Nazca Lines!

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We left Huacachina yesterday on a cheap S10 bus (approx. $3 - Sojuz bus company) on the road for Nazca. The city itself isn't much, but the lines are the reason everyone comes. Most people see the lines and keep passing right through, but we decided to take our time in Huacachina, spent the evening here in Nazca, then see the lines in the morning and be on our way in the afternoon on our 8 hour bus ride to Arequipa.

The bus ride to Nazca was interesting. We left huge mountains/sand dunes and they were instead replaced by rocky mountains of stones and... well, rocks.

We found a hotel from the Lonely Planet guide called Hotel Estrellita del Sur. Despite what the sign in the hotel says with prices, we got our triple room for S50 (about $18). It has a small TV (with cable), 3 single beds, and a private bathroom. We get to use the internet for free, and an "American breakfast" is included.

We then found a company that would take us up in a plane to see the lines for $55. Most places were asking $60 or more so we took this deal. They picked us up at our hotel in the morning and we were off to the airport. We had to wait about an hour before actually getting into a plane, but were buddied up with a couple from Spain and sent up into the air.

The plane was a litte 6 seating including the 2 pilots. What a twisty route it was. The plane was constantly in circles so that we could view the lines from both sides of the plane. The lines themselves were slightly smaller than we had expected them to be. They were still very cool to see though.

No one is positive who created the Nazca lines. Apparently it's been a great archeological debate for years. Some believe they were made by the Nazca and Paracas culture between 900 BC to AD600. Other theories talk of extraterrestrial landing sites, hallucinogenic drugs taken by shamans, or mountain worship and a fertility/water cult.

The lines are spread across 500 sq kms of rock-strewn plain. It consists of over 800 straight lines, 300 geometric geoglyphs and about 70 animal and plant drawings. The most popular ones are the monkey with its curled tail, the condor with a 130m wingspan and a spider looking creature. The lines were made by removing the dark sun-baked layer of stones from the top of the desert and placing them on either side of the lines to expose the lighter earth beneath.

By the time we were back on sturdy ground, Sarah and I were both feeling very queezy and light-headed. Good thing we had a 9 hour bus ride ahead of us to lay back and relax! We took a bus from Nazca to Arequipa with a company called Oltursa, as they were slightly cheaper than Cruz del Sur and still had comfy reclining chairs, movies, and food. We met a nice couple from the States too - Rob and Dave. They kept us entertained throughout our drive. We all made fun of the cheesy movies that were being shown, shared travel tips, and shared stories. Rob is a nurse that gave us some insight into the altitude pills we´d heard about, and Dave worked on a cruise ship too as a performer!

The route to Arequipa was beautiful. We were very glad we chose to do it during the day instead of at night when most of the other buses went out. Most of the trip was along the shore and the waves, ocean, and rocky mountains were beautiful. More about Arequipa later in the next entry.

Definitely being plesantly surprised by this country!

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Photos

Nazca Plane
Our tiny plane that took us up to see the lines

Monkey
too bad I had my camera too zoomed and cut it off!

Comments

[Inky]

All sounds amazing!!! Can't wait to see the pics!

[kari]

Areaquipa
Ohhh be sure to have an Ariaquipena cervasa para mi! Also be sure to check out the world's older female mummy at the museum in Areaquipa! Keep having all this fun for me!