Majes/El Pedregal, Perú, has a population of around 52,000. The city was established in 1999 as a district with the town of El Pedregal as its capital. The metropolitan area is young but there is evidence of the area having been inhabited long before, as in thousands of years ago. There is nothing left of any archeological significance in the area, though.

Chala, Perú, has a population of around 10,000. The city was established in 1857 but its founding hasn't been well-documented. and this area has been inhabited much further back, by the Incas. Chala is a busy fishing port, as you can see in the photos in the photo album.

Nazca, Perú, has a population of around 40,000. The city was established by the Spanish in 1591 though it goes back much further. The city is located at the edge of the Atacama Desert and is extremely dry. This was my second visit to Nazca so I only spent one night. I arrived at about 9am and arranged for a room but had to wait until 2pm to actually get into the room, so I spent the five hours walking around town.

Palpa, Perú, has a population of around 9,000. The city was established in 1963 though it goes back much further. Most of the houses are probably more than a hundred years old, not that that makes them interesting. This town is definitely on the downhill-side of its life. Everything is deteriorating. There are few new buildings, and only a couple of new construction/renovations that I saw. So, what does this town have to offer the visitor? The town itself - nothing.

Ica, Perú, has a population of around 283,000. The city was founded in 1563 by the Spanish conquistador Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera. He gave the new town the name Villa de Valverde. On August 15, 2007, a 8.0 earthquake occurred off the coast of Peru, severely damaging buildings, houses and infrastructure in Ica, including the beautiful 16th century cathedral. Seventeen people died and 70 more were killed when a church collapsed. Pisco, which I visited previously, was even more severely damaged and many people were buried under buildings that had collapsed. Some 80% of the city's buildings were destroyed.