The city of Ica is located south of Lima, 4 hours drive, off the coast of the Pacific Ocean. The city has witnessed the flourishing of such ancient cultures as Ica, Paracas and Nazca. The river of the same name irrigates and nourishes the desert lands. The best vineyards in the country are laid out on the territory of local oases. The Ica region also produces the most popular national drink, Pisco, local grape vodka. The Ica Regional Museum boasts an interesting collection of Ica mummies, scalps, trophy heads and knotted letters (“quipu”) of the Inca culture, Nazca pottery, Paracas textiles and feathers.
For lovers of extreme entertainment, there will be a unique opportunity to ride a buggy on the sand dunes. This breathtaking safari will certainly be interesting even for the most sophisticated travelers. The average height of the sand dunes is 40 meters. You can also go sandboarding here. From the airfield of the city of Ica, you can fly over the mysterious Nazca Lines.
According to militarynous.com, Ica is located 306 km from Lima (about 4 hours by car/bus).
Nazca lines
One of the “pearls” of the country is the famous Nazca desert, located in the department of Ica in the south of the country, between the rivers Ingenio and Nazca. The vast (about 500 sq. km), almost square stone plateau, lying in a harsh climate, is dotted with mysterious drawings of colossal (from 40 m to 8 km) sizes visible only from the air, made by one continuous line carved in stone. The date of their creation is tentatively estimated as 350-700 BC. e., but it is not completely known why they were created. Several hundred different figures – from squares and simple straight lines to stylized images of animals, birds and people in strange attire (and many types of depicted living objects simply do not occur in the Nazca region), cover a huge area, sometimes intersecting with each other,
The mysterious lines and drawings of Nazca in 1927 were accidentally discovered during a flight by a Peruvian pilot.
In 1994 UNESCO proclaims the Nazca lines a cultural heritage of mankind
Paracas National Reserve The Paracas
National Reserve is located 50 km west of the city of Ica. It was founded in 1975 and is the only marine reserve in Peru. The purpose of his organization was the preservation of marine ecosystems and the characteristic formations of coastal tropical semi-deserts, as well as the protection of the historical heritage of the Paracas culture, whose representatives lived here before the arrival of the Incas.
Paracas resembles a lunar landscape – it is a deserted peninsula, the soil is rammed like a stone, there is no vegetation. On the ocean, the purest water and sand.
This coastal rich ecosystem, spread over an area of 355,000 hectares, consists of deserts, beaches, islands, coastal cliffs with arches, grottoes and is washed by the ocean. Here, in their natural environment, flamingos, pelicans, penguins, dolphins, fur seals and a huge number of different fish and crustaceans are protected.
But the most interesting place for tourists are the Ballestas Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean opposite the part of the Paracas National Reserve, located on land. These rocky islands are home to fur seals, Humboldt penguins, pelicans, boobies, Inca terns and cormorants.
Chandelier
One of the most gigantic ancient drawings in South America is located a few kilometers off the coast of Peru. Engraved into the sloping hillock of one of the islands located in Pisco Bay, this mysterious object is shaped like a candlestick, which is why it was given the name “Candelabra”. It is more than 200 meters long, and its outlines are visible for several kilometers. Pottery found near the Candelabra has been dated by archaeologists to 200 BC. BC. and belongs to the Paracas culture. It is still a mystery why this image was drawn. It is assumed that the symbol could serve as a kind of indicative sign for sailors. Some researchers believe that the Candelabra is somehow connected with the Nazca lines, despite the fact that they are separated by more than a hundred kilometers of desert and a few more kilometers of sea,
Climate
This area of Peru is always sunny and dry.
IKA | JAN | FEB | IDA | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AVG | SEN | Oct | Nov | Dec |
Pace. air, C | 23 | 24 | 23 | 22 | 19 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 21 |
Precipitation, mm | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0 |