The city of Ica is located in a valley which, despite its lack of water, is an ever-growing agricultural oasis and a difficult place to forget due to the silence of its streets, its enchanting people and its lovely sunrises and sunsets. Consequently many travelers decide to come back before they even leave the city, so they can listen once again to the stories of the old Peruvians and visit the dunes, the desert and the sea.

The Huacachina Lagoon is surrounded by Royal Palms, Date Palms, Huarangos, and desert sand dunes. The Lagoon, with its emerald colored waters, is located five kilometers from the city. A local legend tells us that when there is a full moon you can hear a sorrowful cry of a woman who decided to drown herself when she found out her fiancé was killed at war.

The Paracas National Reserve has as its center the Ballestas islands, teeming with wildlife; and clear, blue waters; paradisiacal beaches; rocky peaks; rocks sculptured by the sea and the wind, all in a place where the sea meets the sand dunes of the desert. The reserve has an extension of 335,000 square meters, and is the only protected reserve in the country that includes the sea.

Types of aquatic life to be seen here are seals (Otaria byronia et Arctocephalus australis), Humboldt penguins (Spheniscus humboldt), the sea cat or chingungo (Lutra felina), dolphins and porpoises and more than 200 species of birds, both migratory as well as resident, such as the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) and flamingos or parihuanas (Phoenicopterus chilensis).

The "Candelabro" (Candelabrum), next to Paracas National Reserve, is located near the port of El Chaco, from where small boats set sail for the Ballestas Islands. Halfway out to sea we can see the famous "Candelabro", a quite unusual figure etched into the desert which could be related to the Nazca hieroglyphics, although some people believe that it was made by pirates.

Excursions & Points of Interest

The Achirana of the Inca is an irrigation channel built during the era of Inca expansion, around 500 years ago, which still provided water to the districts of Tate and its surrounding area.
Cachiche is a settlement known for its "quacks and witches" who are capable of solving any kind of emotional problem. A quiet town located about four kilometers from the city; it has a famous chapel built in 1856 with some symbols related to "santeria" (witchcraft) to be seen on its facade.
Cahuachi, about 17 kms from Nazca, was a ceremonial, or perhaps an administrative center, where you can see two pyramids made out of adobe or mudbrick, as well as large plazas and cemeteries. It has a surface area of about 25 km². Most research indicates that this complex was the capital of the Nazca culture. In the vicinity of Cahuachi there is a set of lines made from wooden stakes of "huarango" (a typical tree in the area) which probably indicates the presence of tombs, corresponding to the later periods of Nazca.
The Cantayoc Aqueducts, located 4 kilometers east of the city of Nazca, were built in stone by "hydraulic engineers" of the Nazca Culture. It consists of a network of irrigation channels and underground aqueducts, which still function, watering local crop fields. These Aqueducts are really filtering galleries which can reach down to around 12 meters in depth.
The Paredones, an Inca settlement from where you can see some lines called ´The Loom´ because they have the appearance of a needle wrapped in bundles of wool and thread.
Chauchilla is an impressive Inca cemetery located about 28 kilometers southeast of Nazca town. It is thought that these ruins were built about 1100 BC. Some researchers state that more than 400 tombs were built and that 1000 corpses are buried here. Nowadays you can visit 12 tombs, with mummies of both children and adults.