Ancient lines and bags of vomit!

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Okay this is my(Danielle) version of the Nazca lines flight.

Cool I hope we get to the Nazca lines soon, wow there they are (plane starts banking around) oh that´s really cool (plane starts to bank again). Eyes start watering and spit starts to accumulate (flying in the direction of another line) here it comes... the vomit (plane starts to bank again) oh my god I am going to spew again (plane banks again) oh my god I am going to vomit. No idea where I am no idea how many lines we have passed (Ben vomits) "there is the monkey" I look out the window (I vomit). When are we going to land??????????????????????????? I feel so sickkkkkk.

Oh my god get me out of here, plop onto a bench.
"Lady do you want alcohol to smell?"
"Do you want book?"
Leave me here to die in peace please!

Ben´s version is slightly different to mine. Ben saw all of the lines except for one, the one where he vomited. The view he thought was spectacular, the lines, very mystical.

There are a number of theories on their existence. Offerings to the gods, representations of constellations and (of course) that they were made by aliens. I think they were probably offerings made using constellations as inspiration, it makes sense.

Anyhow I spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool while the others swam and had a great time. I recovered enough to make it out to the cemetery where we saw more mummies. There were buried in holes in the ground and the dry sand had preserved a number of mummies. This gravesite contained mummies and bones from a number of eras.

It is so interesting to see the different levels of preservation. Many of these mummies had long hair which was a sign of health and stature in society. It was so windy there and just sand. The guide was very passionate about the topic but was hard to follow as she sidetracked a lot and gave us her opinion on tourism in Peru among other things.

That night we were treated to a special meal with a ceremony. The meal is called Pachamanka. They cook the food in the ground with hot coals much like in NZ. The food is covered with special Pachamanka spices (which of course like everything I believe included coriander oh the pain of it). It was so tender and the vegies were to die for. We really ate generally well in Peru.

Before we ate the meal we were involved in a ceremony. Ed and Sophia were the grandparents they had to say stuff and throw things on the ground and then we all had a sip of chicha (corn beer). As the food appeared from the steaming pile of dirt and leaves we started to salivate as the smells and sights told us we were going to eat well.

The next day we left for Pisco.

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Photos

Nazca Lines
Not sure which one this is but you get the idea.

After the flight
Just leave me alone!

Relaxing Afternoon
Ben and James by the pool.

Nazca Cemetery
A mummy preserved in the dirt

Nazca Cemetery
A baby mummy

Nazca Cemetery
An example of the mummies with their long hair. This cemetery is left as it is here. As you walk around you can still see bits of bone and other things just on the ground.

Nazca Desert
The sun setting over the dusty windy desert.

Pachamanka
The feast presented to us.