From 27.12. to 30.12. I spent four days traveling in the Ica region south of Lima.
After arriving at a hotel in Ica city on the first day, we went straight to the nearby Huacachina, an oasis in the middle of a desert, like something out of a fairy tale.
You can take buggy tours through the dunes around Huacachina and admire the beautiful desert landscape.
We make frequent stops to enjoy the view, take photos, or go sandboarding down the dunes with a board.
After a night at the hotel and a relaxing morning by the pool, we continued to Paracas on the second day, a small tourist town about an hour from Ica. One of the attractions of Paracas is the large nature reserve, which offers a desert landscape with several beaches along the coast.
Playa Roja
Playa La Mina
By car, you can drive for many kilometers through the area and stop to see new landscapes. From a distance, you can even observe flamingos. On the third day, we took a boat to the Ballestas Islands, a small group of islands off the coast of Paracas. These islands are known for the many animals that live there: sea lions, birds, and penguins. Unfortunately, the number of animals has decreased in recent years, and we were only able to see two Humboldt penguins from a distance.
On the way to the islands, you can also see the famous rock formation La cara de Cristo, as well as the Candelabro, a symbol drawn in the sand many years ago, whose origin and meaning are still unknown.
La cara de Cristo Candelabro, das Zeichen im Sand Finally, before returning to Lima on the fourth day, we visited Tambo Colorado near Pisco. This is a city built by the Inca from stone and clay, whose ruins can still be visited today.
Compared to other Inca sites, Tambo Colorado is very unknown and is hardly visited by tourists, although the ruins are still quite well preserved and the view of the beginning Andean landscape is truly worth it.
