Peru - Day 6 - Ballestas Island, Huacachina, Sandboarding and more

For the morning of the 6th day, we booked a speedboat tour to Ballestas Island. We started at 8 am.

First, we visited a rock drawing of unknown origin (similar to the Nazca Lines) before heading out to sea. During the boat ride, we saw dolphins and seals, although only from a distance.

When we arrived at Ballestas Island, there was so much to see. A variety of birds, pelicans, seals, sea lions, and more.

These islands are also known as the little Galapagos Islands.

At 11 am, we took a tour to the National Reserve of Paracas. There were 4 different stops.

The first stop was a field that used to resemble a cathedral but was destroyed in an earthquake in 2007. Then, we went to a beach with a view of a rock formation with different layers of rock. After that, we went to a spot with a view of the coast and the red beach. The last stop was the red beach itself.

Around 2 pm, we continued our journey by bus with Peru Hop to the next destination - Huacachina. Huacachina is a small oasis in the middle of a desert with huge sand dunes.

We arrived at 3:30 pm. Perfect timing because we had booked a dune buggy and sandboarding tour for 4 pm.

First, we went into the desert with the dune buggy. Unfortunately, despite asking multiple times, we were not allowed to drive ourselves. However, the ride was amazing because our driver kept the speed up. After a 30-minute ride, we arrived at some dunes where we went down lying and sometimes standing on a sandboard (a type of snowboard). It was quite challenging as the bindings on the sandboard were velcro and kept coming undone or were not there at all. It was awesome!

On the way back, we made a stop in the desert to watch the sunset. It was not as cool as expected.

In the evening, we went to a BBQ to end the exhausting day.

End of Day 6.