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The Nazca lines are one of the many mysteries in this world. Are they real proof of alien life marked out on the Peruvian desert? If ever there was a case Mulder and Scully needed to investigate!
Heading inland from the Pacific coast on the Panamericana highway, we drove through the heart of the Nazca lines but we had no idea. They are so large the construction workers building the road didn´t see them either. The Nazca lines lie in a hot desert setting beneath the Andes. Covering an area of 500km², there are over 800 lines and 300 figures, so I was told. They are labelled a mystery because they can only be seen properly from the air. As far as I know man was unable to fly thousands of years ago - that´s not to say aliens couldn´t!
There are many theories on who made the lines and why. Astronomical calendars? Ritual walkways? Giant running tracks? Representations of shaman´s hallucinogenic dreams? But I think the theory about an alien landing site is the most plausible!!! ;-)
Jessica and I forked out US$50 each for a flight in a six-seater plane. The flight was scheduled for 9am
but in typical South American style, we were left sitting around until midday. Our pilot goes through his checklist. We have fuel? Check. Got my Raybans? Check. We have wheels? Check. Wings still attached? Check!
For the next thirty minutes we zipped high in the sky. Red and black mountains straddled the horizon. Sand dunes rose up as large as the mountains. The land below resembled a beach at low tide when the sand has hardened - I saw the tracks where water once flowed, the desert´s ageing lines. We flew in between and around the strange lines. So everyone could see, we banked left, banked right and round each figure.
And again. And again.
From up there, even giant figures drawn in the sand look small and I must admit some lines were hard to make out. The clearest drawings were the whale, the hands, the tree, the spider, the monkey, the hummingbird and, my favourite, the astronaut.
We banked left, banked right and round again. Left and right again. And again. And again.
Just for the record, I have flown in helicopters and two-seater planes and loved every minute of it. This however
was a completely different story. We banked left, banked right and round again. Left and right again. And again. And again. After twenty minutes I was so nauseus I cared little for the lines. I was not alone, everyone apart from the pilot was green around the gills. "Tips for the pilot are welcome", a sign on the cockpit read. They were not received.
A thirty minute drive south of Nazca landed us in an unusual resting place for the dead. The Cemetery of Chauchilla is found in a wide open desert valley. The mountains forming the valley walls are caressed with sand like a snow drift on a hedge in a blizzard. In the distance, a strip of green life extends from a small river bed, water´s gift to the lifeless dusty desert.
In the cemetery though, there is not a drop of moisture in the air and more importantly, none in the ground. With no moisture around to decompose the bodies, the hot and dry Chauchilla Cemetery turned out to be the perfect place to preserve a body.
These tombs were of ordinary people. A pit was dug two metres deep with steps to one
side. The body was mummified by wrapping it in bandages after blood and brains were removed - the usual! Dressed in fine fabrics, the mummy was placed in the foetal position inside the tomb along with food, pottery, tools and other gifts handy for the afterlife. The pit was then covered with wood, a layer of soil, sealed and marked by a ring of stones.
Unfortunately years later, the stones gave away the location of the tombs to grave robbers. Some mummies were torn apart and scattered on the desert floor. Time caught up with the bodies as the baking hot sun took its toll. Many completely disintegrated.
Luckily the grave robbers didn´t find everything. Tombs are still being discovered. Recently found mummies are on display in a small museum on-site. The bodies are in a remarkable condition - skin, hair and nails all intact. They reminded me of the ´bog bodies´ I saw in the Natural History Museum in Dublin.
As we drove out of the valley we passed a cemetery that is in current use. All the graves faced east, just like the nearby tombs of their ancestors, buried hundreds of years before.
From
James
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Ciara
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The truth is out there!
Hey James and Jess. Interesting blog, after reading it I had a very strange dream last night. I was working on a dig in Nazca and there was some very creepy goings on indeed. I'm all for the aliens theory!! Anyway hope you both are having a super time. Chat to you soon and safe travels xx