Sandboarding in the Oasis Town of Huacachina!

The Oasis of Huacachina!

I arrived to the desert town of Ica on a late night bus and my final destination was the oasis town of Huacachina, which has a small natural lake in the middle and is surrounded by sand dunes!  It is a short distance from the city of Ica, located about 3 miles west and I was trying to figure out the best way for me to get there from the bus station as I was traveling solo.  When I got off the bus at the bus station, there were lots of men automatically asking me if I wanted to go to Huacachina, as it is a traveler’s destination, and they were all leading me to what I thought would be a taxi, but it was actually what they call a mototaxi, a three wheeled motorcycle with sides to it. It has room for the driver and you can fit up to four people in the back, but with more weight, the harder it has to work and the slower it goes which I found out at a later destination when I took one with four people! There are many countries around the world that have these little mototaxis, but they may be called something different. In Thailand, they are called tuk-tuks and in India they call them auto-rickshaws. Either way, I thought it was so cute as this was one of the first times in my life that I had ever seen a small vehicle like that. I must remind you that this was one of my first times traveling outside of the United States. Prior to Peru, I had only gone to England, where my entire Mom’s family lives so it was a first time experience for me.  

Read more about the oasis town of Huacachina on Treasures of Traveling Website!

-- Luke Keeler