BootsnAll Travel Network



December 7th – I’ve Been To The Desert On A Horse With No Name

An early start and before we knew it we were flying over the desert in a tiny Cessna plane looking at the Nazca lines. The plane was tiny – just big enough to fit us 3 and the pilot. I was nervous for Josh but he seemed to be coping well so I sat back and enjoyed the view. As well as the lines the view of the mountains was amazing. They look like mounds of cocoa powder – very soft but with grooves and lumps all over them where the “powder” has fallen down. The colour is a bit more like Horlicks though. The Nazca lines are so strange, the lines cross over each other in seemingly random patterns all over the desert. The shapes are incredible, it’s amazing how such big likenesses were made from the ground. Some of the lines are also dead straight – no idea how they were done.

 

The plane ride was thrilling and I loved banking round to get a closer look, but I think Josh was glad to get his feet on solid ground! We had lunch at the fabulous Grumpy’s afterwards. It’s just a shack on the main street with tables in it. Anyone who goes near Nazca has to pay a visit. They have notebooks that guests have written in with tips and where they are going etc. We left a full page with drawings so go and read our entry! Carlos and his family are so friendly and their daughter very cute, food had huge portions and was really nice. We liked it so much we went back to eat in the evening.

 

A full day today as the afternoon saw us buckle up in a dune buggy for a trip out to the desert and some sand boarding. What can I say – wow! The buggy took us an old Incan site that is currently being excavated and the ancient viaducts. We passed a graveyard in the desert, people who lived in the bush with their donkeys and shacks, human skulls on top of piles of stones and then the best bit – the desert. The desert is such a beautiful place, the dunes were like satin – they look so smooth and when pictured against the blue sky we felt like we were on some film set. The buggy ride felt like Mad Max but the kids had no idea what I was talking about. We went up and down the dunes – it was like a rollercoaster.

 

The sandboarding was fun – we got off the buggy at the top of a dune and just went down. The boards are like snowboards so you can sit, lie or try and stand up on them while you go down. I tried sitting and standing (standing without much success) but the best fun was had going to the top of a very steep dune and lying down on the board going as fast as you can. Brilliant fun – Josh loved the speed too but we could not persuade O to lie come down the steep ones. It might have been something to do with the walk back up – have you ever tried walking up when all you seem to do is slip back down – very frustrating!



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