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| Other sites of interest |
In
the Province of Ica
Sanctuary
of the Lord of Luren
Visits:
Monday - Sunday during
Mass hours
The temple, built in
neoclassical style,
has three entrance
portals with a series
of brick arches and a
sharp-pointed tower at
the base of which is a
clock. The Lord of
Luren has been
identified with Ica
since colonial times,
being considered the
patron saint of the
city. Year after year,
thousands of devotees
join in to accompany
the Lord in the
religious procession
during Easter and the
third week of October.
María
Reiche Regional Museum
Visits:
Monday - Saturday
8:00-18:00 hrs; Sunday
9:00-14:00 hrs
Exhibits a collection
of pieces from the
cultures of Paracas,
Nazca, Huari, Ica and
Inca. In addition, you
can see an exhibition
of colonial and
republican paintings
and furniture.
Museum
of Engraved Stones
Visits:
Monday - Sunday
9:00-13:00 hrs and
16:00-20:00 hrs
The collector, Dr.
Javier Cabrera
Darquea, presents a
mysterious collection
of different stones
engraved with scenes
of human activity. As
a result of these
findings, the expert
suggests that Ica was
the seat of the oldest
culture in Perú.
The
Mansion of the Marquis
of Torre Hermosa
This
is one of the few
examples of viceregal
architecture that has
survived the
earthquakes and urban
growth. Outstanding is
its exquisite rococo
portal worked in
stone. It is known as
the Bolivar Mansion
because the Liberator
was accommodated there
when passing through
the city.
Vista
Alegre Wine Vaults
Visits:
Monday - Friday
9:00-14:00 hrs.
Traditional wine
vaults engaged in the
production of wine and
pisco. In spite of it
now being a modern
company, it preserves
traces of colonial
tradition in
processing the vines.
Tacama
Wine Vaults
Visits:
Monday - Sunday
9:00-15:00 hrs.
Engaged in the
production of wine and
pisco, it formerly
belonged to the
Jesuits and still
conserves the mansion
and the old stables.
Ocucaje
Wine Vaults
Visits:
Monday - Friday
9:00-12:00 hrs and
14:00-17:00 hrs,
Saturday 9:00-12:00
hrs
It preserves and
demonstrates to
visitors the long
viniculture tradition
of Ica. In its wine
vaults, the techniques
used for the
production of wine and
pisco can be seen.
Town
of Cachiche
There
is a tradition that
Cachiche was a town
famous for its witches
who could cure all
kinds of ailments and
injuries. At the
entrance to the town,
an image of a witch
has been erected on
the trunk of a huarango
tree.
Province
of Chincha
District
of Carmen
This
site was chosen to
give refuge to the old
slaves and their
descendants. The
slaves arrived from
places as distant as
Senegal, Guinea, Congo
and Angola. They were
brought to the
Peruvian coast in the
17th and 18th
centuries, to supply
the labor needs of the
haciendas San José
and San Regis, which
were engaged in the
cultivation of cotton,
sugar cane and
vineyards.
Sanctuary
of Melchorita
Melchora
Saravia Tasayco,
better known as La
Melchorita, was a
Franciscan Tertiary,
great devotee of Santa
Rosa de Lima; who,
to emulate her,
constructed a
hermitage in her house
and dedicated herself
to take care of the
poor and sick in the
town. She had a pious
spirit and kindly
soul, and was much
loved and respected by
all the townspeople,
who, after her death,
on December 4, 1951,
took her house as a
shrine. In the now
sanctuary made from
cane and straw
matting, the heavy
wooden bed on which
she slept can be seen.
For the people of
Chincha, there is no
doubt of her
saintliness.
Province
of Nazca
Paredones
It
is presumed that this
was an Inca
administrative center,
and consists of a
number of rooms,
terraces, patios, with
stone floors and adobe
walls.
Cahuachi
Ceremonial Center
It
consists of truncated
adobe pyramids and was
built by the Nazca
people (370 B.C.-550
A.D.). You can see an
open patio on one side
and a wide terrace
with roofed
enclosures; on the
tops of the larger
temples, such as the
Great Temple, large
rooms were found with
dozens of columns. The
majority of these
pyramids were
abandoned during the
5th and 6th centuries
A.D.
Province
of Palpa
Palpa
Lines and Figures
These
are situated in the
villages of
Sacramento, Pinchango
and Llipata. Similar
to the Nazca Lines,
these are enormous
geometric, zoomorphic
and phytomorphic
drawings.
Petroglyphs
of Chichictara
These
are spread over three
sectors in which it
has been possible to
distinguish more than
1200 designs carved on
volcanic and alluvial
rocks. There are
images of warriors,
cats, monkeys, deer,
camelidae, snakes,
birds, among others.
Province
of Pisco
Archaeological
Remains of Tambo
Colorado
This
Inca urban center is
the best preserved on
the coast. It is
presumed it was
constructed during the
government of Inca
Pachacútec to serve
as lodging for
soldiers and high
authorities. The name Tambo
Colorado comes
from joining the
quechua word
"Tampu",
which means resting
place and the Spanish
term
"colorado"
referring to the
coloring of its walls.
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| *Photographs: PromPerú |
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Ica
is known as the region of sand and sea, oases
and valleys. It is a native land, par
excellence, of zealous churchgoers and
witches, of pisco and popular devotions like
the Lord of Luren or the Sanctuary of Yauca.
It was in this land, in its sandy deserts,
that important pre-Columbian civilizations
emerged, leaving traces that have outlasted
the passing time and winds.
Founded in 1563 by Don Luis Jerónimo de
Cabrera, the city of Ica, capital of the
department with the same name, possesses
beautiful buildings, such as the Cathedral and
large mansions.
The road to Ica offers a variety of
attractions to the traveler. The first stop is
Chincha, a warm valley perfectly combining
fiesta and tradition. It is the center of a
culture emerging from the negro slaves from
the cotton plantations. A few kilometers
beyond, you reach the Paracas National Park,
the only protected area in Peru containing a
marine ecosystem within its environment. From
the port of Paracas, boat trips can be made to
the Ballestas Islands, where close up views of
sea lions, Humboldt penguins, flamingos or
parihuanas and sea birds may be seen.
To the south of the city of Ica is Lake
Huacachina (a relaxing oasis in the middle of
a coastal desert) and, some kilometers further
on, the Nazca Lines, a valuable archaeological
monument bequeathed to us by the people of the
ancient Nazca culture. It is an enormous
network of lines and drawings of animals and
plants, covering an area of about 350 km².
Flying over the Nazca Lines is an
unforgettable experience.
There are three important fiestas celebrated
in Ica: the wine harvest fiesta (Vendimia),
since Ica has numerous vineyards producing
excellent wines and piscos, and the fiestas of
the Lord of Luren and the Virgin of Carmen in
Chincha. During these fiestas you can partake
of all the dishes and sweets of Ica and, why
not, take the opportunity to visit the town of
Cachiche, renowned for its ancestral witches
that can cure all kinds of ailments.
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Tourist Attractions |
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 Lake
Huacachina
Huacachina
is a traditional resting place for people from
Ica. The lake appears like an oasis in the
middle of a desert, together with a splendid
landscape that harmonizes the sand dunes, palm
trees and huarango trees. Some of the
lake dwellers attribute curative properties to
the waters of the lake.
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 Ica
Cathedral
Visits: Monday - Sunday
during Mass hours
Initially it was part of the historical
monuments of the Company of Jesus. The
original 18th century construction was
restored in 1814. The church has two styles;
externally, the neoclassical style,
represented in its entrance portal, and in the
interior, the baroque style of the pulpit and
altars.
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 City
of Chincha
This city emerged as part of the cultivation
of cotton, its first inhabitants being
descendants of the plantation slaves. On the
outskirts, there are many pre-Columbian tombs
(Huacas), amongst which the Huaca La
Centinela stands out because of its large
proportions.
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 San
José Hacienda
Its construction dates from the end of the
17th century. The ranch house maintains the
friendly and traditional style of the old
south coast haciendas. Its main attractions
are the baroque altar in the chapel and the
underground passages by which the slaves were
brought with their eyes covered with bandages
to prevent them from fleeing.
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 Lost
City of Huayurí
This archaeological
complex, surrounded by hills, has narrow
streets leading on to wide terraces. The walls
are made from irregular stones bonded by muddy
clay. The site dates from the Late
Intermediate (1200-1400 A.D.), the period
immediately before the Inca rule.
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 Aqueducts
These date from the time
of the Nazca Culture (200 A.D.-700 A.D.).
There are 46 aqueducts of which 32 are still
in use. They were constructed of stones,
flagstones and huarango trunks, which
have resisted the passage of centuries. On the
site you can see the wells dug in the form of
a spiral enabling better quality of water to
be obtained.
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 Nazca
Lines
This
archaeological monument consists of an
enormous network of lines and drawings of
animals and plants attributed to the Nazca
Culture. The lines are situated between km 419
and km 465 of the South Pan-American Highway,
covering an area of about 350 km². The
discovery of these figures is attributed to
Toribio Mejía Xesspe, in 1927. Later on, they
were studied by Paul Kosok, Hans Horkheirmer
and María Reiche. The latter devoted 50 years
to study and research on the site.
In order to view the lines in all their
splendor a viewing tower 12 m high has been
built, from which one may partially appreciate
the figures of The Hand and The Tree, although
over flying the site in a small aircraft is
necessary in order to appreciate them in their
true dimensions.
The Nazca Lines were declared to be part of
Humanity’s Cultural Heritage in 1994.
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 Paracas
National Park
With
an area of 335 thousand hectares, this reserve
is the only protected area in Perú that
comprises a marine ecosystem. The site is
refuge for sea lions, Humboldt penguins,
flamingos or parihuanas and other
birds.
The reserve can be visited by car and by
water. The journey by sea consists of a boat
trip to the Ballestas Islands, inhabited by
sea lions and other species of marine fauna,
and a view of attractive archaeological
remains such as The Candelabra or amazing
works of nature such as The Cathedral.
The Candelabra, situated to the northwest of
Paracas Bay, is a geoglyphic more than 120 m
long and which is also called the Three
Crosses or Trident. Undoubtedly, the best way
to see it is from the sea. The Cathedral,
located between the Yumaque and Supay beaches,
is a large rock formation eroded by wind and
sea, in the interior of which there are sea
otters or chingungos, a species in
danger of extinction, as well as various sea
bird species.
To understand the importance of the Paracas
National Park, you should visit its
Interpretation Center, which offers an
interesting explanation of the biodiversity
and dangers affecting the zone. On the other
hand, the Site Museum Julio C. Tello
presents a permanent exhibition of pieces of
Paracas culture, discovered in the excavations
made in cemeteries in the area. Visiting hours
for the museum are: Monday - Sunday,
9:00-15:00 hrs.
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