in Arequipa, Peru (located in Southern Peru) after another typical

Driving from the northern border of Chile through the South of Arequipa was all desert. Lorena and I were shocked to see beat-up shacks along the way and were disheartened to think people lived there. Later, we asked Peruvians about those shacks and they informed us that people built them there to stake claim to land, and later, when cities overpopulate, people would build real homes to live there. This is my translation from Spanish so hopefully I understood as well as I just expressed.

overnight/long bus ride. At least this time the border crossing went a bit smoother. I did have a slight heart attack when we initially boarded the bus, and the chauffeur insisted that we leave our passports with him because he had to make a copy of them at the office. Lorena and I sat on the crowded bus separately, me in a window seat in the back and her in an aisle seat in the middle of the bus, and waited for our passports to return. This made me uneasy to not have my passport in my possession and I really began to panic when the bus started moving. I started shouting ahead to Lorena to go to the front of the bus and demand they stop until we have our passports. Then the kind women next to me informed me the chauffeur would hop on the bus before we left the parking lot and that he did have everyone else’s passports as well. Apparently this was routine for many people. Phew. We continued our journey to Arequipa.

Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru so it was very busy with traffic and people but for the most part, it was a clean city with a colonial feel. Our hostel in Arequipa was a great example of trying to save a dollar while traveling. I prefer to cook because I try to only eat salads and vegetables while traveling a lot. When you are on a bus for many hours, you’re stagnant and therefore, don’t build up much of an appetite but I still enjoy eating. Unfortunately, this hostel charged us an extra $5 or so each time we used the gas stove in the kitchen. I felt that was a bit ridiculous (think cheap traveler) and honestly, if we each spent $5 more, we might as well go out and pay a bit more for dinner. We found a slow cooker/crockpot and a toaster oven. This sounded like a great idea but one problem was Lorena and I had very different food preferences at this point so we had to cook some food separately. This resulted in very delayed preparation of food and a on the verge of being “hangry” (hungry/angry), Colleen. No, we did not pay for the gas the second time we cooked either but we did allow more time for cooking. In case you’re curious, we typically bought our food at the local market and in total, it would cost us about $2-3 per meal.

Besides going to the market and cooking in Arequipa, Lorena and I explored by foot. The main attraction of Arequipa is to take a tour to Colca

My Peruvian friend recommended we try this ice cream (queso helado) so we obviously had to taste it when we came across it. Rating – average.

Canyon and hike in the canyon, but we decided it seemed a bit touristy and overcrowded with tourists and in then end, we passed on Colca Canyon. Below are some pictures as we explored Arequipa.

Palm trees make me happy!

 

 

 

 

 

Exploring the streets of Arequipa

A bit of shopping. Note – my definition of shopping no longer includes the word ‘purchasing’ but I liked the quote on this shirt so snapped a picture. “Every day may not be good but there’s something good in every day.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point we had found a walking tour and tried to eavesdrop, but the tour was in French so we gained nothing other than confusion.

 

 

Ok, I guess I did occasionally buy things on this trip. But I had been wearing the same gym shoes for about 7 months and it was time for a new pair. It felt like I was wearing pillows under my feet after the purchase. #worthit

 

You are looking at cuy here. That is guinnea pig, a delicacy that all eat in Peru. I could not bring myself to order it, let alone try it, but my Chilean friend from the hostel tried the cuy our last night in Arequipa. I couldn’t get over the idea that to me, cuy is a pet.

There were these micros (think large vans) that served as public transportation in Arequipa. They cost about 70 cents versus a few dollar cab ride. Most gringos would take a cab, but Lorena and I opted for the micros to save a few dollars. The best part of the micros is the man/woman that works in the back of the van by the door. She shouts out about 10 different destinations for the van at the speed of lightning. As a passenger, waiting for the bus outside, you have to listen for your destination and wave the bus down as the woman is hanging halfway out the door in the moving vehicle. It’s almost impossible to understand what they are saying so it is probably why most gringos don’t take the bus. Here, I snapped a picture because Lorena was dying of laughter that I was obviously the only gringo on the bus, standing out by being the only white girl and the new pink gym shoes didn’t help.

Lorena and I were stoked at the quality of our bus for our overnight ride to Huachachina.

We had showed up at the terminal and booked one of the first companies we encountered based on the fact they were leaving in 5 minutes. The meal – disgusting, but the Lazyboy type seats – welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we arrived to our desert oasis, Huacachina. The main attraction is the sand boarding and dune buggy tour which was included in the price of our hostel. After the overnight bus ride, I wanted to take a walk around Huacachina and move my legs a bit, however, desert oases are tiny (see picture below). I returned after my short walk and luckily we had a pool to lounge in before our tour.

Huacachina, the desert oasis, from above.

Our dune buggy/sand boarding tour began in the afternoon. We hopped in our dune buggies, strapped on our seat belts, and awaited the adventure. And adventure it was. We zoomed through endless dessert with plentiful sand dunes. This means we would zip up a sand dune and then quickly drop down the other side, our stomachs going along with the drop. Think roller coaster effects and we were all definitely making sound effects people make on roller coasters.

Dune buggy in the desert

Lorena, I, and the dune buggy!

Wind blown hair as we rode in the dune buggy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We snapped some pictures of the scenery before we started the sandboarding adventures.

Mi amiga y yo!

Ready to sand board!

Strike a pose

Next it was time to try out our boards. I was very hesitant to start out this task. Yes, I am used to snowboarding but I was sure it was different on the sand. Plus, we didn’t have boots and bindings on the boards, we had our gym shoes and velcro straps. I worked up the courage and went for it on my feet for the first few hills. It was very odd and very different than snowboarding. First of all, you go much slower and secondly, it’s very hard to turn or change directions on the board. There were 1-2 guys that made it look like they were experienced at this sport, but other than that, most people went down on their butts or stomach. I’m sure my sister, Kim, would’ve made it look easy as well.

Lorena – sitting to slide down like the majority

Me – standing to sandboard downhill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was one of our last hills and you can maybe tell, it was steep. At this point, they made us all go down on our stomach, head first. This was frightening and I felt even worse for me because I hadn’t practiced this form on the smaller hills since I had chosen to stand up on the board. Now I had to speed down a huge hill with my face first?!  I think each person screamed as they shot down the hill. And let me reassure you, this sport is not safe. One girl dislocated her shoulder the day before and another girl had a pretty big wipe out the day we went. Side note, the girl from our tour also spent all morning drinking lots of wine at a winery so she may not be the best example. Overall, Lorena and I returned unscathed rather than a few bruises from our hips hitting the board as we hit bumps in the sand.

As you can imagine, there wasn’t much to do in a desert oasis so Lorena and I only stayed one night in Huacachina and then stopped over in Paracas aka “Poor Man’s Galapagos.” We didn’t do much there other than kayak in the not-so-beautiful ocean, play foosbol and ping pong, enjoy more pool time and shop. I actually don’t have any pictures of the place. I also can’t say I was impressed by Paracas and would probably not recommend it to most travelers. Our next stop was – Lima!

Lorena and I used Couchsurfing for Lima when we first arrived. Couchsurfing is a website where you can search for locals and stay with them during your visit for free. We were having difficulties finding someone in the Miraflores (rich/modern) neighborhood of Lima but a guy from the San Borja neighborhood reached out to us and offered 2 couches for us to stay. We arrived after a 3-4 hour bus ride and chatted with him around his kitchen table. From this encounter, I thought he was a bit odd. For example, he’d said that every woman he has dated has begged him to marry them. Ooookay, guess they are weirder than you are. He bragged way too much about his music and the fact that he was his own boss. But I felt his chatter was harmless. He then asked us if we believed in ghosts and I said, “No,” and he didn’t push further, but I, of course, being curiosa (curious) pushed him to go on. Long story short, he said a female ghost/demon tried to rape him once. Um, okay, definite weirdo alert. I still didn’t feel unsafe staying with at his place because A) He had other roommates in the house

Lima is a place for “foodies”. It has some of the top restaurants in the world. I was excited to put my trust in one of our couchsurfing hosts when he raved about “Chifas”. He described it as “Peruvian/Chinese infusion.” I thought, okay, I’ll try it. We arrived and he took total control and ordered everything for the table without asking (I was not happy about this) and when the food came I realized it was Chinese food like you’d find at a mediocre restaurant back home. Lesson learned, just say no to Chifas.

that seemed normal. B) He had more than 100 good reviews on Couchsurfing which later led me to believe, who the heck are these people that left good reviews for a demon believer? There was one bad review from two Argentinian girls and must be that they were the only honest ones. C) I had Lorena there to stay with me so I wasn’t alone. The other downfall was that out of the 2 couches, one was a loveseat (not so comfortable for sleeping) and they did not appear the cleanest. My sleeping bag liner finally came in handy on this trip. Anyway, Lorena and I flipped a coin to see who would get the loveseat to sleep on. What I didn’t tell her was I had already decided in my mind if I lost the bet and had to sleep on the loveseat, my ass would’ve been off to hail the nearest cab to

Our second Couchsurfing experience started out hopeful with the fact that we had an entire apartment to ourselves, no host because he lived in a different apartment.

spend a night in a comfy bed in a hostel. But she lost and didn’t complain so we spent one uncomfortable night on the couches.

The next day we switched to another Couchsurfing host in the Miraflores neighborhood but after a couple nights, got a few weird vibes, and decided to move onto a hostel. I felt bad for Lorena because it was her first time being a guest for Couchsurfing and it was a bust for us in Lima. I had experienced such great Couchsurfing hosts between her, Sebastián and Miguel in Valparaíso, and María and Medellín. I wanted her to have the same experience. Hopefully the next time she tries it will be better.

One day we went to the city center to enjoy a latte at Plaza del Armas. The center was quite overstimulating for me. The traffic in Lima is horrendous and drivers for some reason think that constant honking will change that. Not to mention, pedestrians do not have the right of way. Expect a car to try to hit you rather than slow down for you.

Signs at a vegetarian restaurant in Miraflores, Lima:
“Clients needed with or without experience”
“Smile, although we are not filming it”
“Feel as if you are at home, but don’t forget that it is mine”

One day Lorena and I rented bikes to bike from Miraflores to neighboring Barranco along the coast.

The coast of Lima is beautiful. The city is actually situated on cliffs and you must go below to reach the beach and shoreline. Where the Miraflores and Barranco neighborhoods are, there is a bike path as well as grassy parks where you might find exercise equipment, tennis courts, sculptures, and so forth.

 

Lunch spot in Barranco

I even got Lorena to start eating vegetarian meals at this point!

Barranco – I’d describe the neighborhood as more “hipster”. My favorite market with clothes, accessories, and such was in Barranco and I couldn’t resist making some new purchases.

 

Lorena and I were exploring Lima without any destination in mind and came across an area where, suddenly, we were surrounded by cats. Lots and lots of cats. They were friendly and everyone was petting them. We realized that “Parque Kennedy” is an attraction point for many cats because people come there to feed them.

Evidence of a woman feeding the kitties

Just loungin’

 

 

 

 

 

 

Near the shore of Miraflores is a large outdoor shopping mall. Here I practiced my window shopping and kept my credit card in my wallet 😉

Overall, I really loved Lima. The climate was amazing (lots of sunshine, warm, dry climate and a bit cooler at night). It was perfect to run, do yoga in the park and enjoy the outdoors for exercise. I really enjoyed the food, although we didn’t get the full foodie experience. I can definitely recommend people to visit Miraflores and Barranco but to do your research before you travel to Lima. The neighborhoods I visited are safe, but others are not. In addition, make sure to always take marked, radio taxis because unmarked taxis have been known to kidnap and rob people. Like anywhere, just use your street smarts!