In the central Andes, such villages are generally associated with a loma, a fog oasis or well - delimited zone in which specific topographical , weather, and soil conditions prevail because fogs from the ocean condense water there. […] The human settlement extended over some 10 km on the slopes of the lower ridges of the Andes, all along the lower section of a fog oasis, with ponds and marshes still alive between the loma and the beach.
Source: wiktionary