Blogs from Nazca, Ica, Peru, South America - page 26

Nazca was the first really lovely town that we stayed in and the pace of our tour really steped up as there was so much to see around there!... read more

Went on a tour to the Nazca lines today. After the tour, the guide asked if we would like to visit the school where he teaches English. Since we have nothing to do in the evening while waiting for the bus to Arequipa, we decided to go check out how the schools here look like. We were dragged to the front of the class when we arrived. We played temp English cum Geography teacher, introducing ourselves in English and showing where Singapore is on the world map. And then we were made to teach them pronounciation of numbers, making the students who are all teenages and adults, read after us. It was kinda strange, like teaching kindergarten kids. But it was really fun to answer their questions about ourselves and about Singapore. A really fun way ... read more

(Thanks for the title Grandmaster Flash) From Pisco we headed inland and started our climb back into the hills (the Pampa Colorada), resting in Nasca for a night. Nasca is a small and not particularly exciting town but is included on the Southern Peru, Gringo trail as the Nasca people kindly etched a few large scale lines and figures into the desert in homage to their Gods - probably in 900 BC. They removed sun baked stones from the surface of the desert and piled them on either side of the lines to expose the lighter gypsum laden soil, below. They used this process to create geometric patterns, intricate pictures of their gods and important animals which are best viewed by aeroplane from above. Why they did this and how they could tell what the lines ... read more

Unless you were hiding behind a rock for the last 20 years you will have heard of the Nazca lines. For all those of you who were hiding behind a rock the Nazca lines are a set of gigantic geoglyphs in the Nazca desert. The figures are up to 300 meters long and include animals (such as hummingbirds, dogs, spiders and monkeys), geometrical figures (such as trapezoids, arrows) and other like the astronaut. The lines were done by the (surprise) Nazca culture between 200 Ad and 600 BC. The lines were created by removing small rocks and rubble which lay strain all over the Nazca desert. By doing this they exposed the slightly lighter coloured soil. Why they did this is still not completely clear. The theories range from ... read more

OK. so at this moment South America on a Shoe String isn´t really turning out as predicted. The way we´re going it´s more like South America on a Chunky Piece of Rope, but it´s not like we´re avoiding budgeting or anything. Luke and Renya´s top 3 tips for going over budget: 1) Both of the travelling parties succumb to the little nasties and fall sick, requiring medication, extra nights in hotels and copious amounts of (relatively expensive) hydrating drinks. Bonus wastage if you require a house call by a local doctor. 2) Being sick also makes you a) extra fussy about your surroundings since you spend all day in the hostel and b) hallucinogenic so those budgeting mathematics skills seem to warp and bend until you´re staying in a hotel in the middle of the desert ... read more