Blogs from Nazca, Ica, Peru, South America - page 23

South America » Peru » Ica » Nazca » Nazca Lines January 2nd 2007

Post the New Years day big sleep, the tour took us to the site of the Nazca Lines and Chauchilla Cemetery. The only way to see the lines is from the air, 25 minute flight to circle around all the various symbols. A video later in the day explained various theories of the lines. The most popular belief is that around the 600 AD, a period of drought for several decades caused the Nazcan people to begin drawing huge symbols in the desert as offering to the Gods, preying for rain. The majority of the lines aligned with significant mountains ranges, or sources of water, the layouts trying to coax the Gods to deliver water. The second part of the day was at the Chauchilla Cemetary of the Nazca people. The ghastly sites showed the traditional ... read more

Sommes-nous rendues en Afrique?

South America » Peru » Ica » Nazca » Nazca Lines December 29th 2006

Nazca vu du ciel

gabalaventure

Nous avons passe un merveilleux temps des fetes. Nous avons choisi de rester a Lima quelques jours de plus pour feter avec des gens que nous aimions le temps des fetes. L'esprit familial y etait, surtout que nous avons eu la chance de passer la soiree du 25 dans une vraie famille peruvienne et a s'amuser sincerement avec eux. Nous sommes restees une semaine de plus a Lima meme si nous avions recu la carte bancaire de Pascale par l'ambassade. Nous avons eu de la difficulte a quitter les gens de l'hotel et eux aussi de nous voir partir. Nous avons cree des liens significatifs avec ces gens et nous nous sentirons toujours comme chez nous dans cette ville. Donc apres Lima, nous nous sommes dirigees vers Huacachina, petit havre de paix pres d'Ica. Cet oasis ... read more

Peru - Nazca & Arequipa

South America » Peru » Ica » Nazca » Nazca Lines December 25th 2006

Nazca Lines - The Monkey

naeraandjeremy

Nazca Nazca is a couple of hours south from Ica. It has less than 2 cms rain fall a year and the town water supply comes nearly entirely from underground rivers and aqueducts, some of which were created by the Nazca people more than 1000 years ago! It’s on the tourist trail because of lines and shapes that cross the whole of the desert plateau. The lines were created by the Nazca people (pre-Inca) by moving the red (iron rich) stones which exposed the light colour desert floor beneath them. The contrast is what you see. No one is quite sure why these lines were created - the theories range from alien landing strips (and this is supposed to be taken seriously), astronomic alignments, a map of the underground water supplies or possibly sites that were ... read more

Nazca

South America » Peru » Ica » Nazca » Nazca Lines December 20th 2006

monkey

Sean and Tiff

We took a long bus to Nazca from Cuzco and stayed there for 4 days or so. The first night we went to the planetarium where they had a good presentation about the Nazca Lines and how they are probably related to water sources and astronomy. One of the questions during the presentation was if the lines were meant to be a runway for spaceships. That question was answered seriously by the presenter as he explained that spaceships wouldn't need a runway to land they would just hover down. The second day we went up in a small plane to see the Nazca lines. The plane fit 5 people, the pilot, us, and an older couple. The guidebook warned us that the flight was nauseating and that airsickness was a frequent problem with the plane continuously ... read more

Pisco and Nasca

South America » Peru » Ica » Nazca » Nazca Lines December 12th 2006

a close shave

Clairewebst

Claire: The town of Pisco is kinda famous in peru because it has these tiny islands just off the coast called the Ballestas Islands that have millions of birds and sealions and stuff and some people say they are better to see than the Galapagos because of how much easier and cheaper it is to see them. This might be going a bit far but the sealions were cool, posing for the cameras and the smell of all the bird crap was incredible. Our guide told us that the guano generated by the birds on these islands was one of perus main and most profitable exports to Europe. Lovely. Pisco is also the name of a famous and much loved brandy type drink. The most famous way to drink it is as a pisco sour. if ... read more

Bumpy ride II

South America » Peru » Ica » Nazca » Nazca Lines December 7th 2006

ickle ickle plane

Stacey and Keith

...last night it was sandbuggy trip, today cessna airplane that holds 6 people including the pilot - eurgh! We flew over the Nazca Lines, and everyone has their theory about them ranging from ancient running tracks to alien landing strips or Inca calendars...they were impressive from what we saw of them, although our camera played up during the flight, and we were often too busy holding on for dear life to fully appreciate their splendour so have bought postcards of them as well!! Here are a few pictures that we did get. ... read more

the only problem on a plane that small...

sooo glad i didn´t eat before the flight

Knocking on Heaven´s Condor

South America » Peru » Ica » Nazca » Nazca Lines December 4th 2006

The Hummingbird

Tim Laura

After the chilling heights of Cusco we headed down to the east of Peru to the Nasca desert in search of more Inca history. We were there to see the famous Nasca Lines. They consist of a number of animal shapes such as a monkey, hummingbird and condor as well as hundreds of lines and trapezoids which are scored into the dry ground, and cover an area of 400 square miles. The lines are dated back to between 200BC and 600AD although no one seems to really be sure. They remarkable thing is that the lines can only be observed by air and were only discovered in the 1920´s when people began to fly over them. Because the area is so dry (30 minutes of rain in the last 2 years!) the lines have been preserved ... read more

Mango Hookah, Monkey Mother

South America » Peru » Ica » Nazca » Nazca Lines December 3rd 2006

Mango Hookah monkey mother

Chief and Wife

It was sad to finally leave Cuzco especially as our next destination was to be Lima. Having heard Lima described as a dump by numerous people we took the decision to transit straight through the place which proved to be the right one. We flew into Lima, taxi to the bus station and got the hell out. Our 3 hours in Lima were more than enough, it should have been 2 but that's buses for you. We elected to travel 'Royal Class' but I'm doubting any royalty have ever sat in the seats we were in. Our destination, Huacachina. Huacachina barely warrants a paragraph in the Lonely Planet but had been recommended by just about everyone who'd been through this way so we thought we should take a look. It is a tiny little oasis resort ... read more

The Nazca Lines

South America » Peru » Ica » Nazca » Nazca Lines November 27th 2006

in the plane

TheTouringTexan

The Nazca Lines South America » Peru » Nazca » Nazca Lines By TheTouringTexanNovember 27th 2006Andrew Stone Husmann The Nazca lines are extremely large, old formations carved into the deserts of Nazca, which have been well preserved over hundreds and thousands of years thanks to the lack of precipitation. Only recently have anthropologists come up with a likely theory as to their purpose. They think the giant formations were used for ritual processions, led by the shamans. Some of the designs are of animals, in which the community is asking for some attribute associated wit... read more

the desert, next to the river fed farmland

geometrical shape represents river from mountain

Nazca

South America » Peru » Ica » Nazca » Nazca Lines November 18th 2006

Astronaut

Maeve

flew over the lines, went to gold and ceramic workshops, museum with original aqueduct in the garden and a cemetery... read more

Brief history of Peru

Ancient Peru was the seat of several prominent Andean civilizations, most notably that of the Incas whose empire was captured by the Spanish conquistadors in 1533. Peruvian independence was declared in 1821, and remaining Spanish forces defeated in 1...more history

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