Oasis in the Desert

It's true, I just spent the weekend in the desert.
We don't have class on Fridays, which allows for extra time for weekend excursions. We arrived in Ica, Peru on Friday afternoon. We stayed in the Huacachina Oasis, which really is just an oasis--a green, wet village in the middle of the desert. We spent a little time climbing up the sand hills around the oasis before we headed out on the dune buggies. The dune buggy experience is a little difficult to describe. Let's just say, it's definitely "ride at your own risk." The drivers are notorious for being crazy and daring. It was like a roller coaster, but way cooler. We rode up and down the steep dunes and zoomed across the vast desert. But we made several stops to try a little sandboarding. It's just like snowboarding (except, of course, with sand). Most of us turned it into sand "sledding" by laying down on our stomachs on top of the boards. They started us off on some small hills, but it was pretty hardcore by the end. I was a little unsure of what to expect before the trip, but it was quite possibly the coolest thing I've ever done. The whole event was just incredible. There is nothing quite like the sight of an ocean of sand. It seems to never end. We watched the sunset in the desert, too. Beautiful.

On Saturday, we drove to Paracas, a coastal town. We took a boat out to the islands just off the coast. And we saw a lot of birds. Some penguins. Sea-lions, too. It was refreshing to be out on the ocean on a clear, hot day. It really makes me miss winter in Wisconsin... (haha) We ate a delicious seafood lunch in Paracas and did a little shopping. They had lots of vendors selling local crafts and jewelry, and it was fun to bargain a little with the prices.

That same day, we drove to Nazca, another town in the desert. Nazca is famous for just one thing: lines in the desert sand--The Nazca Lines. Before the time of the Incas, designs and shapes were created in the desert, but they weren't discovered until the 1930s. They can only be seen from an aerial view because the designs are so large. Some people think aliens created them, but most theories conclude that the Nazca people were the artists. But no one really knows why they're there. Some say they have religious meanings. Others think perhaps they're related to ancient astrology. It's incredible, though, that the designs are so symmetrical. The lines are so straight. Some of the lines are several feet wide and hundreds of feet long. The whole group of designs stretches for miles across the desert. This morning, we went on an airplane to see the lines in the desert. Very cool.

When we weren't having crazy desert adventures, we spent time eating meals or hanging out in our hotel as a group. It was a great weekend, but I'm exhausted. I'm also a little sick of riding on things that move...

Here are some pictures. Sorry there are so many. I had a hard time choosing. And believe me, this is only a fraction of my collection. : ) Click on them to see them larger.