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Published: August 8th 2007
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Ever since throwing a lot of money at a very silly but fun bicycle, I've been in the knowing of those mysterious Nazca lines. So it always was shortlisted as a destination.
Having spoken to other travellers around as well, we also knew that like many other small peruvian cities, there would not be many other reasons to actually stay very long in the city of Nazca! No surprises there.
So, after stretching the Huacachina stay untill Thursday morning, and knowing we already had bus tickets from Nazca to Cusco for Friday night, it would leave us with little over 24 hours in town to do our thing(s)!
So after arriving at 1pm at the hostel (Brabant), and having a chat with our host about tours, we set out for some lunch and some more info, and settled for the early morning flight. Unfortunately not across ALL the Palpa lines as well, but at least a few.
At night we went to the Nazca Lines Hotel for a lecture on the lines in their Maria Reiche Planetarium. Maria was a german lady who studied the lines for over 40 years!! The last 20 years she spent in
the aforementioned hotel, this is worth mentioning as well !! What is also worth mentioning is that she was actually a mathematician.... which seems strange, but when you take into account that she managed to match up some of the Nazca animals to star constelations, it makes a little bit of sense.
Very interesting lecture, with all the bells, whistles, and light and slide shows as well ! But like so many other ruins and sites around here, they're all guestimates of whats and whys of these lines. But that's part of the fun of it all.
Up at the crack of dawn, to be taxied to the airport at 7am for a flight. Flight first, questions later, straight onto the plane (after paying the obligatory air port "taxes" of course). Not a bad thing by the way, as after that the plane was doing almost 15 sideways barrelrolls to show the lines and animals!!
"First left, then we go right for the others to see", was the standard motto of the friendly pilot. Good thing we hardly had breakfast, as by turn no. 12 we were starting to feel yesterday's lunch ! The size, length, and
number of these lines and shapes is quite spectacular though!
Many conflicting theories, including alien landing platforms (that astronaut??). Some lines actually do point to the places where the sun sets and rises for summer and winter solstice. They do point to the mountains and hills, where water (life) is coming from. They do have shards and pieces of pottery in them, indicating religious procedings.... etc etc etc. No one knows, but many wise men and women spend their time here studying it all.
By the time we'd done the last of the palpa figures, we were very happy to be in a plane that was flying in a straight line, and were holding our breath when the pilot made a few small turns. For the aquaducts he did made a complete roll again though, so one more turn to "stommach".
The aquaducts actually do lead to underwater storage of plenty of water. A bare necesity in the dryest part of Peru, and the old Nazca people did manage their water in a very smart and efficient way (please take note Ozzie government, they managed this 2000 years ago!). The final half turn was over a final
set of ruins, before heading in a straight line for the airport! Safe again on terra ferma!
After a quick breakkie at the Hostel, we were whisked away again in a taxi for a second tour. First some pottery classes, with shop of course. Then some gold mining classes, with shop of course! And finally, in a very big and old american car towards Chauchilla cemetery (or necropolis).
These days they've actually left the graves open for display. A thatched roof, some brick walls, and the dry dessert environment don't seem to be a problem in preserving the mummies. Not a very tastefull sight, but quite interesting nevertheless.
So tonight we're of to Cuzco again, by luxury night bus! Just to build confidence, it's mostly uphill and one of the windier sections of Peruvian road. Also after having read a lovely article in the paper this morning how one of those luxury buses had come of the road.... Oh the joys of travel !!
Hope to hear from you soon !!
😱
My old bike
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Looks like they used a lot of the marching powder to biuld the lines