San Marcelo Nasca

... pottery human bones, hair and cotton used to wrap the mummies.

After the cemetery we went to a pottery place when we were given a demonstration of how the Nasca made their pottery. After which we purchased a small vase, although it was a bit of a set up for tourists the potter was a real artist - now we just have to transport it for the next 3 months safely.

After the tour we came back to the hostel to relax before our overnight bus ride to Arequipa.

Nazca

Nazca was ignored by the outside world until a North American scientist flew across the desert and discovered the now world famous Nazca lines.

The Nazca lines form a network of 800 lines, 300 geometric figures and 70 animal & plant drawings. Some of the most popular are the humming bird, monkey, spider and astronaut.

The lines were ...

... weg met miezer, langs zandheuvels en veel vrachwagens die rakelings voorbij zoeven.








Het zwaarste van deze rit zijn de onvoorziene omstandigheden. Zo hadden we een tocht over de hoogste toppen van de AltiPlano, bleek de plaats voor een bushcamp niet meer te bestaan. Mochten we een extra klim maken (van een uur) naar de top om op een betonnen parkeerplaats in de vrieskou onze tent op ...

Hi there,
Hope you find my travelpod useful!
Today was a very busy day, i almost missed the bus from Lima to Nasca, i arrived at Javier Prado station just 2 minutes before the bus left, well very stressful, however once i was on the bus it was really comfortable and smooth, i am talking about Cruz del Sur (Cruzero Class), it was a 2 deck bus and my seat was on the second deck, if you prefer more comfort then book a first deck seat.
The ride was ...

... Upon checking out the town i could understand why. It's a small run down place, lots of construction going on. The only thing to see here is the Nazca Lines, which can only be seen from the air and costs about $us55 for a 30 min flight in a 6 seater cessna. Worth it if , unlike me, ur stomach can handle it. The pilots go a little nuts, swerving the plane side to side to allow everyone to see everything. Like i'm talking the pilot points the wing at the specific picture ...

... terminal shouted across, he`s ok, he`s safe, I know him. He had a municipal city sticker on so we parted our patience and jumped in the back for a ride into the desert. As we left the outskirts of town and hung a left into the barren desert I looked nervously across at our drivers glove compartment, imagining a gun inside. We were in the middle of no-where and it could have quite easily have been us that ended up mummified in the desert instead.
Chauchilla, Ica, Peru alberto66

... some much clearer than others... and apart from that, there are so many other lines you can make out... they are bizarre. The french guy spent the rest of the 30 min flight with his eyes closed, sweating profusely and vomiting occasionally! - it did make me nauseous, and had I eaten anything, I would have puked too... but there was nothing there so I was lucky!

There are so many different theories about the Nazca lines, it is hard to make a judgement on them, but they ...

... leaving me and the Danes to enjoy the view. Realising there were no rescue helicopters in sight, and that there was one way down we promptly sat on our boards and tobogganed down the hill. My Danish friend was unfortunately dressed in rather small shorts, so that when he skidded at full speed yelled ´´arrrrgh meeeee baaaaaart cheeeecks´´ as his pants filled with boiling hot sand. The echoes of these screams around the mountains were unforgettable.

... attention. Again it was so interesting to hear various theories behind why the lines were made and the explanation focused on Maria´s theory of an astrological calendar and even matched up some of the images with various constellations, it was well worth going to see and we even got to use a massive telescope at the end to view the moon and Venus.

After one night in Nazca we were off again for the short bus ride to Ica and the sand dunes....

xxxx