Oasis In the Middle of Nowhere

February 12, 2008 - 1,040 views

This amazing place is built in the middle of the desert, around a small lake. Located in the Ica Province, near the city of Ica, Huacachina is known as the oasis of America, where many tourists come for the huge sand dunes and sandsurfing. The legend says the place was created by a princess caught bathing by a local hunter. The pool of water she left became a lagoon, while her mantle transformed into sand dunes. It is sayd that the princess inhabits the lagoon as a mermaid. Just wanted to share with you these amazing pictures:

via Daily Mail. For cheap hotels that aren’t in the middle of nowhere, check HotelClub

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Written by maxy · Filed Under Offbeat

(24 votes, average: 4.38 out of 5)

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65 Responses to “Oasis In the Middle of Nowhere”

Ali on February 13th, 2008 4:07 am

It’s unbelievable!
seems like mirage…
Sally Forth on February 13th, 2008 9:14 am

Figures a bunch of rich white people.
Alex on February 13th, 2008 9:14 am

Cool spot.

So, now that I know it’s in the Ica Province, could you also mention what country it’s in, give a google maps link, something?

Thanks!
Tom on February 13th, 2008 9:17 am

Its hardly in the middle of nowhere… Its three miles outside of town.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=-14.086298,-75.763779
EvilKayak on February 13th, 2008 10:17 am

I don’t get it… how do they keep away sand dunes from swallowing trees/lake/homes? Seems VERY clean and free of sand - seems a bit staged.

Any google map link on this?
Paul on February 13th, 2008 10:26 am

Plus you can see the aforementioned town behind the dunes in the first two pictures.
Shawn on February 13th, 2008 10:53 am

Here’s a google map link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=ica, peru&ie=UTF8&ll=-14.087682,-75.763285&spn=0.00461,0.009978&t=h&z=17&iwloc=addr
nic on February 13th, 2008 10:53 am

I was in Ica, Peru back in October. What they do not show you is that there is a town around the corner.
Nimbus on February 13th, 2008 10:54 am

This oasis is NOT in the middle of no where, there is a very large metropolitan area less than three miles away. Clever photo angles keep you form seeing the city scape. A view from Google Earth reveals just how close to the city the oasis is.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=-14.086298,-75.763779
subcorpus on February 13th, 2008 11:12 am

how do they keep the sand of the oasis buildings and the swimming pool …
they are gonna be sand blowing everywhere … especially at night …
i cant understand this …
Superfreak, Esq. on February 13th, 2008 11:33 am

Sally Forth: what’s your problem?
Your racism shows!, how in heck do you know these people aren’t from the nearby town, were born there, and are spending their hard earned pesos on a relaxing weekend?

I do that exactly that once a month in nearby Puerto Vallarta, one of the 10 most intensely beautiful places on earth. And I was born nearby.

PS; I sunburn in half hour.
KC on February 13th, 2008 4:39 pm

There happens to be several of these across the world, and they’ve been ranked. Beautiful places relatively very small in size. My attention was brought to at least one of them due to some recent extreme water loss. It seems the earth is shifting a bit and/or the nearby city is suddenly tapping into the oasis’ water supply.
nate on February 13th, 2008 4:53 pm

hey sally, don’t hate. rich whitey gotta have oasis too!
nywled on February 13th, 2008 8:48 pm

this place looks unreal, really beautiful!
Aaron on February 13th, 2008 9:18 pm

That’s not exactly in the middle of nowhere according to Google Maps. That’s only 1/2 a mile from the nearby town.
Mark on February 13th, 2008 9:22 pm

Ica the capital of the Ica state in Peru. Located about 4 hours drive south of Lima and about one hour north of Nazca and the famous Nazca lines. I ate there once with my parents as a kid. The desert that goes from northern Chile to Northern Peru is named the Atacama Desert and is the most arid desert in the world, with less than 1″ of rain per 10 year period. Many Inca grave sites extend over several thousand miles along this stretch, and many have yet to be discovered. We were offered an Inca mummy once for $50. But my Dad would have really upset my mom. With no rainfall these deserts have preserved several thousand year old ruins pretty well. The only cover being sand. The mummy I mentioned had been wrapped up in a series of cloth in the squatting position with all her belongings, for use in a future life. Since there was no moisture there the body still had skin and hair on it. Huacachina, the first “h” is silent is quite a site. I don’t think you should swim in that water though.
El Charapalero on February 13th, 2008 9:22 pm

Yo superfreak, it¡s in Peru, not a “white” country so why not show some peruvians instead of nothing but white tourists?… Huacachina is located just a few miles out of Ica Peru… The daily winds constantly blow the sand back… unfortunately the lagoon itself is polluted as the hotels drain sewage into it. There was considerable damage in this area during 2007 because of a severe earthquake and there is still much recovery to be done.
KF on February 13th, 2008 9:30 pm

Sucks for Sally. Out of all the beauty there, she took a perfectly normal thing, made it a negative and ignored everything else. OH NO there’s a human enjoying themselves.

Anyways, the sand boarding looks fun, i’d love to try it, and spend a couple days there.
Chris on February 13th, 2008 10:05 pm

If an oasis wasn’t in the middle of nowhere it’d just be called not-the-desert.

Do some research before you post. Apparently this isn’t “in the middle of nowhere”.
Ambarona on February 13th, 2008 10:35 pm

Obviously a bunch of rich white guys no one else would bother with this haha its not much of an investment.
john on February 14th, 2008 12:55 am

Wow! didn’t know this stuff exists!
iva on February 14th, 2008 3:57 am

i’ve been there in october 2007, finishing my 2-week trip through peru (lima, cusco, maccupichu, puno, titicaca lake with floating islands, arequipa, nasca lines), and this oasis was the most impressive site for me…although damaged by earthquake, it was beautiful.maybe even nicer than usual, since most of the tourists were avoiding that area at the time and it was not crowded.

the lake itself is polluted and not for swimming, but there are at least 5 hotels with swimming pools. send boarding and buggy driving is also a lot of fun.

still, if anyone plans to visit huacachina, 1,5 days is enough for all the activities.
Jose on February 14th, 2008 7:07 am

It’s a nice place, I lost a good deal of skin off my back whiping out on that big dune. Don’t go sandboarding shirtless!
Andrés on February 14th, 2008 11:41 am

Alucinante…..
ya son algunos años que estuve por el lugar… grandes recuerdos
Nataly Short on February 14th, 2008 4:28 pm

I think this little oasis was filmed a couple of times in several movies. It must be very strange to leave there.
BadAndy on February 14th, 2008 6:50 pm

“Figures a bunch of rich white people.” dumb comment Sally Forth.
anonymous on February 15th, 2008 1:24 am

Reminds me of that episode of johnny bravo where he can win that contest and go to the oasis only he doesn’t and the camel goes in instead, good stuff
ivan on February 15th, 2008 8:42 am

well, i think that its notIn the middle of nowhere… On the first photo you can see some forrest behind the sand…
saeed_rezaei on February 15th, 2008 2:36 pm

دیگه به چشمها هم نمی شه اعتماد کرد.

خیلی خفنه
maxy on February 15th, 2008 2:59 pm

Yes, I see your point. That clearly is an arousing animal.
aoyous on February 15th, 2008 8:24 pm

Tinyurl for Shawn’s link to google maps: http://tinyurl.com/2z4wmd
nahid on February 17th, 2008 5:13 am

farsi
Hommy on February 18th, 2008 4:06 pm

I can be there and say “I’m in the middle of know where” and I wont be Exaggerating!!!!
Eric Cho on February 18th, 2008 11:23 pm

Hi

Would you be able to contact me by email? Im just wondering if you might be available to do similar posts for our blog for a certain fee. Let me know what you think. Thanks

Eric
slywalker on April 3rd, 2008 4:41 am

OMG! Its so unbelievable!So beautiful!
SneakyB on April 8th, 2008 8:02 pm

Yea, som rich ass white folk ara soma dem Arab MF’s makin all dat money off da oil. $5.00 of gas don’t get me no way no mo. I put $2.oo n my ride da otta day an dey was dogin me like a chump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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