Ica - Huacachina - Paracas

Ica is a sunny city over 300km south of Lima. We spent there two nights. Lovely weather with +25 and I already got burned :D Nothing was really open because it was weekend but we managed to get a free tour in a wine yard and the guide told us how to make Pisco. Pisco -tasting was also included, I bought two bottles with me (as souveniers of course). Also  a local museum was open. The theme there were the history of Ica, Nazca, Paracas. Many scary mummies and skulls. It was forbidden to take photos there :( Few of the skulls looked like alien skulls, very long in the back. This is because in the cultures of Nazca and Paracas they started to bind heads already in baby age so that they would form like that. Official name Artificial cranial deformation. Apparently it was about demonstrating social status. The skulls were about 2000-2500 years old. 

We visited the oasis of Huacachina, including sandboarding in the desert and the man who drove us there was crazy while driving up and down the sand hills, it was like in a rollercoaster. I have to upload a video from it later. Sandboarding was gliding on a snowboard with your belly down. It was so much fun! On the last day we visited the city of Paracas about 50km from Ica. It is located by the sea. A lot of birds like pelicans and seafood restaurants was the highpoints of the city. We took a 2 hour boat-tour to Las Islas Ballestatas - huge rocks in the sea = a home of thousands of birds and hundreds of sealions! :) Amazing to see these creatures in the nature and not in the zoo.

View from our hotel Ollanta

Ica Museum

El Catador wine yard

Huacachina

Las Islas Balletatas

Paracas skulls, picture from Google.