Huacachina

Lima

Huacachina in Peru

Dune landscape around Huacachina

Huacachina by night, in the background the city of Ica

Huacachina is a place in the region of Ica in Peru . It is located in an oasis ( Laguna de Huacachina ) a few kilometers west of the city of Ica . The resident population is around 100, plus a few 1000 guests.

The place is strongly influenced by tourism. It is visited by both foreign travelers and local vacationers. The tourist use began in the 1940s as a spa for wealthy guests from Lima, but this use decreased again in the 1950s. It was not until the 1990s that today's intensive tourism importance increased again.

With a height of approx. 100 m, the dunes are among the largest in the country. The oasis, with around 25 mm of precipitation per year, is fed by an underground river from the Andes that carries mineral-rich water and made it usable as a spa for a long time. Because of the increased water consumption due to tourism, the lake fell dry in 1988. As a result, pipelines were laid to supply additional water from Ica.

Numerous providers offer tours in special buggies in the dunes around Huacachina. Sandboarding is possible on the sand dunes , a modified form of snowboarding in which the sand of the dunes serves as the substrate instead of snow.

There are different traditions about the origin of the name. Huacachina is made up of the Quechua words huaca ("holy place") and china ("woman"). According to legend, a young woman mourned the death of her lover. The tears turned the Inca gods into a lagoon, a sacred place. Another story tells of a princess who looked at her image in a mirror. When she saw a hunter watching her, she was startled and dropped the mirror. This broke and the shards turned into a lagoon that devoured the fleeing princess. It is said that she lives in the water as a mermaid to this day.

Huacachina was featured on the back of the 50 sol bill for a while. It is classified as a national cultural heritage by the National Cultural Institute of Peru.