Ica - Winery

Aside from sandboarding there isn't much to do in Huacachina so one night we decide to do the night winery tour in Ica. The winery is normally not active except for the two weeks of the year when the grapes are ripe and we just happened to be there during those two weeks. We paid 40 soles ($16) for the tour and were picked up in a "party bus" that took us to the winery. Once at the winery we got a tour and found out that in addition to wine, they also make Pisco (a popular Peru liquor).

Trevor after his Pisco shot

On the tour they actually had us try a glass of Pisco that was 70% acholoc. Everyone in our group took a sip before making a disgusted face at how strong it was. Once we had all sampled the Pisco the person maning the equipment then re-filled the cup and cugged the entire glass. We found out that since the winery is only active for 2 weeks they actually encourage the employees to drink so they work the long hours during this time.

Crushing grapes

After seeing how Pisco was made we then got to help with the grape crushing. They took us to this big cement pit that was filled with grapes. They then asked who had the dirtiest feet. This was pretty much all of us since we had all been in the desert all day wearing flip flops. After showing how dirty our feet were we were then told to jump into the grapes and that dirty feet were actually good for the wine and made it taste better. So we all jumped into the grapes and started crushing away. It was actually pretty disgusting, you would actually  sink down til the grapes were just above your knees. While we were crushing the grapes they then started serving us different types of wine. It was at this point in the tour you could tell they were out to get us all drunk. They started with a shot of Picso (this time the normal 40% alchohol) and you couldn't refuse the shot. Also if you made a disgusted face after taking the shot they made you take a second. They also filled your cup with the different types of wine and would never let you have an empty glass.

After half an hour of crushing grapes and drinking they then cleaned off out legs and took us to an area to continue drinking and encourage dancing. It was at this point that you could see everyone really starting to get drunk. Trevor and I weren't really a big fan of the wine and Pisco so we weren't in bad shape at the end of the night but everyone else on our tour except one girl who didn't drink much either. The bus ride back to Huacachina was quite interesting with at least 5 people on our bus throwing up and a ton of very drunk people. So if you are in Haucahina and want a good evening of entertainment and drinking the Ica wine tour can definitely be an interesting option.

Trepanned Skull

If you are looking for other stuff to do around Ica we also visited the  Museo Regional de Ica where we spent an hour looking at Inca artifacts, weavings, preserved mummies, trepanned skulls (they used to deform their skulls) and shrunken heads.