The Gwinners: Fiestas Patrias

On July 28-29, Peru celebrates its independence from Colonial rule.
All of the commercial and residential buildings are required to display a flag, and people proudly wear flag pins on their lapels.

True the the tradition in many countries the independence celebration is a national holiday, which this year meant we benefitted from a 4-day weekend.

It was a good opportunity to escape the grayness of Lima for a few days, which we did by heading down to the southern desert of Ica and Paracas.

We spent a night in the oasis of Huacachina, formerly a spa getaway for the upper class, which has now taken on a more bohemian look. The primary activities include boat rides on the small pond in the middle of the oasis. This is popular with local Peruvian families who gaily toodle around in paddle boats, row boats, and other floating vehicles. The other big attraction is to take a dune buggy ride through the miles and miles of giant sand dunes. For the fearless, you can also go sand-boarding, which is sort of like snowboarding or sledding, but on sand. It's harder to steer than on snow, but tons of fun.

We also visited the regional museum in Ica, which has an impressive collection of Nasca, Paracas, and other pre-Inca and Inca artifacts.

And we spent time in the Paracas reserve, which remains one of our favorite places here. The colors of the desert, and contrast with sky and water are quite impressive.

Driving into Huacachine, we hit a traffic jam. The town only has a population of about 100 people, but it's a very popular place for locals to go for a fun evening, and this was a holiday.

The Huacachina lagoon is really an oasis in a landscape of endless dunes.

Britt and Alan watching the crowd and setting sun from a big dune above the lagoon.

Ready for our dune buggy ride. The bandage on Valerie's chin was covering 5 stitches from an earlier fall, and kept her from trying out the sandboarding.