Big pictures on the ground

---

- FOOD: Potato dish thing that woman on stall was having for her lunch - she let me try a bit as I was looking so longingly at it after having bought yet more choc and crisps (all they have on sale on these stalls - where are the packaged sandwiches?!)
Cheer up chocolate cake

- AREA: Depressing Nazca town but very interesting Nazca lines which can only be seen by air (in a tiny bumpy plane). Very clear and all sorts of shapes and sizes.
Huacachina - Oasis paradise village in the middle of massive sand dunes.

- PEOPLE: Not many in ghost town Nazca except those trying to sell you tours the minute you step off a night bus. Slow tour people.
Everyone fascinated by Olly (my walking stick with personality)
Old friends that save me from depression.

- WEATHER: Clear enough to see the lines. Sunny and HOT enough in Huacachina to sunbathe (I'd forgotten what that experience was like).


Monday 27th June: Made it to Nazca very tired and frustrated because I wanted to text 'Happy Birthday' to Laura but had no phone signal. Immediate hassle at the bus stop - they know how to get you when you're tired.
They didn't get me though coz now I'm a hardened traveller and used to this. The nice Irish girls let me share their cab but they were ill so went straight to a hostel.
I found a manky cafe to have breakfast and got chatting to an American guy with good Nazca tips.

The town of Nazca is tiny and quite run down and depressing and the tour agencies are a way out of town. But I found one who took me to the airport where I was shown a video on the history and origins of the lines. Very interesting - all sorts of theories surround these strange shapes on the ground that can only be seen by air but were made long before air travel existed.
One is that extra terrestrials made them but a more believable one is that Shamens made them. The spider, monkey, humming bird and whale figures can all be traced to jungle beliefs that these creatures ward off evil spirits. The triangle shapes point to water origins in an area where it never rains. It's thought that after a 40 year drought, the triangles were made to tell the gods where the water is.
The whale and space man shapes carry severed heads which are seen a sign of sacrifice to the gods. Also, when Shamens take the San Pedro cactus drug, they think they are flying and could have imagined seeing these shapes from high in the sky.

After the video, I had to wait for ages to go up in the plane. Everyone was getting rather pissed off so I stood my ground and got to go up soon after. I shared a tiny plane with 2 Spanish guys from a band who are performing in Lima (mini claim to fame except I can't remember the name of their band!).
The plane was so up and down and stomach churning and a bit scary but the lines were SO clear. I wasn't expecting that - nor was I expecting them to be so small. It's hard to get the size aspect when you're flying above them though. They looked a bit fake to me but were amazing nonetheless. I was half amused to see that people had managed to create 'grafitti' on the surrounding land that could be seen from the plane.

I had to wait forever again for the agency to take me back into town and then got a bus straight to Ica. This incredibly friendly stall woman let me try her potato lunch thing as she was only selling crisps and choc and I was looking longingly at her lunch! The bus men were also very friendly and chatty - Olly helps in these situations (my walking stick with a witch face). He attracts lots of attention!

I got a taxi straight out of Ica to Huacachina. My book has absolutely no information about this place but I'd heard it was nice so ventured into unknown territory. The taxi man took me to a disgusting hostel - similar to a Hostel International - I took one look at the dorm with 20 beds and floor covered in clothes and got the hell out of there! The hostel man seemed amazed that I didn't want to share this room and took me to a partner hostel down the road where I got a room with bathroom to myself for a tiny amount more.

The woman was very amused when I asked where the central town was and I could see why when I walked 30 seconds to the lake and found out that the 4 roads surrounding the lake make up the whole of Huacachina! I phoned Laura at last and got sad after speaking to her and Hannah. A celebratory beer didn't help and I sat on one the stunning huge sand dunes surrounding this gorgeous oasis feeling miserable.
But luckily, this place sits in the middle of Gringo Trail so I bumped into a guy I met at the Nazca lines yesterday who said I could him and his mate for sand boarding tomorrow and then I bumped into Nitta, the Israeli girl I'd met in Chile. She knew how to cure my blues and took me to a restaurant serving the loveliest chocolate cake where I also had a orgasm cocktail (Happy 30th Laura).
I could've had further entertainment that night when the guy from the hostel invited me to a bbq with him (he knew my name, and Olly's name - how?). Instead I went to bed at 10!!

---