The oasis that you must visit.

This small town has a population about 6000 people. It is characterized by its different environment and its nice weather during the whole year. This town has been inhabited for many years and by different cultures. Pica is known by its citric and delicious fruits like lemon and mango but in the past there were the vineyards that created the best wine in our country. Pica is not known just for its agriculture, the tourism it one of the main economical activities in this town with the trade, agriculture and mining industries.

Places
If you have the opportunity to visit this wonderful town you can’t miss the chance to go to the “Cocha Resbaladero”. This is a natural swimming pool that is situated between rocks and has two caves. You can swim there and the water is warm. You can see all the fruit trees in the middle of this plentiful desert. This experienced will really fascinate you.

Pica has beautiful houses, some of them are very old and have special doors that let the winds come in. In the streets there are a lot of flowers and at the end of the Balmaceda Street there is a small house built from a guava tree. The houses are mainly made of wood.

In front of the square there is the San Andres church which has three doors and two towers. It was built between 1880 and 1886. It is the third church of the town because the last two (1600, 1768) were destroyed by earthquakes. It is made of wood. The church has a depiction of the last supper with the characters with its real size.

In the museum you can see the paleontology, archeology, and, artifacts from the period of the saltpeter along with all the things that the town has.

A big attractive that this town has is a dinosaur’s footprint that are located 70 km to the south of Pica. You can go with a tourist guide because it is required to go someone with knowledge of this area. These footprints were of dinosaurs that lived 65 millions of years ago and it is estimated that there are about four different kind of species.

If you are planning to go Pica, you have many possibilities to enjoy and stay there. Besides that it is small town and there are a lot of hotels, camp sites, and restaurants where you can spend a nice weekend.


Eileen Llanes