The Nazca Lines

We slept in this morning, getting up with a few aches from the taco bed at our hotel. Had another quick shocking shower, then went to get some breakfast. We hopped on a local bus heading north and got off at La Mirador, a tower built in the middle of the desert from where we were able to view 3 of the many Nazca Lines. These are forms strewn about the desert covering 500 sq km and remains one of the world´s greatest archaeological mysteries. There are over 800 straight lines, 300 geometric figures (geoglyphs) and about 70 animal and plant formations (biomorphs). The Lines were made by removing the dark, sun-dried stones from the surface of the desert and piling them up on either side of the Lines, exposing the lighter soil below. How they´re still there we´ll never know, especially since the wind was blowing up a storm while we were out there. They are estimated at about 2000 years old, but no one really knows. Theories abound of course. One is that they were an astronomical calendar, one is that they were to worship gods, and of course the whole alien theory is popular.

We were able to see the lines pretty clearly from the tower, and were surprised at how small they are, although some of the others are larger. The best way to see them is by plane of course, but being the poor backpackers that we are, we had to settle for the constricted view from the tower. They were not very spectacular, but maybe they are from the air.

To get back to town, we flagged down a passing minivan and piled in with about 10 Peruvians. We weren´t sure if we´d actually make it back to town, given the state of the van, but it was nice to be with the locals and they were full of smiles for us. The van was passed up by every other form of vehicle along the way, including semis.

Back in town, we used the internet, played cards and had some beers, went back to Pollo Rico for dinner (same as last night) then went to the bus office to freeze while we waited for our 9:30 pm bus south to Arequipa. It finally showed up an hour late and by 10:45 we were off.