Living in Peru : your everyday companion

(Text and Photos by Joe Lara)


As I passed by beaches and through provincial towns scattered along the Peruvian coastline on my way to Ica, I noticed a large spectrum of contrasts.

Only an hour’s drive from Lima, billboards advertising anything from beer to car insurance target Lima’s affluent minority class who bask on the sun-kissed shores of Asia Beach, a previously barren desert coastal strip erected into a bustling summer mini-metropolis by young Limeans searching for a weekend getaway.

In the span of just a few years, everything from bars and American fast food restaurants, to major department stores and supermarkets now litter the once empty ocean view from the Pan-American Highway.

While Lima’s well-to-do frolic at Asia Beach, the landscape changes dramatically just a few miles to the south of the popular summertime getaway on the Southern Pan-American Highway.

The numerous billboards are replaced by humble sidewalk eateries and markets. Poverty and informal food vendors, selling everything from corn on the cob to ‘chifles’ (salted fried plantain banana chips), and moto-taxis, a low-cost taxi derived from a motorcycle and chariot-like contraption, dominate the small town landscapes of places like Cañete and Chincha.

Ica itself is a land of contrasts. The exclusive Las Dunas Hotel, located on the outskirts of Ica, sits at the base of a large sand dune. Large swimming pools, lush gardens, and a cool dining-area patio dot this large hacienda-style hotel.

Just a few blocks away however, modest adobe mud and brick homes with unfinished second stories overcrowd the main road leading to Las Dunas.

However, when speaking of contrasts in Ica, nowhere is it more noticeable than its agricultural industry.

Located just to the north of Ica sits the Pampa de Villacuri, a large barren flat-land covered in dry sand and peppered with towering sand dunes. On the surface, water appears to be a scarce commodity and the region’s main river inappropriately named the Rio Grande (large river) carries only a small volume of water that never reaches the Pacific Ocean.

Despite the dry and inhospitable conditions on the surface, Ica is blessed with a vast fresh water supply  hidden just beneath the desert terrain. Adding to its agricultural lure, Ica boasts an ideal growing climate with temperatures that hover around 90°F (32°C).

During the Spanish Colonial period, tradition tells that a few years after the Spanish conquest, grapevines brought from the Canary Islands were planted in this sunny land, and everyone was surprised at how easily the plant adapted to its environment

Ica’s Pampa de Villacuri area is now home to vast farms growing anything from paprika chili peppers and asparagus, to grapes and sweet onions.

Such a contrast of desert land and fruitful results led me to ponder about how this was all possible.

I grew up in the agricultural epicenter of the United States, the San Joaquin Valley located in central California. This area is blessed with fertile soil and irrigated by the immense California Aqueduct which runs along the western edge of the valley.

My first thought was, “how could Ica’s sandy terrain support such a large agricultural industry?”

Luckily for me, Marco Figueroa, Luis Torres, and Miguel Elias, agricultural experts and heads of the agricultural export company Allium Export S.A.C., were on hand to explain that the type of soil is not as important as one would believe.

“Ica’s most attractive attribute is without a doubt its climate. Add to that soil enriching techniques, such as compost-fertilization, and a vast underground water supply which irrigates Villacuri’s fields via drip-irrigation systems and you now have Peru’s most important agricultural region,” informed the gentlemen from Allium Export, who were inspecting sweet onion farms in Ica along with John and Mark Shuman, representatives from the American produce company, Shuman Produce, Inc.

In addition to the Pampa de Villacuri’s great weather and underground water supply, its proximity to Lima, approximately 4 hours by car on the Southern Pan-American Highway, makes it a logical choice for Peruvian growers who plan on exporting their crops to foreign markets.

Ica’s agricultural exports are projected to dramatically increase this year, validating the exceptional quality of the crops grown in Villacuri.

Today you can find quality Peruvian produce grown in the Pampa de Villacuri in places like the United States (sweet onions), China (table grapes), and Europe (avocados, asparagus, and paprika chili peppers) among other places.