Astronauts and monkeys together again.

After today, I can now check off one more thing I had on my list of "things to do before I die" list. Fly over the Nasca Lines!

Bob Marley Mummy

We woke up early and decided to take a morning flight in case it was too cloudy in the afternoon. It´s definitely nice to see blue skies after seeing so much grey in Lima. Some tourists had to arrive at 6:30am to catch a 11:30am flight, but fortunately with our travel group we were virtually allowed to board right away.

After spending about 10 minutes playing FoosBall in the strangest airport I´ve ever seen, it was time for the flight. I was originally going to fly with 4 other members from our group, but at the last minute I was moved onto a little Cessna with 4 tourists from Quebec. That was a lucky move, as apparently two of the people on my original plane got airsick during the flight. I´m thinking the smells of vomit would seriously detract from the Nasca experience.

The Astronaut of Nasca

Anyhow it was great!!! We veered left and right over the geoglyphs, as the pilot allowed both sides of the plane to get photos of the desert below. There were designs and lines everywhere. We saw the: whale, monkey, hummingbird, condor, spider, alcatraz, parrot, and the hands. You could really appreciate what the Nasca people went through to build these things, as they were huge. However, I still can´t understand what would possess them to embark on such an endeavour. It must have taken years to build just one line... let alone an entire geoglyph.

After the flight, we travelled 27 km outside of the town of Nasca to head to an old pre-Columbian cemetary. Originally looted by grave-robbers, you could still see the mummies placed in the pits on the desert floor. A couple of them looked like Bob Marley mummies, but they all gave you a glimpse at how life would have been some 700 years ago.

Finally, I wandered around town, ate some Chinese food, bought a Peruvian soccer jersey, and then headed back to the hotel for a cold dip in the pool. I´m not sure why I jumped at the chance to cool down, when I´ve been constantly trying to stay warm this entire trip.