The wonderful Huacachina lagoon, is an enigmatic place, an oasis located just 5 kilometers west of the city of Ica, in southwestern Peru; where underground currents emerge, which makes its waters emerald green, and provides a unique landscape to this place that is located in the middle of the Pacific coastal desert.
The term «Huacachina» is derived from the Quechua word «huacca», which means to cry, combined with the expression «china», which means woman, so the Huacachina lagoon would be the lagoon of the woman who cries; and the name is due to a legend that relates that a woman who cried a lot for the suffering of a love; she came to become a mermaid, who sings love songs, during the nights of the full moon.
The legend tells that the lagoon was formed by the crying of a young maiden whose name was «Huacachina», who married a young warrior, who died in a war; and the beautiful maiden, upon hearing the news of the death of her beloved, was plunged into deep sadness; she that she decided to go cry in the field of sunflowers where they met. In this way, the young woman cried day after day, until her tears filled the place, forming the lagoon that today bears her name. But, her depression led her to throw herself into this lagoon, one day when she realized that a young warrior was watching her.
All this magical legend is combined with the spectacular landscape that surrounds this lagoon, where there is abundant vegetation, where palm trees, carob trees and eucalyptus trees prevail, giving a special touch to the placewhich is one of the most striking and visited on the Peruvian coast, so you should include it in your tourist destinations when traveling to Peru.
The great natural attraction of the Huacachina lagoon is its warm climate throughout the year and the healing properties of its waters; that in other times they were rich in saline and sulfurous substances; In the 1960s, they converted it into one of the most important resorts in this beautiful country; so the area grew, and gave way to a process of building hotels and houses, the access roads were decorated and a boardwalk was built around the lagoon.
This area has become a true tourist alternative and is highly visited by local and international tourists, and this boom is not only due to the undeniable attraction of the Huacachina lagoon, where boat rides are made that are very relaxing and interesting, but also why Its sharp peaks stand out with perfect shapes that attract a lot of attention and that can reach about 250 meters in height.with a very pronounced vertical inclination, which makes them perfect for the practice of «sandboarding», a sport in which people quickly descend down the dunes with their «surfing» boards.
The practice of this sport in the dunes around the Huacachina lagoon has become increasingly known around the world, which has helped make this place an important tourist destination for national and international sandboarding events. where the tracks are the dunes, which have their own names, such as: Saraja, Santiaguillo, La Catedral, Orovilca and Norte Orovilva.
In this way, the steep dunes and high heights represent for the locals and Peruvians in general, a source of pride; since they have managed to bring together many people from different countries to carry out international competitions, which have given a significant tourist projection to the entire area; becoming this sport practice in a typical activity of the place; where creativity is present when observing how the inhabitants of the city and the visitors slide over these dunes, mounted not only on surfboards, but also on pieces of wood, and even on water skis.
For these reasons, it is obvious that when planning a trip to Peru, it is convenient to write down the Huacachina lagoon on your list of tourist destinations; where you can enjoy spectacular sunsets, which will make you project to past times and observe the beauty of its dunes, you will have fun watching the slides of the most risky or if you have enough adrenaline and you like this type of activities, even better, you can launch yourself while observing the landscape and the green waters of this enigmatic lagoon.
In the city of Ica, in addition to the Huacachina lagoon, you can visit other interesting places, such as: the Hacienda Tacama Winery, El Catador, the Ballestas Islands, the Cañón de los Perdidos, the Parque de la Bruja de Cachiche and the Adolfo Bermúdez Jenkins Regional Museum; where we are sure that you will spend very pleasant moments, enjoying a unique atmosphere, the culture and history of this area; that will make your trip to Peru unforgettable.