Notes from The Sandman — Someday Sherpa

Mirage or magic? Peru's just raised the bar again by offering endless sand dunes and a genuine oasis.

Imagine boarding a night bus in the mountains of Peru and when you wake up - BAM 💥 there's towering sand dunes as far as the eye can see! Huacachina is one of a kind.

Question is...without embracing your inner Lawrence of Arabia, what's there to do in a desert? Oh you had to ask didn't you, well for this I can help 😎.

Go all 'Presidents of the US'
For those missing this reference I'm referring to their song "Little Dune Buggy". Strap your ass in for a white-knuckle ride up, down, over and round scarily vertical lumps of sand. The drivers treat this like an audition for Mad Max. Just scream and enjoy the ride.

Sunset tours are best but they'll attack the desert from dawn till dusk. We paid $40Soles each and were out for over 2hrs.

Fly down a dune face first
When your buggy driver stops at the edge of a huge and steep dune beware. He's going to hand you a snowboard with a twist. No standing or sitting on this bad boy, oh no, you lie on your belly, facing down the dune. Hold on for dear life as it's eye-wateringly fast. Oh yeh, each buggy stop visits a more extreme slope 😱. This is included in your buggy tour cost.

How to survive:

Legs apart
Wear shoes as your feet act as the breaks
Let it fly

Sandboard or sandski
Usually the domain of winter resorts covered in glorious pow-pow, Huacachina has flipped this idea on its head and used what nature gave them - mammoth dunes. Gear's rentable from $30-40Soles per half day but that's where things stop being easy.

No lifts: hiking is the order of the day so rent gear early or late as even in winter it hits 25-28deg at the sun's height. I didn't try skiing but imagine the weight of boots and skis wouldn't make a hike any fun
Wax: surprise, surprise - sand is grippy. You'll need to clean and wax your gear before each run but it doesn't take too long
Speed: this is not for the timid or those still rocking the 'pizza' style of skiing. You need speed and plenty of it to carve let alone complete a run without re-waxing.

Now I may not be selling it to you but think on this...how many times can you say "dude did you see see my line down that dune"!!!

Chillin' the f**k out:
Yes, after trekking the Salkantay route to Machu Picchu we deserved to kick back. Step up Desert Nights Eco Camp, a collection of 13 luxury tents accompanied by a pool with swim-up bar. Beer-o-clock 🍻 I hear you say! Aside from tasting the above desert activities we didn't leave our sanctuary of sun loungers, table service, cold beverages and sunshine. In our opinion it's the only place to stay.