Nazca

I have had a strong, clear wish to visit all eldest, holy places on earth, the cradles of civilisation. Mesopotamia would be the starting point of that journey.

Deserts, especially deserts with messages so powerful feel incredibly holy and ancient. Therefore, the Nazca Lines in the Pampa region of Peru, these timeless figures, geometric lines are something that i would be truly honored to see.

AWESOME!

The Nazca Desert is a high plateau in Southern Peru more than 50 miles across. The area is now home to some of the most enigmatic, mysterious drawings, amazingly well preserved from when they were made more than 2000 years ago. They are thought to have been made by the combined effort of three different civilisations living in Peru around the time – the Paracas people (900-200 BC), the Nazca people (200BC-600AD and settlers from Ayacucho after that.

There are over 300 figures in the desert, made so simply by making shallow furrows in the sandy gravel to expose the lighter colours underneath. The fact that even someone just walking over them could easily destroy the pictures shows how remarkable it is that they still exist.

There’s a spider, a dog, a whale, a wierd sort of bird, a condor, a man that has a bubble thing round his head (hence the name given – “the astronaut”) lots of lines and shapes, and my favourite one, a really cute monkey with a spiral tail.

There are so many theories as to where they came from and what the motivations behind them were – some, like the German mathematician Maria Reiche, think that they were made along the same lines as Stonehenge – as a calender that marked astronomical movements and the coming of the solstices. Some thought they were in honour of the Gods, and that walking the lines was an act of prayer and meditation. Some thought that it has something to do with the fact that there are few periods in history when there were more solar eclipses. Some think it marks ancient underground water flows. Some think that the fact that they were made so accurately proves the existence of a hugely advanced civilisation on earth which has since died out. And some think they were made by visiting aliens who left them as landing strips. This is made more tempting when you see the “astronaut”.

To see them you get on a tiny tiny plane – only big enough for five people. The “runway” at the “airport” by the lines with these itsy planes is quite a shock, and really it’s a bit scarey. To let you see the lines properly, the pilot (who really does wear very smart clothes with eppallettes reminiscent of a posh Naval officer from here!) will swing the plane round so it’s almost on its side so you can look almost straight down, out of your window, to see the lines. This makes you feel pretty sick, and even more so when he does the same for the people on the other side so they can see the lines too. I wasn’t as bad as the person sat behind me who got very very ill, bless him.

Seeing the lines from above makes you realise two things – firstly the huge scale of them. They are enourmous – 300 feet across some of them. And also, how precise they are. How they were made without sophisicated measuring equipment and any views from above to admire their work is such a mystery.

Here’s an exerpt from my other journal…

Background: My Peruvian friend and I split since he needed to go to Ayacucho and I was taking my “extra trip” to Nazca. I took the 4 PM first class bus from Lima (you have to because the lower class buses are VERY uncomfortable—backpacking and doing things on the cheap gets really old fast and trust me, I’ve done that too) and I didn’t get to Nazca until midnight. I didn’t have reservations for any hotel there.

”... When I got dropped of at Nazca, I was the only person getting off there. It was pitch black. The bus station (Ormeno) was literally across the street from a youth hostel and at midnight, you don’t have much of a choice so I went ahead and took it. It was $5 a night. The adjoing bathroom (it wasn’t shared at least) was worse.

I also had another problem. I only had dollars and was down to the last S./20. I needed to find a cajero automatico (ATM) first thing in the morning.

Before I went to bed, the nice young man that checked me in asked me about a Nazca Lines tour. One tour group stopped at that hostel all the time so I told him to hook me up with the 8 AM tour. My body was still on Pacific time and I couldn’t wake up early. Peru is on Eastern time. So I was signed up for 8 AM. I was going to use my credit card to pay for my tour at the airport and that was fine with them.

I was so afraid to turn off the lights for fear of bugs of every kind but at that point, I was so tired, I stopped caring. Within seconds, I was snoring. I woke up the next day at 7:30 AM and took the fastest shower known to man. I didn’t want to miss my 8 AM tour.

However, because this was Latin America, my 8 AM tour turned into 11 AM which in turn turned into 12 PM. Between 8 AM and 11 AM, I had a chance to finally find an ATM that took my card (not all banks in Latin America take my card!). I had some breakfast and no, I didn’t get sick. BUT, I made sure I took two Dramamine pills, my pharmacy impulse buy (THANK GOD!).

I was worried for my safety and sanity about doing this whole Nazca Lines tour. I knew I was going to be in a little plane. The smallest plane I had ever rode in was the 12-seater from Panama City to San Blas (where the Kuna Yala live) in Panama. The scariest thing I had ever done in my life was to go bungee jumping over a bridge and that was 6 years ago. So needless to say, I was ready for this experience to be worse than the 12-seater and slightly less worse than the bungee jump.

Also, I wanted to tell you about the big German guy in the tour that almost hurled. He was so scared and uncomfortable during that 20-minute ride that he barely looked out the window, he was sweating SHEETS all over his body (when he placed his hand over his thighs, sweat beaded through), and he admitted that if the flight were 10 minutes longer, he would’ve hurled his breakfast. In these little planes you can feel every turn, and tilt, and bump of turbulence. Imagine a long roller-coaster ride. The German guy asked the pilot to open up the window during flight because he was hot and sweaty. But the open window did nothing but cause more turbulence in the little plane. I asked the pilot to close the window about a minute later since he was holding the window with one hand and steering the plane with the other. The inside of the plane got 2x noisier too. I did that not to be mean but I’d rather the pilot have both hands on the wheel and besides, the turbulence was going to start making me sick too regardless of the two Dramamine I took earlier that morning.

So in an adventure and fear factor of 10 (10 being the bungee jump), this experience was a 9.5. I already know that I will be the only person in my family who can do this, maybe my one other cousin if she popped half a valium and two Dramamine. It’s that frightening. But no, I took this adventure on perfectly sober. This is NOT for the faint of heart, I assure you all with no exagerration.”

TIPS:
1. When I went there, it was in the height of summer. Nazca is a desert and it was very hot and dry. Do NOT go there around summertime (the northern hemisphere’s winter).

2. It is best to get to Nazca at around 6 PM so you can go to perhaps the best hotel in all of Nazca called Hotel Allegria. Nazca as a town is nothing to write home about. You go to the hotel, you sleep, you wake up at 6 AM to catch the 6 AM, 7 AM or 8 AM Nazca Lines tour. The light is better around those times.

3. If you suffer from motion sickness, as I do, bring Dramamine.

4. The bus OUT of Nazca to Lima (or Ica) from the Nazca Ormeno station leaves at 2 PM. Make sure you’re on it if you want to go to other locations in Peru.

Oh yeah, I was the only girl in that plane. Otherwise, that was my summer vacation. :)

I just bought my ticket to Peru! I’m going to be there from Feb 23-Mar 2. Let’s see if I have enough time to go to Nazca…

How facinating to be able to walk the path of one of these massive sculptures! Like the Uffington White Horse in England, these can only be appriciated from the air. Were these people trying to please the gods? What a mystery!