The Nazca Lines

Our bus this morning was a new experience for us.  It was a fancy, double decker luxury tourist bus, and the difference from Central American chicken busses could not have been more stark.  Our seats were comfy with fancy foot rests and tray tables.  We had a cabin steward who brought us pillows and blankets, and even a sandwich!  They played music in between movies, which were covers of 80´s pop songs like Material Girl and Blondie´s Touch Me and Sunday Bloody Sunday, but they were all orchestrated like they were from the 60's , in the style of The Girl From Impanema.  My favorite was the Carpenters Top Of The World.

Then there was the video, telling us about the location of the exits and how we should not steal the blankets and how the onboard toilets were ONLY FOR URINATION.  The woman who did the videos was notable for her ability to make handing someone a glass of water a sexual experience.  Every smile was full of very subtle yet startlingly effective innuendo.  Then she told us that seat belt use was mandatory (also a first down here), and that if we were caught without our seatbelts on, we would be "reported to the authorities".  Dang, these folks don´t mess around!

We headed out of Lima, and were quickly into the desert.  I guess I´ve seen enough James Bond movies that I know there are huge deserts down here, but I didn´t really appreciate the scope.  Hours and hours of nothing but sand, washing down from huge sand dunes (the largest sand dune in the world is somewhere around here) across the road and down into the sea, making for one heck of a huge beach.  I was loving the scenery so much, that I was almost disappointed when we arrived in the town of Nazca.

But not for long.  We got off the bus ready to brave the army of touts trying to take us to their hotel, when we saw one holding a sign for the hostel we wanted.  I love it when that happens!  We pointed to her so the others left us alone, and she led us to a (free) taxi that took us the three blocks to the hostel.  Perfect.

We were here, of course, to see the famous Nazca Lines, which were made between 200-700 AD.  Some of the lines are in the shapes of plants, or animals, and some are actual lines, perfectly straight stretching for kilometers across the desert floor.  None of the lines, however, are visible except from above, presenting interesting questions for the scientists who try and figure out how and why the people made them.  There all sorts of theories, involving the use of really long ropes, or hot air balloons, or aliens.  But no one really knows.  Interestingly, there were scientists at the site in the early 1900`s, finding pottery and stuff that was left behind.  But it wasn´t until the 1930`s that a plane flew overhead and the existance of the lines was discovered.  Can you imagine being the guy who was studying pottery shards for 30 years, and then suddenly you realize what you´ve been walking right on top of for years?

We assumed we would have to wait until the next morning to take a flight up and over, but the weather was so good that we were encouraged to go right away, which suited us fine.  Within an hour we were at the airport boarding a tiny 4-person plane.  It was just us and two pilots.  Not long ago, a pilot suffered a heart attack mid-flight causing a crash that killed all aboard.  So new safety procedures have been adopted, including the use of two pilots for every flight.  We took off into the sunny sky, and within a few minutes started making flybys of the various shapes.  It was fun to see the familiar, famous ones - the spider, the monkey, the astronaut.  The astronaut, by the way, was given that famous name by those who want to believe it was aliens that created the lines.  But researchers actually believe it is a priest with an owl head.  Still, the nickname persists.

The flight was turbulent in that tiny little plane, with our pilot doing circles around the lines so that the window pointed straight to the ground, for our optimal viewing pleasure no doubt.  Luckily in the rush we hadn´t had time to eat lunch.  Still, I was feeling a little queasy by the end of the half-hour flight.  Regardless, it was totally worth it.

The preservation of the lines is due to the almost total lack of wind or rain in the area.  One good rainstorm could literally wash them away, a humbling thought for us tourists who amble through, lucky to see something so unusual created so long ago.

Please google some pics, they are awesome.  But I´m down to my last memory card and just don´t trust these public computers anymore to upload any pics of my own.  Just a couple of more weeks and I´ll post the good ones.