Mi Vida S.A.

Posing with dune buggy at Huacachina

The town of Ica, and the neighboring flyspeck outpost Huacachina, are a five hour bus ride from Lima. Via the Soyuz/PeruBus company (cheaper and less comfortable than Cruz del Sur), tickets run between $10-$15 one-way, and there are departures around the clock every ten minutes on average. My friend Eugene, visiting from the States, made the roundtrip with me this weekend; we were treated on one bus to the Pixar movie Up!, evidently a bootleg DVD with all of its scenes played out of order. (None of the Peruvians on the bus seemed to notice, though perhaps they believed they were watching an animated version of Memento…)

Ica isn’t appealing to look at or spend much time in. But visitors here, if not passing through to view the nearby Nazca Lines, come for largely one reason: the sand dunes. Huacachina is a genuine desert oasis surrounded by miles and miles of sand dunes. Adventurous backpackers flock here for the experience of riding dune buggies and sandboarding down the dunes — which is exactly what Euge and I did this past Sunday morning.

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Standing over the valley which the ancient fortress of Kuelap overlooks

This past weekend I traveled to Chachapoyas, a town in northern Perú which shares its name with the province which it lies in.  Although the area is relatively undeveloped and lacking in infrastructure, it features a wealth of stunning natural beauty and some impressive archaeological sites — a supremely underrated tourist destination.  The drive up from San Martin was 5 hours in a combi (shared van) from Moyobamba, itself 2 hours from Tarapoto.  Far from being taxed, though, I was enthralled by the beautiful scenery, especially the ethereal “cloud forests” we drove through on the route: lush valleys and seemingly enchanted mountains where the treetops — and at times, the highway — disappeared into the fog. Chachapoyas sits at over 7,500 feet over sea level, and the night’s chill which greeted my arrival was a firm reminder that I wasn’t in my hot-and-humid jungle anymore.

My fellow Technoserve consultant Rachelle and I had come up here to see Kuelap, the so-called “Machu Picchu of the north”. But first on the agenda, thanks to fortuitous timing, was attending the massive Raymi Llacta street festival. All day Saturday and for much of the night, Chachapoyas was the scene of a colorful, vibrant party. Thousands of people from dozens of nearby little towns participated in a snaking, hours-long parade; many wore traditional garb, danced, and sang; they celebrated native culture, agriculture, and pop culture; and at night, bonfires burned on the four corners of the town’s main square while loud music boomed out.

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