We flew into Lima on the 3rd, and after a scant 2 days we left the hectic and dirty and city to relax in the desert oasis of Huacachina (which to our surprise, was also quite dirty). The night before our arrival we stayed at a cheap hostel in nearby Ica. I got my first taste of just how different our cultures can be that night when we sniffed out a dive bar near the plaza de Armas in Ica. When we ordered our beers we were given two glasses... A regular sized one, and one that was slightly smaller. Something about the smaller glass didn't feel right to me, but I cracked a joke about the dumb gringo drinking out of an ash tray and poured my beer into it anyway.
After downing half my beer, the serving girl came up and took it away from me, plopping down another regular sized glass in its place. I looked around and realized that every other table in the bar was sharing a single glass... They would top it off with their beer, drink down to the last sip, then dump the dregs into the smaller cup before passing the big glass on. Turns out I was drinking out of the swill cup. Chevere!
The next morning we hiked out of Ica into the tall dunes surrounding the city. We spent the day taking in the area... Met an awesome Hungarian girl named Katalina (who would become our partner in crime for the duration of our stay), and then marched into the dunes to pitch a tent in one of the coolest spots we´ve ever camped.
We woke up the next morning covered with sand, and decided it would be a fantastic idea to check into a hostel down near the lagoon for the next couple days. We stayed at an amazingly relaxing (and cheap) hostel with hammocks, banana trees, and a pool that also organized dune buggy tours into the desert. We ended up bunking with Kat, and went on a tour of a winery/pisco distillery that night, led by a smooth talker named Tony, and a Bolivian named either Donkey or Llama depending on how drunk he got. It was a blast, although llama spent most of the night trying to sit on my lap... Still scratching my head over that one.
Over the next couple days we were introduced to the delicious peruvian dish lomo saltado (beef strips sauteed with spices, red onions, tomatoes, and french fries), took a surprisingly thrilling dune buggy ride deep into the desert, practiced our espanol with a waiter who was trying to learn english, and came to terms with the fact that most public toilets in Peru lack both a seat, and paper. We capped our Huacachina experience with one more night camping in the dunes before heading back to Ica where we would catch a 13 hour bus ride to Arequipa, our next destination.
(check back in soon for Casey´s writeup of our time spent in Arequipa...Food poisoning, mixing pisco sours with our peruvian roommates, watching the locals throw trash in the river, airing of grievances, etc!)
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