Nazca

We were up decently early for our tour around some of the sights of Nazca. We had been convinced to wake up an hour earlier in order to go to see the Nazca lines from the ground and from a rickety metal tower that has been erected by the freeway near two of the smaller designs, just in case we didn't get the flight that afternoon.

El Arbol, from the viewing platform

For those unaware of the Nazca lines, they are a series of lines and geography (or pictures) that stretch across the Nazca desert for about 50 miles. They are believed to have been made by the Nazcas starting around 400 AD. The more famous ones are images, but there are also a ton of geometric shapes as well as simple lines. There are a number of theories of why the Nazcas might have made these miles-long lines, the leading ones being that they were writing messages to their Gods, that they used the lines to walk on for worship ceremonies, and lastly, that the lines are an astrometric calendar and the shapes are constellations in the sky.

It was actually really neat to be able to walk up to a line and take a good look. There doesn't seem to be that much to them, in that all is done is removing the red rock from the area of the line to reveal the white ground underneath. Maria Reich, a German who moved to Peru and studied the lines for most of her life, was an instrumental figure in preserving and cleaning the lines, so they could be seen again with greater clarity. The lines are actually mostly self-cleaning, seeing how it doesn't really rain and the wind tends to blow away the small stuff in the afternoon.  That seems to be why they've lasted this long.

We went up on a nearby hill that intersects a few of the lines and our guide showed us the solstice lines, the lines that point to where the sun will set on the days of the summer solstice (June 21st) and the winter solstice (December 21st). The sun still sets there, perfectly in line according to our guide.

After, we went to the tower where we saw the outline of the tree (el arbol) and another strange one which is called the hand (el mano). It actually kind of looked like a heart with hands. But the hands only had nine fingers, which apparently could have several meanings. Perhaps it's the nine months a woman is pregnant, or perhaps it has to do with the nine months of drought in the Nazca desert--they only have water January through March, which is why many people only get an hour of water a day, despite the ancient aqueducts that still pump water from afar.

The mummies of Chauchilla Cemetery

After the lines, we went out to Chauchilla Cemetery, which is apparently an important place for the locals. It contains the desecrated graves of many Nazcas who were buried starting in 200 AD. Many years ago, the site was found by grave robbers, who dug up many of the bodies and stole the treasures they were buried with for use in the afterlife. The somewhat mummified remains were left on the surface, but have now been placed back inside the graves for people to wander around and see. However, there are specific white stones that you must walk in between, as there are still random bones scattered around the desert and other untouched graves underneath.

Every now and then along the roughly circular trail is a pit where the original grave was, with stones built into the ground to house them. A woven roof protects the bodies from the sun, but nothing else. You can see the skeletons, sitting up in the fetal position with their clothes on and most of them still had their hair. It was kind of surreal, definitely something you can only see in another country.

After that bit of graveness, we went a bit lighter and visited a pottery shop whose owner told us about the ancient way of painting and firing the clay. He also showed us the various items that were used to make the colors, which was neat to see. Then it was off to the hotel to see if there was word about the flight.

There was word, but it wasn't good. We wandered around town for a bit before going back to hear if they were going to be able to squeeze in a flight after all and were told no. After a large bit of drama and crossed wires, the airline called back and said they had been given clearance for a late flight and a car was on the way to pick us up. We jumped in!

The monkey.  See the spiral tail?

After a short wait, we strapped in to a six seater and smoothly took off. The pilot gave us bags, just in case, but I didn't think much of it until we reached the first glyph and he banked the plane so that our eye level windows were parallel to the ground and circled. It wasn't too bad, but we were definitely pulling a few gs! We then proceeded to do this twice with nearly everything, once on the left and once on the right so everyone could see.

It was pretty amazing having seen the lines on the ground but being unable to make out the images because of the sheer size of them, and then to fly above and see the whole picture. A lot of the picture ones were harder to see, because a lot of the lines overlap as they stretch across the desert. But I think I snapped them all!

Despite the drama, it sounded like we were luckier than the early morning flight, who got the at 7am and had to wait for their flight clearance until 1:30. At least we had the morning to explore!

Nazca Planetarium

We're catching the night bus to Arequipa tonight, but we had the chance to go to a planetarium here in Nazca, which is near the bus station.  It was a pretty cool show, mostly about the stars and the Nazca lines.  I was amused to find that their planetarium stars were created by a lamp and a closed up shade that had the star patterns punched out of it.  A little less sophisticated than my planetarium.  But afterward, we took a look at Saturn and the moon and such with a telescope outside.  It was neat to be able to see alpha and beta Centauri, our closest neighbor stars which can only be seen from the southern hemisphere, as well as the southern cross.

That's pretty much it for today.  I think the bus going to be more comfortable than the plane by a long shot, seeing how far back the seats reclined last time. And hopefully there will be movies!