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Sand dunes near Ica

On our way back from Ayacucho, Ruthie and I involuntarily passed by Ica where we had a day to spend. Like most tourists coming there, we went to the Laguna de Huacachina ('hua' is pronounced as 'wa') which is beautiful but overcrowded. To escape the masses we decided to buy water and head out in the dessert, walking barefoot for hours along the soft ridges of the sand dunes before sitting down to watch the spectacle of the settling sun, only momentarily interrupted by the humming of an occasional sand buggy driving a load of tourists around in the valley floor far below us.

August 4th, 2011

The edge of a dune trails it's way to the left in the bottom of the picture

The wind kept blowing sand everywhere. It's a miracle the dunes are still standing.

Sand, shaped and reshaped many times over by the wind

Light coming over the dune is blowing up sand to give the edge a golden glow

The view away from Ica after a couple of hours of walking

The view back as the sun is about to settle

We were standing at the highest dune we could see, to watch the sun go down