Sunset on the Dunes

November 13^th, 2021

Later that day, after the marriage proposal, Fernando was heading up to do a few more tandems.  Being my last afternoon in Huacachina, I decided that I had to join even though it would have been easier to hang out at the bar and have a few beers with travellers I had met.  I grabbed my gear and began hiking up in the sand towards the dune buggy area.  I could see Fernando with his passenger further up the dune which was on the opposite side from where I had flown yesterday when Sibel and Reinier had gone on their tandem flights.

 Part way up, looking back at the oasis:

The dune buggy meeting point:

It was a slog heading up the steep slope in the fine sand.  I followed some previous tracks that zig zagged their way up the dune.  I watched as Fernando took off and he headed east along the slope, made another pass and was soon on the ground less than 2 minutes later.  Damn, that doesn’t look promising.  Oh well, I’m already halfway up, might as well continue.  I found the owner of the tracks about 3/4s of the way up the dune sitting down and soaking in the sites.  I said a quick hello and continued on, but wow, what a difference in the effort required to bust your own trail, especially carrying a paraglider!

The top of the dune was a knife edge of sand and the view over the back and to the west towards the desert was stunning.  It was so steep that I couldn’t fathom how I would lay out my wing without it sliding down.  

A 360 view from the top:

Looking over the back of the dune:

Fernando had launched a bit lower in a little bowl, so I ventured down there and assessed the conditions.  Unfortunately, the wind direction had changed and was blowing across and down the slope.  Unlaunchable conditions.

My view from the launch spot:

I could see Fernando looking up at me and we exchanged a few Instagram messages about the situation.  Looked like I was hooped.  Oh well, at least I got some exercise.  I decided to hang around to watch sunset as that, along with dune buggying and sandboarding are the three big activities in Huacachina.  It was a decent one and the hike back down to the hostel was much easier than the climb up!

A near miss of a dirt bike and a dune buggy:

I wrote my name on the back side of the dune...look how the sand drifted thanks to the steep slope:

Little dune buggies in the sand:

Getting close to sunset:

Such cool formations:

The sunset a little lower down the dune:

Hiking back down:

Sometimes you win, sometimes you just hike...