Crazy lines and mummies in Nasca!
Trip Start
Mar 25, 2007
1
53
72
Trip End
Feb 16, 2008
Nasca,
Peru
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Hope you are all well...
Well we made it into Peru, not without incident unfortunately! The border between Ecuador and Peru at Huaquillas is very strange, with the border formalities away from the actual border (by about 7 km on the Ecuador side). Unfortunately some of the locals take advantage of this situation and we got taken for a bit of a ride, and got given fake money when we changed at the border. Luckily it was only $100 worth between the 3 of us so no big deal, just annoying really.
Then we took our first night bus, unfortunately all the nice buses were full so we had to take a normal one, which stopped a lot on the route (not ideal when trying to get some sleep), but we made it to Trujillo on the north coast in one peice and stayed in a really nice hostal (Casa De Clara) where the owners are english speaking tour guides
Hairless dog, Huaca del Sol, Trujillo
. We headed out to see Huaca del Sol and Huaca del Luna with him and he gave us heaps of info on the surrounding land )desert) and fisheries etc as well as info about the site itself, 2 pyramids believed to be temples of the Moche people from around 500BC to 700AD. The temple is decorated with figures carved out of the mud brick walls which, because they built many temples one inside the other are really well preserved. They are excavating the sites at the moment, but it is still a work in progress and our guide said he never knows what will be uncovered next time he goes. The next day we headed to Chan Chan, once the largest pre-colombian city in the americas. Now just a massive site with remains of lots of mud bricks, and unfortunately not that interesting to look at, but once again they just got a whole lot of money and are currently doing preservation and reconstruction work. Then we headed to the beach, where there was actually surf, where fisherman still go out in semi traditional totara reed canoes and there are many surf schools. We sat and watched the surfers and the fishermen for a while but the water was really really cold so we didn't partake.
That night we took a night bus (and nice but expensive one this time!) to Lima, then spent 5 minutes there before heading straight to Ica and Huancachina
The trusty bus...
. We stayed in Huancachina, a little tourist trap next to a desert oasis and the biggest sand dune (I think in the world). THe first day we just chilled out by the pool, then yesterday we did a sand buggy tour, where they take you out on the dunes and scare the crap out of you driving over what looks like sheer cliffs, and then took us to the top of a dune, gave us a peice of wood shaped roughly like a snowboard and the boys put theirs on proper and tried to snowboard down with no great success, I just lay on mine and careered down the slope. Good fun and the best bit was they picked us up at the bottom so we didn't have to walk up again! All in all a good afternoon. Then last night we tried out the local brew (pisco) which made this morning a bit of a struggle! This morning we caught the bus to Nasca and did a flight over the lines. The lines are a big mystery, no one knows really who created them or why. They were only discovered in 1920 by someone who flew over them. They think they were created pre-inca. Then this afternoon we visited the Chachilla cemetery where they have discovered many pre-inca mummies well preserved in the desert sands.Tonight we are getting a night bus (yes, again) to Arequipa then onto Cusco for the Inca trail!
Take care
Katie
