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Published: August 6th 2007
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We jumped on a bus in Ica for the 2 hour journey south to our next destination, Nazca. The town of Nazca is surrounded by dry arid flats which from the ground seem pretty uninteresting, the excitement only occurs once you take to the air. Stretched across 500 sq km of the plains are the spectacular Nazca lines, these lines form a remarkable network consisting of over 800 lines, 300 figures and approximately 70 animal and plant drawings. These lines were mostly made by removing the top layer of stones, which have been darkened by the intense sun revealing lighter stones below.
There are a whole host of theories as to why these lines in the desert were created approximately 2000 years ago, especially as they can only be appreciated from the air. A German mathematician has spent her life dedicated to the cause and theorised that the lines are an astronomical calendar mapped out by complex mathematics, another theory is that they map the routes to water, which in the harsh desert is a valuable commodity. There are of course the usual extraterrestrial landing site theories but the most widely accepted is that they’re connected to ritual walkways from
a religious based cult. I have my own theory of course… I believe there is someone in the afterlife looking down and laughing at us. “Look at all those crazy Gringos’s paying good money to ogle something some friends and I scratched in the dirt when we were bored”. Whatever reasons the lines came to be, I was sure they’d be pretty spectacular.
We arrived in the town pretty late so after conversing with a tout at the bus stop we were dropped off at cheap hostel. While we were there we booked a flight over the lines for the next day for 7am, an amazing time of the day to see the lines apparently.
We got up early and were picked up about 7. We headed over to the airport and were dropped off at the building of one of the many companies vying for tourist attention. We and another couple were sat down and a videotape was started for us to watch. It was a cheesy American documentary by the History Channel with a far too enthusiastic presenter but it got the point across, debunking the astronomical star chart and water route theories and explaining the
religion theory. We then sat and waited for our flight. The aircraft that would be taking us up had 3 seats (plus pilot) so we had to wait until a couple of lone passengers turned up as they wouldn’t fly without a full plane. We waited and waited… several other people turned up but lucky for them they were in groups of three so they flew before us. After waiting four hours, which really seemed like an eternity, the other couple agreed to be split up as they had somewhere to be and we eventually piled into the plane.
The 40 minute flight followed a set route taking in all the really interesting line formations, banking hard right and circling each then quickly banking hard left to give the people on the other side the same view. Some of the lines were truly stunning, really representing what they were named after but some required a little imagination. Towards the end I was beginning to realise why we were told to skip breakfast as Faye and I were starting to feel really queasy and there was a real possibility of utilising the sick bags taped to the seats in front.
After we landed it felt really good to be on stable ground again. Thankfully we had the whole day to recuperate… we bought our tickets for the 14 hour bus journey to Cuzco, which left at 8pm so we kicked back for a while and let our stomachs settle.
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Steffen
non-member comment
Peru
Hi, both your Huachachina and Nazca blog bring back nice memories. I guess you'll be heading for Cuzco next? Make sure to stop in Ollantaytambo on your way from there to Machu Picchu. If you like have a look at my Peru blog entries ('steffen') Enjoy your tour! Steffen