Nazca: Lines and Lines and Lines and Lines
Trip Start
Jun 12, 2008
1
9
28
Trip End
Nov 20, 2008
Nazca,
Peru
Monday, July 21, 2008
After Lima we drove through desert, for the next 6 hours. It was incredible, the landscape looked liked Mars. Every now and then there were small towns and villages where people were growing what they could and living in houses about the size of a large garden shed. I was very glad to be in a nice cool bus that didnīt break down. Although the next day there was a riot along this road by some of the farmers and they set fire to a bus! It was all over the news, luckily everyone got off the bus. We arrived in Nazca later than planned but were pleased to see that our pick-up was still waiting for us. We had been warned that touts selling tours of the Nazca Lines descended on you as soon as you got off the bus and even try and get in taxis with you. We imagined that it was going to be a bit like paparazzi when famous people get out of cars.
Lines
So we were surprised, and a little embarrassed, when all we could see when we got off the bus was a lady holding a sign saying "Dominic Cream"!!Our hostel was great, very friendly but only had a room for one night but they arranged for us to go to another hostel the next night. We set out to have a look around Nazca and get some food. Nazca is a bustling desert town where the sun blazes during the day but itīs pretty chilly at night. Everything is geared around the Lines so itīs very touristy and probably not everyoneīs cup of tea (by the way, I am really missing English tea!) We werenīt that impressed with the main square as half of it was a pile of rubble but then we found out later that Nazca was in the area that had the serious earthquake last year, so we can forgive them for a bit of mess. We had gorgeous steaks that night and felt ourselves relaxing again after the chaos of Lima.
The next day we went to find out about the flights over the Lines and were shocked when we found out how much they were. It was going to be more than 60pounds each for a 25min flight. So we had to make the decision that on our budget we couldnīt really afford to take a flight. Lots of people told us that the flight wasnīt as good as they thought it would be, lots of people got sick and had their eyes closed for the whole thing! And they said it was hard to see the Lines. Although maybe they were just being nice to us?! So we thought it was a lot of money for what amounts to a fairground ride.
We then tried to get our bus tickets to Cuzco for the following evening.
Lines2
This proved more difficult than we thought it would be because so many Peruvians travel at the time for Independence Day. We went to each bus company and were told that everything was full. It was like Mary and Joseph trying to find room in the Inn...except without the baby part! We were just beginning to worry that we were going to get stuck in Nazca when we managed to get the last two seats on a bus. Phew!That afternoon we made friends with a taxi driver who agreed to take us to see the Nazca Lines from a mountain, a viewing platform and to the Museum for a very reasonable price, the next morning. So at least we could say we saw some of the Lines. He seemed like a nice guy and we checked his ID and he said he was a friend of the owner of our hostel. We of course verified this and Abdon (the owner) said he was fine. The second hostel we stayed in was lovely, and our cheapest night to date! It was very small and it felt like we were staying with a family, Adbon, his Dutch wife and their 6 month old daughter. They had a roof terrace and Adbon liked to chat with you up there about your day, what you did and make sure we werenīt too cold, it was really lovely.
The next day we got chatting to a German guy a breakfast who was a real hoot and wanted to come on our trip with us. We thought īthe more the merrierīand knew he would be a great laugh. Our taxi arrived at 9am as promised, but in true South American style it was a different guy who had a different price for the trip. Although I think this was partly because Rupert (the German guy) wanted to buy some flowers to put on Maria Reichīs grave (more of her later) and wouldnīt stop talking about how cheap they were! He also wanted all the money up front, there was no half now, half later with this guy.
Dom and the Lines
So we set off into the desert with me thinking "please donīt leave us in the desert at the first place". We arrived at the mountain, which really was just a hill in the desert, and were delighted when the taxi driver got out of the car too and came up the hill. From that point on I knew everything would be fine.Once at the top of the hill we could see the Lines. They are so strange but magnificent. No-one really knows why they are there. Are they some sort of calendar? Pictures for the gods? Alien landing sites? Walking and running tracks? There are lots of theories but no real answers, but that morning it didnīt matter they were just amazing to look at. We then drove a short distance to a viewing platform where we climbed some pretty scary steps to get up to the top. Once we were there though we had a great view of "The Hands" and "The Tree" and "The Lizard" (which the road has cut in half). The Lines are a mixture of long straight lines and patterns and it was great to be able to see the patterns.
The Maria Reich Museum was small but interesting. She was a German lady who devoted the most part of her life to trying to understand the Lines...and clearly became a tad obsessed. There were all sorts of her frantic scribbles on display! After that we headed back to Nazca and killed time before our overnight bus to Cuzco
