Nazca, Peru (Post #116)
Hi! Michele writes….
So, on May 2nd, we took an overnight bus from Arequipa to Nazca (8.5 hours). We were in the top front seats of the double decker bus, which allowed us to clearly view the scary driving tactics of the driver. For the first 5 hours we were on roads along the side of a mountain. The mountain roads were dark and it was foggy out. Our driver seemed determine to pass as many other trucks and buses as possible while driving way too fast and going right to the edge of the cliffs. Since we were in the front seat, I couldn´t help but look over the side of the cliffs and see the tiny lights and cars far down below. I decided it was probably best to simply avoid looking out the window and instead trying to go to sleep. However, there was a large man behind me and when I reclined the seat to try to sleep I felt his knee lodged in my back. Meanwhile, Mike was uncomfortably warm. Oh, the joys of overnight buses!
We were surprised when the bus attendant told us at 5:00am that we had arrived in Nazca. After exiting the bus, we walked across the street to our hostel. When a place is across the street from the bus station, that´s generally a bad sign. Our place looked like a dive from the outside and although it is said you can´t judge a book by it´s cover…yea, well, this place was a dive on the inside too. The room was pretty depressing and run down. There was also a dog living on the roof above us. The dog was constantly running over the corregated sheet metal roof making a lot of noise and the area outside our door was a parking lot for buses. Despite these problems, the room did have a private bathroom, was convenient to the bus station and for $13, we decided we could live with it. We slept for 4 hours then went out to explore the town.
We walked around the small town of Nazca (population 53,000) and after our treking disaster in Colca Canyon, went only to the guidebook recommended places to inquire about flights over the Nazca lines. Flying in a small aircraft over the Nazca lines was our main reason for coming here but we decided that if we could fit it in, we would also like to go to Chauchilla Cemetary, an ancient Nazca burial site with mummies on display.
Upon getting information on a flight over the lines from one agency, the man also mentioned that they had a guided trip to Chauchilla Cemetary leaving in 2 hours. We weren´t sure we really wanted to go on a tour after having just gotten up an hour ago but the man lowered the price to $10 each so we said o.k. The guide we had for the Chauchilla Cemetary tour spoke perfect English and was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The Chauchilla Cemetary turned out to be a fascinating place. It is full of graves the size of small rooms and there are about 10 graves on display with the mummies still in the graves. The mummies are approximately 500 years old and very well preserved. There were graves filled with adult mummies as well as some with small mummy babies and children. The bodies we saw were wrapped in cotton then covered with beautifully decorated Peruvian cloth. The graves also contained pottery and other items that the guide said were placed there so that the people burried would be able to use these things in their next life. Here is a picture from one of the graves:
The next day (Thursday, May 4th) we left our hostel at 8:30am to go to the small Nazca airport to fly over the Nazca lines. The Nazca lines are a network of mysterious shapes and images consisting of over 800 lines, 300 figures, and 70 animals and plant drawings. The ancient lines were mostly made by removing sun-darkened stones from the desert surface to explose the lighter stones below. The Nazca lines are a mystery because no one knows who constructed them or why. And why bother when they can only be properly appreciated from the air? Our guidebook says that Maria Reiche, a German mathematician and longtime researcher of the lines, theorized that they were made by the Paracas and Nazca cultures from 900 BC to 600 AD with additions by the Wari in the 7th century. She claimed the lines were an astronomical calender mapped out by sophisticated mathematics. Others claim the lines are ritual walkways connected to a water fertility cult, giant running tracks, extraterrestrial landing sites and representinations of shaman´s dreams brought on by hallucinogenic drugs.
Before our flight in the morning, we saw a 45 minute video on the Nazca lines and then met the captain of our tiny 6-person prop plane. This was the smallest plane Mike and I had ever been in and after taking off, I immediately noticed that we were not flying very high. We all wore head phones and the pilot would lean the plane first to the right, then tightly turn around and lean the plane to the left so that both sides could see each of the figures. The most famous figures we saw included a whale, condor, dog, monkey, humming bird, astronaut (or alien), spider, tree, and hands. To give you an idea about the size, these figures are about as large as a football field. Below is a picture of the hummingbird I took from the inside the plane.
By the time the flight was over, I was definitely feeling the effects of motion sickness and upon returning to our hostel, I had to sit outside in the fresh air for a while before going to eat lunch.
As Mike and I were walking through the downtown market area, we came upon an interesting vendor. He was selling small containers of snail sclooge (snail trail mucus) cream designed to heal all kinds of skin problems including burn scars. (We had actually heard about this cream while in southern Chile). I decided to buy some since it was only 5 soles ($1.50 USD). In return for purchasing his product, the vendor let me hold some of his absolutely gigantic snails from which the product is supposedly made. They sucked my hand and slimmed all over me. Here is a photo:
Tomorrow (May 5th) we take a 6:15am bus from Nazca to Lima, Peru where we will spend only 1 night before flying to Cuzco. Bye!
Tags: Category #28: Peru
Michele Harmon
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