08-20-2006 Sand Dunes of Huacachina

Huacachina is a beautiful little desert oasis with a lake close to the city of Ica. It is purely a tourism town. Huacachina is surrounded by the palm trees and massive sand dunes . Huacachina is also famous for a very unusual activity, namely sand-boarding.





The trip of the Polonia Ensemble to Peru was more than just a trip, it was an amazing adventure, and a wonderful experience full of memories that will last us all a lifetime. This trip provided us with many opportunities not only to perform and teach others about the Polish culture, but also to learn about the culture of others. Through activities such as sand boarding in the sand dunes of Peru, we learned about a part of the Peruvian culture and had a great experience.
The thrilling experience began at about noon when the Polonia Ensemble left the hotstal and drove up the sand dunes in ATV’s. This by itself was quite exciting because many of us never have had the opportunity to go riding on sand dunes before with the wind blowing, motor roaring, and everyone just having an amazing time. Once we reached the top of a dune we were astonished by the beautiful landscapes. After taking pictures that will help us remember this great day of our trip in Peru, we were finally ready to start the real fun. We all got the boards out of the ATV’s and we went to the edge of the dune. Though some people were fearless and went down right away, others were a little more apprehensive, but in the end everyone found a way to enjoy themselves during this great day. While the parents mainly just watched and took photos, the dancers took advantage of the great opportunity and went down the dunes as much as possible. Even though we were not all successful going down as perfectly as we wanted to, and many times we would encounter some type of obstacle and end up falling into the sand that was everywhere, even in our mouths and eyes, we persevered and in the end our sand boarding skills improved enormously.
Now we can come back from Peru and not only have wonderful memories and knowledge about the Peruvian culture, but we can all proudly say that we even learned a new skill.
--Karolina Maslanka