We just got back to Cusco after spending several days in the tiny desert oasis town of Huacachina. Luckily we were able to catch some of the Carnaval craziness in Plaza del Armas when we returned... After an hour or so of throwing water balloons at children and spraying shaving cream in the faces of strangers, we returned to our apartment soaking wet and with colored soapiness in every open orifice on our faces.
Although it was lovely to lounge around in the sun for several days, we are relieved to be back. Anthony still isn't healthy, and a trip to the doctor happened the same afternoon we got back. He now has much-needed medicines for several infections that occurred from accidentally overusing the antibiotics he was on for the parasite, thus killing off all the good guys too.
We'd been thinking of this trip as our delayed honeymoon because when we got married a year and a half ago we'd only had a weekend for our honeymoon. Ironically, we couldn't even kiss! (I'll spare you photos of his white tongue :)). It was definitely a lesson in just making the best of your circumstances! Something that is infinitely valuable while traveling and living abroad...
The trip took us northwest for 17 hours on a huge bus via tiny, winding roads through the Andes. Sadly, I realized that my Argentine days of reading for hours on end on buses are over. Goodbye, sturdy stomach of my youth!
We'd originally been planning on spending time in the city of Ica, but quickly realized it wasn't what we had in mind. So we caught a taxi 4km to Huacachina, home to 115 citizens (Wikipedia). Highlights included: free-time for reading in hammocks, swimming in the lagoon, an adventurous dune-buggy ride, sand-boarding, gorgeous sunsets over the dunes, a vineyard tour with two awesome French women, actual corn chips with guacamole and, did I mention, HAMMOCKS.
