Ica | Places in Peru | Articles

Places in Peru

Ica

ica Ica, an esoteric land, one of profound religious faith, sand dunes, valleys, and sun, is an agricultural zone where you see interspersed among the extensive desert area fields of cotton, butter beans, asparagus, citrus tree orchards, as well as vineyards. Some of the most important civilizations of ancient Peru established themselves here like the Paracas and the Nasca who left a legacy that has endured the passage of time and the violence of the sand and wind.

The Paracas National Reserve is a must stop; this State protected natural area is, among its beaches and staggeringly beautiful rock formations, the refuge to fur seals, otters, penguins, dolphins, and more than two hundred species of birds such as flamingos, waders, and guano birds. In the province of Nasca, a little more than one hundred kilometers from Ica, there are the Nasca Lines, one of the greatest archeological mysteries of the world. UNESCO placed this site on the World Cultural Heritage List in 1994. Formed by a series of lines and gigantic drawings traced upon the sands, the Nasca lines feature figures like a spider, a hummingbird, a monkey, etc. that can only be truly appreciated from flying above them.

You can also visit the vineyards of the department, where they produce excellent piscos and wines, the Huacachina Lake, a beautiful oasis situated among the sand dunes just a few minutes away from Ica, and Chincha, the valley which gave birth to the Afro-Peruvian music.

Tourist Attractions

Cathedral, city of Ica
Main Square. Visiting hours: Mon. - Sun. during mass times
The original construction dates from the eighteenth century, but it was remodeled in 1814. The outside of the church is of neoclassical style, and inside the Baroque style prevails as seen in the pulpit and altars.

Adolfo Bermudez Jenkins Regional Museum
Avenida Ayabaca, block 8. Telephone: (056) 23-4383 / 23-2881. Visiting Hours: Mon. – Fri. 8:00 A.M. – 7:00 P.M. Sat. and holidays 9:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. Sun. 9:00 A.M. – 1:30 P.M.
It featured a collection of pieces from the Paracas, Nasca, Huari, Ica, and Inca cultures. There are also Colonial canvases and furniture and some Republican objects.

Marquis of Torre Hermosa House
Calle Libertad, block 1, Main Square.
It is one of the few examples of Vice-royal architecture that has survived earthquakes and urban growth. It possesses an exquisite Rococo façade worked in stone. It is also known as the Casa Bolivar since it lodged the Liberator during his stay in the city.

Vista Alegre Bodega
3 km / 2 miles northeast of Ica (10 minutes). Telephone: (056) 23-2929 / 23-8735. Visiting hours: Mon. – Fri. 9:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M., Sat. – Sun. 9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.

A traditional bodega dedicated to the elaboration of wine and pisco, it still maintains characteristics of Colonial practices of grape processing.

Tacama Vineyard
7 km / 4 miles northeast of Ica (45 minutes). Telephone: (056) 22-8395 7 22-8394. Visiting hours: Mon. – Sun. 9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
It is dedicated to the elaboration of wine and pisco. It was owned by the Jesuits during Colonial times, and the mansion and the old stables of the epoch still remain.

Ocucaje Bodega
Avenida Principa. 34 km / 21 miles southwest of Ica (45 minutes). Telephone: (056) 40-8011 / 40-8012. Fax: (056) 40-8018. Visiting hours: Mon. – Fri. 9:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. and 2:00 P.M. – 5:00 P.M. Sat. 9:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M.
The bodega demonstrates long used traditional techniques of the department for the production of pisco and wine.

Traditional Wine Producing Bodegas
In these bodegas, they elaborate pisco in the traditional way using distillers made during the Colonial time. In the Ica Valley, there are more than 85 traditional bodegas, the most famous being Lazo, Catador, Sotelo, Alvarez, Mendoza, and Acuache.

Huacachina Lake
5 km / 3 miles southwest of Ica (5 minutes)
It is a traditional relaxation spot for the people of Ica. The lake looks like an oasis in the middle of a desert, forming a splendid landscape of dunes, palm trees, and acacias. Some people believe the water to have medicinal properties.

Town of Cachiche
4 km / 2 miles southwest of Ica (5 minutes)
The tradition says that Cachiche was famous for its witches who healed all types of diseases and undid curses. You can see the seven heads palm trees, the (popular name given to this palm tree) the trunk of which produces six further palm trees.

Los Frailes Megalith Complex
5 km / 3 miles east of Ica (10 minutes)
It is a group of wind eroded, strangely shaped rocks. The figures of a turtle, a monkey’s head, a toad, and an astronaut are visible. There is a natural lookout where you can see the entire city of Ica.

Beaches and Deserts
60 km / 37 miles from Ocucaje (3 hours)
Area of beautiful beaches, perfect for fishing and underwater hunting. It is necessary to take full camping gear since there is no lodging. To reach the area, you must hire a guide and rent a 4 x 4 vehicle. The main beaches are El Morro, El Negro, La Hierba, Lomitas, Oyeros, Antana, Barlovento, and La Cueva. You can also practice sandboard in the desert dunes.

Chincha

City of Chincha Alta
Close to kilometer marker 202 of the Pan-American Highway South
The first inhabitants of these lands were the Yauyos, whose feline god, “Chinchay”, probably gave birth to the word Chincha. Later, the area was inhabited by the descendants of the slaves forced to work on the cotton plantations.

San Jose Plantation House
15 km / 9 miles southeast of Chincha Alta (20 minutes). Telephone: Lima 444-5242 / 444-5524. Ica (056) 22-1458
It was built at the end of the seventeenth century. The plantation house maintains the warm and traditional style proper to the old southern coastal plantations. Its main attractions are the Baroque altar in the chapel and the catacombs where they kept the slaves blindfolded to keep them from escaping.

La Centinela Huaca
8 km / 5 miles from the Pan-American Highway South, northwest of Tambo de Mora.
It is an archaeological site attributed to the Chinchas (1200 A.D. – 1450 A.D.), who had built it before being conquered by the Incas. Later, the Incas modified its original structure, incorporating some of their own elements.

District of El Carmen
10 km / 6 miles south of Chincha Alta (10 minutes)
The old slaves and their descendents lived here. The slaves arrived from Senegal, Guinea, Congo, and Angola, brought to the Peruvian coast during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to work in the cotton and sugar cane fields and in the vineyards.

La Melchorita Sanctuary
10 km / 6 miles from Chincha Alta (5 minutes)
Melchora Saravia Tasayco, better known as La Melchorita, was a Franciscan Tertiary who devoted her life to taking care of the poor and sick of the town. After her death on 4th December 1951, her faithful converted her house into a sanctuary.

Nasca

Antonini Didactic Museum
Avenida La Cultura 600. Telephone (056) 52-3444, Fax (056) 52-3100. Visiting hours: Mon. – Sun. 9:00 A.M. – 7:00 P.M.
A collection of archaeological pieces of the different stages of the Nasca culture as well as trophy heads, musical instruments like pan flutes, textiles, mummies, etc. are exhibited in this museum. These discoveries are the result of the excavations done in “Cahuachi”, the largest mud maid ceremonial center in the world. The museum also provides the chance to see the Bisambra canal, which shows the magnificent hydraulic engineering work of the Nascas.

Nasca Lines
Pampas of San Jose. 25 km / 16 miles from Nasca (15 minutes). Kilometer marker 149 of the Pan-American Highway South
It is a vast network of lines and drawings of animals and plants credited to the Nasca culture covering an area of approximately 350 km2 / 135 miles2. Some of the best drawn figures are the hummingbird, the dog, the monkey, and the long-tailed mockingbird.
The German, Maria Reiche, devoted 50 years of her life to studying and researching the area and came to the conclusion that it was an astronomical calendar. From a 12 meter / 39 feet lookout, you can partially observe the shapes of the hand and the tree. However, in order to appreciate the drawings fully, it is recommended to fly over the area in a small airplane. The Nasca Lines were placed on the World Cultural Heritage List in 1994.

Paredones
Kilometer marker 1 of the Nasca-Puquio Highway (5 minutes from Nasca)
It is an archaeological site that probably was an Inca administrative center. Formed by numerous rooms, terraces, and patios, its buildings have stone foundations and adobe walls.

Cantalloc Aqueduct
4 km / 2 miles from Nasca (15 minutes)
It is an aqueduct built by the Nasca culture which still works today. Flagstones and acacia trunks were used to build it and they have resisted the march of time.

Cahuachi Ceremonial Center
30 km / 19 miles western of Nasca (30 minutes)
This complex of truncated adobe pyramids built by the Nascas features a patio and a wide terrace with covered rooms. On top of the main temples, huge rooms with dozens of columns were found. The majority of these pyramids were abandoned during the fifth and sixth centuries A.D.

Palpa

Palpa Lines and Figures
Kilometer marker 400 of the Pan-American Highway South
These are enormous zoomorphic and phytomorphic geometric drawings similar to the Nasca Lines. They are located in the towns of Sacramento, Pinchango, and Llipata.

Chichictara Petroglyphs
Village of Chichicara. 10 km / 6 miles east of Palpa (15 minutes)
You can see rocks carved with different images of warriors, felines, monkeys, deer, camelids, snakes, birds, and others.

Lost City of Huayuri
Kilometer marker 384 of the Pan-American Highway South; take the turnoff to the town of San Francisco.
Archeological complex formed by narrow streets that lead to wide promenades. The place predates the Inca empire and was most likely built during the Late Intermediate Period (1200 A.D. – 1400 A.D.).

Pisco - Paracas

Tambo Colorado Archeological Remains
Kilometer marker 45 of the Libertadores Highway
It is a very well preserved Inca urban center, possibly built during the time of the Inca Pachacutec as a lodge for soldiers and high-level authorities.

Paracas National Reserve
250 km / 155 miles south of Lima (3 hours by car)
The reserve’s 335.000 hectares is a refuge for fur seals, Humboldt penguins, flamingos (parihuanas), and many other birds. You can visit many different natural and archeological attractions in the reserve. One of them is the El Candelabro (The Candelabra), a geoglyph of more than 120 meters / 394 feet long, better appreciated from the ocean.

Ballestas Islands
They are located outside the reserve area. They constitute the habitat of a great variety of birds and sea lions, which you can approach by motor boat. This excursion is one of the most regular ones from Paracas.

Paracas: between the desert and the sea

The desert and the sea come together in spectacular fashion in Paracas, in the department of Ica, just a few hours south from the city of Lima. The cliffs that fringe the beaches are teeming with life: millions of birds that live here year-round, and thousands of others that fly from the Northern Hemisphere and from further south, ranging from guano birds to Humboldt penguins.
Boats set out from the port to tour the Ballestas Islands, giving visitors a chance to gaze at the sea lion colonies. By car, one can reach the port of Punta Pejerrey, from where one can look out across the hillside at the candlestick-like figure of the Candelabro, carved into the sand with a similar technique to the Nazca Lines, although possibly of a different origin: theories range from pirates marking a treasure hiding place to soldiers fighting for Latin American independence from Spain.
Back on the traditional circuit, the road leads to the on-site museum and the ruins of the burial grounds of the Paracas culture (700 BC), whose weaving skills have been admired the world over. A trail leads down to a protected bay, the natural habitat of flamingoes, the scarlet-and-white birds that inspired the colors of the Peruvian flag. They are not to be disturbed. At sunset, the Paracas coast spins through a range of colors, the signal for nostalgic visitors to return to the city.

Useful Information

Altitude
Capital: Ica (406 masl / 1332 fasl )
Altitude: Lowest point: 2 masl / 7 fasl (Paracas)
Highest point: 3796 masl / 12.454 fasl (San Pedro de Huacarpana)

Climate
The department of Ica features a varied terrain with extensive plains, deserts, and some valleys. The city of Ica has a sunny climate almost all year long with an annual average maximum temperature of 32ºC (89ºF) and a minimum of 9ºC (49ºF).

Access Routes
By land: Lima – Ica: 303 km / 188 miles on the Pan-American Highway South (4 hours by car)
By air: There are no regular flights. Air taxi service from Lima is available.

Distances From The City Of Ica
Chincha Alta(Province of Chincha) 100 km (62 miles) / 1 hour
Nasca(Province of Nasca) 147 km (91 miles) / 2 hours
Palpa(Province of Palpa)97 km (60 miles) / 1 hour
Pisco(Province of Pisco) 60 km (37 miles) / 50 minutes