We left Paracas and continued by bus towards Huacachina, located next to the larger town of Ica. The trip inland included passing through low mountains and hills as well as dusty towns. We briefly hit heavy traffic in Ica, adding about 30 minutes to the trip. But before long the massive sand dunes came into view and we were in Huacachina.

We stayed just for one night in Huacachina, and for most people one night is probably enough. Outside of the dune buggies and sand boarding, there’s not much to do besides checking out the desert. But in spite of limited options we were glad we visited!

We arrived in the mid-afternoon, giving us only a couple hours before the winter sun set. We didn’t want to miss the sunset with only one night’s stay, so we quickly checked in and then made our way out of the town towards the dunes surrounding it.

Huacachina only has a permanent population of about 100 people, though the tourism industry employs many more to work there. The majority live in nearby Ica, whose citizens also visit Huacachina for leisure on weekends. Domestic and foreign tourism has also bolstered the numbers of people visit, upwards of tens of thousands every year.

The town of Huacachina is centered around the Laguna Huacachina, a small lagoon fed by a natural spring and surrounded by palm trees. Legend has it that a princess was bathing in a smaller spring and looked at a mirror she was holding. She saw a hunter in her mirror and dropped it in surprise. The mirror shattered and transformed into the lagoon. This is one a number of colourful stories about the origin of the lagoon.

The name Huacachina comes from a Quechua word meaning guard or conceal. It is possibly shortened from wakachina qucha or “hidden lagoon.”

Because of the loose sand, it took some time to make our way up to the top of the ridge. From the town there was a climb to a ground level in the desert where the dune buggies were parked. But our final destination was the high dunes surrounded the desert floor, so there was another much steeper climb in store for us.

The weather in Huacachina is consistently dry and sunny with little rain falling in the desert climate. It can be visited at any time of the year, though other popular locations in Peru might not have the same conditions. We found all parts of Peru to be excellent for visiting in mid July to early August; the many places in southern Peru and the parts of the north we visited all had excellent weather and no rain.

Once we reached the top of the ridge we continued up for a bit before deciding to stop and enjoy the view. There were around 30 people on the ridge when we arrived, and we were among the last to go down once the sun set. From our position on the ridge we could see the town on one side and the setting sun and desert on the other. It was the perfect spot.

As the sun fell the dune buggies became active, and we heard the roar of their engines from time to time. They stayed after dark and we saw their lights in the distance as we made our way back down to Huacachina.

At one point a dog wandered towards us and took a spot just in front to watch the people and dune buggies below. He only stayed a short time before wandering off again.

The overnight trip to Huacachina was a unique experience. So far our journey through southern Peru had a lot more variety than we expected, and we had hadn’t even visited the colonial towns and Incan ruins yet. Our next stop would be the famous Nazca lines, vast geoglyphs in the desert.

Notes:

-It’s much more convenient to stay within Huacachina rather than nearby Ica, even though there are far more accommodations available in Ica. We stayed at the Bananas Adventure Hostel Huacachina in a private room. It was basic but fine for our purposes, and accommodation options are limited in Huacachina. One thing we liked was their large open restaurant/bar space, as there was lots of seating for breakfast (simple buffet) and dinner as well as just relaxing or waiting for the bus pick up