Huacachina Oasis – Ica, Peru
There’s something about the morning peacefulness of Huacachina Oasis that does make it feel almost like a paradise. The desert’s morning cold weather, combined with the light fog layer and the peaceful reflecting waters, made this a snapshot moment that I will never forget.
The Huacachina Oasis is a village in the Ica Region, in southwestern Peru. It has a population of barely 120+ permanent residents and probably the same amount of tourists. This oasis, also called “the oasis of America”, is a natural lake in the desert. Huacachina is also a top destination for sandboarding and dune buggying in the hundred feet high dunes that surround the area. (See this previous post about Huacachina)
Legend holds that the lagoon was created when a young hunter apprehended a beautiful native princess while she was taking a bath. She later fled; leaving the pool of water she had been bathing in to become the lagoon. The folds of her mantle, streaming behind her as she ran, became the surrounding sand dunes. The woman herself is rumored to still live in the oasis as a mermaid.
