San Juan Marcona, Peru

San Juan de Marcona is the capital of the Marcona District of Nazca Province, Ica Region, Peru.

It is a mining, commercial, port and fishing town.

Marcona is the northern-most of the 3 ports which comprise the Peruvian termini of the Inter-oceanic Highway which is being constructed to link the state of Acre, in the Amazon Basin in Brazil, across the Andes to the Pacific Ocean.

The major industry in the Marcona District is the Marcona Mine, an open-pit iron mine acquired in 1992 by Shougang Corporation, a state owned Chinese corporation which does business locally as Shougang Hiero Peru.

Major cruise lines visit this continent between September and March. For cruises that sail round Cape Horn this is the southern summer and in general cruise ships that do South American itineraries return to Europe or Alaska for the northern summer cruise season. The Equator runs through Ecuador and northern Brazil so much of the continent is tropical. The dry season is from October to June which is when cruises to the Amazon and surrounds operate. Cruises from Rio on the east coast also run in this period.

General Information:

Population: 20,000 (approx)
Language: Spanish (official) with Aymara and Quechua
Currency: Peruvian nuevo sol
Time Zone: UTC/GMT -5 hours
Dial Code: +51