A Mountain Between Sea and A Flatland Desert
The Peninsula and Cerro Illescas are located more than 150 km west of the Andes, in the middle of a flatland desert, the Sechura desert. The cerro is a series of small hills (up to 500 m. in elevation) interspersed by narrow and short valleys formed during rare rain events. Vegetation cover is extremely reduced in the peninsula, and only a few shrub and tree species grow in the area, especially mesquite trees and shrubs locally known as zapote. An endemic species of fox, the Sechura desert fox is found in the peninsula. Along the coast, and at its westernmost point, there are colonies of sea lions, blue-footed boobies and Humboldt penguins.
Read more about this topic: Illescas Peninsula
Famous quotes containing the words mountain, sea and/or desert:
“The broken ridge of the hills
was the line of a lover’s shoulder,
his arm-turn, the path to the hills,
the sudden leap and swift thunder
of mountain boulders, his laugh.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“They call them the haunted shores, these stretches of Devonshire and Cornwall and Ireland which rear up against the westward ocean. Mists gather here, and sea fog, and eerie stories. That’s not because there are more ghosts here than in other places, mind you. It’s just that people who live hereabouts are strangely aware of them.”
—Dodie Smith, and Lewis Allen. Roderick Fitzgerald (Ray Milland)
“The desert encroaches on the garden. No matter. Sand will do as well as flowers.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)