La Huacachina

Hello!
I´m down a traveling partner. Yes, dearest little sophie has left me. We got to Lima and after searching for a little while, managed to find the house of my friend Javier´s family in the neighborhood of Santiago de Surco, Lima. LUCKILY for us we managed to find a really decent taxi driver who was with us the whole way, determined to make sure we got to the place we wanted. Javier´s family was, of course, extremely gracious and wonderful hosts. The first night Javier´s mother, Teresa and Aunt Ana took us to visit Larcomar, a mall-ish structure that is built right on the cliff above the ocean. But we were so beat from the 20 HOUR bus ride from Cuzco to Lima that all we wanted to do then was go to BED. The next day a neighbor boy named Luis took us around to visit the beaches of Lima as well as the neighborhoods of Barranco and Miraflores. It was a beautiful day and despite the pollution, Lima has a really nice coastline. Luis was a G and we quickly became friends. After lunch and a bit of a siesta we headed out with Luis and some of his friends to the center of Lima to walk around a bit before Sophie left. The boys insisted on accompanying us to the airport where Soph and I tearfully parted.
the next day I decided to skip on out of town and headed to the southern town of Chilca. When I got there, it was pretty deserted, pretty boring, pretty disappointing. There were no hostels in sight, no tourists in sight and no one to really ask any questions of. I decided to have lunch before i made any decisions as to what to do next. The place I picked is called Rositas, it´s on the main plaza, facing the cathedral. The owner, Rosa, immediately recognized that I was a tourist traveling on my own and offered her assistance. She told me where to go, how to get there, she fed me and even offered me a room in her house to sleep in. I ventured to the ¨magical¨lagoons, for which Chilca is famous for. What I found was a series of smelly ponds surrounded by other tourists covered head to toe in the mud and silt from the bottom of these ponds. I hopped on in and took a swim. It was alright. Do I feel like a different person? no. I returned to Rositas and began chatting with her and her father, Melquiades. Both characters. Very interesting. I ended up spending the evening chatting with the rest of her family over ¨lunch¨(a snack between lunch and dinner) over at their other restaurant, by the highway. They were pretty awesome actually. I felt like part of the family, for a second. Today it was hard to say goodbye to them, especially since I probably wont see them again, but if ANYONE is trying to go to the beaches south of Lima, go visit them. They usually work a restaurant near the beach during the tourist peak months of may-august. Melquiades will show you his collection of dinosour fossils, or bones, or something. They will take care of you. Good people.
So from there I caught a bus along the panamerican hwy going south to the town of Ica where I visited the Ica Cultural Museum and had lunch. Then I took a taxi to the small oasis...village of Huacachina. I don´t really think it´s even a village, it´s just a collection of restaurants and hotels around this oasis lagoon. All around this oasis are HUGE sand dunes, something out of Alladin, or Arabian Nights tales. A lot of tourists, a LOT of Israelis and a lot of sand. I´m not sure if I´m going to want to ride down the dunes, but there´s a pool in my hostel and hammocks and that´s all good for me. It´s a chill little spot and I´m planning on relaxing for a few days here before heading back to Lima for passover.
Love and Peace,
Gabi