Sarah: Nasca, Peru: Geoglyphs and sandboarding
Trip Start
Dec 27, 2007
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56
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Trip End
Dec 28, 2008
Nasca,
Peru
Saturday, May 24, 2008
After Cuzco, we took an overnight bus to Nazca/Nasca to see the famous and mysterious Nasca Lines. They are a network of hundreds of lines, geometric shapes and figures carved in the desert plains over a period of a thousand years from 300BC to 700AD. They were formed by either removing the top layer of stones to reveal a lighter layer underneath, or by digging shallow trenches in the dirt. Theyīve survived so long because the land is so dry, the earth solid, and the winds constantly blow any loose sand away so it canīt settle in the hollows. (Plus, a German lady called Maria Reiche spent 50 years studying them and looking after them). Nobody really knows why they were made but some theories are: to mark important positions of the sun at solstice and equinox times; to reflect constellations or as an astronomical calendar; for the gods to see; to denote underground water sources or as ritual gathering places.
Of most interest to tourists are the figures: animal and anthropomorphic. There are: the monkey, the dog, the hummingbird, the condor, the parrot, the tree, the hands, the spaceman and so on. I took a 30 min flight in a 4 seater Cessna plane over the desert and got to see all the ones mentioned above plus more. It was fascinating. They can only be seen from the air so were only rediscovered in the 1920s when commercial planes began flying in Peru, and the symmetry of some of the complex designs is impressive. The plane ride was a bit hairy, because our pilot did a great job of making sure that all three of us got to look out our own window at the designs, but this meant two flybys and very steep banking in between which would have made anyone with a weak stomach quite sick. I was warned not to eat before flying but forgot about that advice. I was alright though as Iīm pretty good with travel and motion and stuff.
The town really embraces their big drawcard: it is littered with the images, in every place possible. There are sculptures in the main plaza, as well as mosaics in its pathways; some hotels have the images cast in metal and stuck on the facade; the bus stops and public seating have shapes cut out in the form of the figures and so on - even the upholstry (sp?) in the flashest hotel is covered in the shapes.
From Nasca, we moved on to here, but we stopped for a few hours in Huacachina, a tiny desert oasis town a couple of hours from Nasca. Iīd never been to an oasis before. It was very quaint - a tiny town built around a pond in the middle of these huge sand dunes. And on these sand dunes we tried out the local sport - sand boarding! We hired our sand boards (with velcro straps to hold your feet down) for $3 each, unlimited time, and walked to our dune. It wasnīt a very impressive one but we were told it was the best place for beginners. Well, it turned out to be steep enough. Ray went first so I could take photos of him ... falling face first into the sand! By the time he got to the bottom he had left a board trail punctuated with holes where he had face/tummy/butt-planted. Man was I laughing hard.
I was next, and, thanks to the wax we had been instructed to use, headed off at a fast pace down our not-very-steep dune. I was doing pretty well, staying up and all, but felt I was getting out of control so I too committed a face plant. Yes, eating sand. We both had a few more goes (although the trudge to the top was barely worth it) and by the end we could both go down without falling over. Ray is now very proudly calling himself an extreme sportsman, but I have to say, I had the most extreme wipeout of the day. On my last run, I was so excited because I was nearly at the bottom and hadnīt intenionally or otherwise fallen over. However, the flipside of this was that I was seriously out of control, and of course faster than ever due to the momentum. I didnīt see it coming but expected it too: I was spinning, tumbling and everything was a blur. First my head went BANG on the sand, then I flipped over and my butt went THUMP and I kept tumbling. Somewhere in there I lost my board, eventually coming to a stop several meters below it. I lay there. I was sore. My head hurt, my butt heard, and Iīd twisted some fingers too. Ray said he was pissing himself but then saw I wasnīt moving and tried to contain it. I recovered after a few minutes and we decided to call it a day - Ray having finally mastered one full, uninterrupted run, and I having fallen off the horse and not willing to get back on, so to speak. Woke up this morning and could barely move my neck - must have wiplashed it or something, all the muscles hurt when used. Still, we had a ball of a time.
