Blogs from Nazca Lines, Nazca, Ica, Peru, South America
January 29th 2012
They may be just lines in the sand, but lines that are believed to be 1,500 Years old and completely mystifying. The Nazca Lines are more than drawings that you need to fly over at 2,500ft to make them out. They are enigmatic art using the desert floor as a canvas creating one of the largest art gallery in the world high on the Nazca Plateau. They end up leaving you with more questions than answers. After leaving Cusco, it was the mad dash to the finish of my travels. I took a 14hr overnight bus ride from Cusco, Peru to Nazca Peru to see the mysterious Nazca Lines. I have to say this overnight bus ride was luxury compared to my other experiences. It had Wi-Fi and I actually slept. Although the fact that I ... read more
January 12th 2012
After a surprisingly sound nights sleep on the coach from Cusco, I woke up minutes before we arrived in Nasca. I had got a fright last night when I was told that we would be arriving at 4am rather than 8am as planned. Thankfully the crew-member was wrong and we arrived a little ahead of schedule at 7.30am. According to my instructions from Green Toad Buses I was to be met on arrival in Nasca and whisked straight to the airport for my flight across the world famous Nasca Lines. In fact, no sooner had I stepped off the coach to collect my bags I could hear my name being called from a far. I was greeted at the gate of the Cruz del Sur terminal by Manuel, who escorted me a hundred metres up the ... read more
Nazca, and the famous lines....
Published: December 27th 2011South America » Peru » Ica » Nazca » Nazca Lines
December 27th 2011
Next stop on the map was Nazca in the middle of the Peruvian Desert. We were here ultimately to see the famous Nazca lines, but there were a few other things to potentially do here, and therefore we felt it was a worthy stop. We arrived in Nazca via the Cruz Del Sur bus which has to be by far the best bus we have travelled on yet. The seats were huge and comfy, and the DVD’s that were played had to be listened to by headphones, meaning we didn’t have to listen to poor action movies dubbed in Spanish at ridiculously high volumes! Once in the bus station of Nazca, we made the mistake of pulling out our Lonely Planet in full view of the locals which basically says to everyone ‘We have no reservations ... read more
October 24th 2011
Tue 25 We arrived to Nasca after a sleepless night on the bus. I had been given the very important duty of looking after the piece of paper that had the hostel name and adress on it...but low and behold i had managed to lose it! Wouldlosehisheadifitwasn'tscrewedonLAD. Hayley thought she remembered the name of the street it was on and we headed up there looking for any hostel names that we could remember. We finally (luckily) arrived at the hostel we had booked, checked in and had a nap. We awoke around 1pm and got a bus out to see the Nasca lines. We knew before hand that we couldn't afford a flight over the Nasca lines so we had decided to climb up the lookout tower instead. The lookout tower let us see two of ... read more
from Nasca to the white city
Published: June 20th 2011South America » Peru » Ica » Nazca » Nazca Lines
June 17th 2011
Ola again, We spent two days in Nasca. The Nasca were a very advanced civilisation who settled in the Nasca dessert about 40 km inland from the Pacific ocean. As you come in to Nasca by bus you feel as if you could be arriving in Syria or Egypt as I imagine them to be with mountainous hills of shifting sands surrounding you and little vegetation except where they have accessed the ground water by aqueducts built be the Nasca between 100 and 700 AD. On day one in Nasca we explored an ancient burial sight of traditional Nasca. They buried their dead in large pits after removing their stomachs and placing them in foetal position bound with cloths of woven cotton and placed them in graves with articles they will need for journey into next ... read more
March 29th 2011
We left the beautiful hotel at Huacachina the next morning and set off for Nazca. On the way Max kept us well informed about the region and some fascinating snippets about Peruvian life. We are still in the Ica department which is mostly a desert region growing grapes for wine and Pisco plus other crops. If you are interested the recipe for the famous Peruvian cocktail Pisco Sour is: Pisco, angustura bitters, egg whites and sugar. Tasted lovely. We found out about a week long festival that takes place at harvest time in the region. There´s a carnival and lots of singing and dancing and making merry. One local custom involves bringing a huge cut tree to the town, decorating it with presents, sweets and chocolates then couples in funny costumes with face paints and the ... read more
February 10th 2011
Hey everyone! So, we spent a few days in the Nazca area! Nazca is in a baking hot part of the northern Atacama desert. Our daily highs were well into the 30s and it was super dry! The whole area has a lot of history, the main attraction of the area is the mysterious Nazca Lines. About 300 or so figures were etched into the desert sands about 1200 - 1500 years ago by the Nazca people (Pre-Inca). The figures range in size from about 25 metres across to over 250 metres across. Perfect images of hummingbirds, spiders, trees, other animals and fish and even human figures. What makes them mysterious is the fact that they can only be seen from the air. From ground level they are hardly visible, and as a result were undiscovered ... read more
doodling on a grand scale
Published: January 15th 2011South America » Peru » Ica » Nazca » Nazca Lines
January 7th 2011
We have crossed the international dateline arriving an hour before we left. Our first destination in South America is Peru, famous for the Incas, lamas, creating the Pisco Sour and of course being the birth place of Paddington Bear. There is a well trodden backpacker trail which leads straight to Nazca. Nazca, a town in the middle of the desert and has became famous because of the Nazca lines. Discovered in the 1920s by pilots who described seeing shapes including, a monkey, flower, killer whale and humming bird they are a huge draw for tourists. To see the lines in their full glory you have to take to the air. Unfortunately the past year has seen three fatal aircrashes and a hijacking by Columbian drug barons. This has resulted in a crackdown on businesses offering flights ... read more
October 24th 2010
Day 49-24th October Well we were rather abruptly woken up by the bus’s trolly dolly that we were at Nazca so we bid the girls goodbye and a safe journey and exited the bus... off the bus went and we were left at 06:00 in the middle of a dusty town with no real plans other than to get a plane over the lines so we immediately jumped in a cab and raced for the airport excited as two little school children on the way to Disneyland. Although very early there were a couple of companies selling tickets so Liz went through the names of the reputable companies to use, Air Diana, Travel Air, Aero Paracas and finally Air Perunas. All others were off limits as they had failed safety checks after the recent crashes. We ... read more
September 18th 2010
Buenos dias, So we went to be early in order to be up in time for the 4am bus to Nasca. We set both of our alarms to make sure that we would wake up in time and not miss the bus. Peter rolled over and checked his watch during the night to find out that it was 422am and they had indeed missed the bus. Frantically, Val and Peter scrambled out of bed and talked to the hostel staff as well as the employee who had booked the bus tickets and the overflight of the Nasca lines. We would have to catch the next bus out to Nasca, arriving at 1pm and she would try to see if our flight could be rescheduled for later in the day after our new arrival time. We managed ... read more
