Ica is known for a 2 things: Pisco and Sand Dunes.
Pisco is an alcohol made from grapes, similar to grappa. It's a popular drink around Peru, usually used to make a cocktail called Pisco Sour. We spent a night crushing grapes to be used in the pisco and the Peruvian wine. (no we didn't wash our feet before crushing the grapes, it all adds to the flavor)
Sand Dunes - Ica is basically in the middle of the desert. The sand dunes are massive, which makes it perfect for dune-buggying and sand boarding.
We hopped in our 6 seater dune buggy around 4pm and slowly headed off into the dunes. As we got to the top of the first dune we all admired the amazing view. We were so caught up in the beauty of the desert that we didn't notice that we were inching towards the edge of a cliff. Before we knew it we were flying down a vertical sand dune at 100mph! It was a very fast, bone crunching ride up, down and sideways on the dunes. Luckily we were strapped in and encased in a roll cage. What an adrenaline rush!
As for the sand boarding - after our experience in J'Bay, South Africa - we consider ourselves pros by now. This of course turned out to be nothing more than a fantasy and we were rudely awaken as we tumbled down the dunes!
After watching the sun set over the desert we headed back and partied with Pisco sours!
