The Nazca Lines (well Elaine saw them anyway)

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June 11th 2009

Published: July 19th 2009

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elal

The rickety plane

26th April 2009

After a 10 hour bus ride from Arequipa we arrived in Nazca at the crack of dawn. After dropping off our bags and having a much needed shower, we braved the desert heat to investigate prices to fly over the Nazca lines. With no particular success we decided to buy them from the airport the next day. For the rest of the day we chilled out on top the amazing roof terrace in our hostel. After heading out for a cheap chicken dinner with Sarah, a girl staying in our dorm, we returned with some beer for some more relaxation on top of the terrace. The owner of the hostel, Nagen, joined us with his friend, Jeffery and they persuaded us to try some Pisco. Before we knew it everyone else was in bed and we were suddenly being taught how to do Salsa. From the reaction of Jeffery and Nagen we weren't doing quite right as they spent most of the time laughing at us. For a small fee we will give a demonstration of our talents back in the UK.

27th April 2009

The Lonely Planet guide book had

The before picture (if only we knew!)

warned us not to eat breakfast before flying over the Nazca Line, but hungry after all the dancing we ignored this advice! In the airport we managed to book our flight and waited for take-off. Our pilot soon guided us into the little rickety plane, with us in the back and Sarah sitting next to the pilot and we took off. In total there are 13 formations drawn in the desert sand by ancient Nazcan people. Over each formation the plane did a figure of eight to allow time for a picture, unfortunately this movement did not agree with Alex's stomach. The sweat began to pour on the third formation and by the forth the inevitable happened!!! Thank god for the sick bags otherwise the inside of the plane would have looked a little different. Despite the distraction Elaine continued to enjoy the experience, with Sarah oblivious in the front. It is amazing how somthing made so long ago could be drawn perfectly by people who never had the means to see them and can be preserved so well in the desert. On landing Alex jumped straight out of the plane leaving Elaine to carry his bags of sick. The

The spiral

rest of the day was pretty much written off so we returned to our hammocks on the roof terrace to rest and for Alex to recover. At night we went to an observatory of a woman who studied the lines and believed them to be an astronomical map. Although very scripted the theory was very interesting and after the talk we got to look through a telescope and see the rings of Saturn. Due to a misunderstanding we had no room in that hostel so we moved down the road only to return that night for more pisco and Salsa.

28th April 2009

Today we were leaving Nazca and heading towards Tacna. However before we did this we had a tour booked to visit some Mummies in the middle of the Nazca desert. Unfortunately over the years pretty much all the tombs had been robbed so we didn't get to see any treasure but the mummies themselves were well preserved and looked very gruesome (the recklessness of the grave-robbers had exposed some of the skin). The evening soon came around, and after saying goodbye to Jeffery and Nagan, we got on the bus to Tacna.