Lima to Nazca...the start of the history lesson
Trip Start
Mar 09, 2009
1
21
46
Trip End
Aug 04, 2009
Nazca, Peru
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
I haven't written in this for a long while so forgive the sparse detail on this beautiful country...
From Lima we travelled onto Pisco where we saw how the area had been devastated by the Earthquake in 2006. Staying in a local hotel we had our first pisco sours and lashings of paella . The next morning we visited the Ballesta islandsa by boat where we saw penguins, sea lions and all sorts of bird-life. The islands are called the 'poor man{s Galapagos' but there was nothing poor about the rich pickings of sea life that we saw enjoying themselves in the rocks in the misty ocean. Then we traveled onto Ica going to sample the latest crop of pisco sour grape offerings at a bodega getting tipsy in the sunshine on all the varieties. From there it was onto Huachachina, a beautiful little oasis in the middle of the desert. Behind a 50 sole note you{ll see a picture of this pretty place which was once the hang-out of the Peruvian elite. Mountains of sound surrounded us and in the middle there was an inviting lake to swim in surrounded by lush palm trees. After lunch we climbed into jeep buggies for a roller-coaster ride on the sand dunes. We went up and down on the sand like it was our fair-ground ride dropping tens of metres in the air. Then it was time to go boogie-boarding on the sand. From a high point of the sand cliffs edge we were placed on the boards , elbows in and feet in the air. Then we were pushed down and went flying along the sand like it was a high wave, screaming down all the way to the bottom...it was sheer thrilling exhilaration. We did it over and over and had so much sliding down the huge walls of sand, the higher the better ini the humpy desert. One girl came off her board burning her skin. Owch. I was glad I was in long sleeves and trousers. We then drove to watch the sun set, a glowing red disappearing below the yellow sand and turning it blue, we headed off the catch the bus to Nazca.
At Nazca we visited a 1300BC cemetery with mummy remains. It was a bizarre non-sustainable exhibition which was disintegrating in the sun as we watched it. The archaeological exhibition of a by-gone Farming community was just going to last untilt he few mummies on display faded into a permanent past. The intense heat and dry soil of the area had kept the bodies preserved until grave diggers began their quests in the area in recent years.
From there it was onto see the mystical Nazca lines. The shapes of animals, creatures and objects which have been mysteriously carved into the arid ground. The series of geoglyphs stretch more than 80 km (50 miles) between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana in Peru. Although some local geoglyphs resemble Paracas motifs, they are largely believed to have been created by the Nazca culture between 200 BCE and 700 CE. There are hundreds of individual figures, ranging in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks or orcas, llamas, and lizards.We flew over the lines in a five-man jet holding onto our seats for dear-life as the pilot turned his head back to smile at us as he swooped and slid the plane side to side giving a new dimension to travel sickness for me. Besides the dodgy voyage, it was incredibly impressive to see these huge lines which have created such a puzzle for so many over the years, including Maria Reiche who dedicated her life to trying to uncode them. We swirled around the different intriguing lines in a 20 minute breath-taking journey, leaving the plane feeling a little queasy but discussing how it was all worth it. In the evening we visited the Planetarium in the Nazca hotel which was set up in honour of Miss Reich for a relaxing evening of star-gazing.
