Nazca, Peru

Wednesday, 13 February 2008

On arriving on Tuesday night in Nazca, we book tickets for a flight over the famous Nazca Lines the next morning (with the Alas Peruanas company) as well as a bus connection to Arequipa (with Cruz del Sur). The Lonely Planet repeats throughout its Peru guide, in very panicky tones, that hijackings and violent robberies have occured frequently on the overnight bus to Arequipa. It says: take the overnight bus at your own risk. The absurd thing is that there appear to be no daytime buses to Arequipa. What are we supposed to do? Rollerblade the 600 km down south? Fingers crossed that the hijackers are on a night off.

We get up early the next morning and board a Cessna aeroplane for the flight over the Nazca Lines. There is a fair bit of turbulence (and apparently this gets worse later in the day) and the pilot tilts the plane by 45 degrees to allow us to see the lines more closely. It's a sensation akin to the childhood experience of eating your bodyweight in candyfloss and then going on the worst ride at the funfair. The Lines are found on a 500 km sq arid plateau and were made by heaping stones in straight and curved lines over incredible distances. They are definitely worth the air sickness. Apart from weird geometrical shapes, there are huge drawings of monkeys, spiders, hummingbirds and, for the conspiracy theorists, an astronaut (see footage here). As these cannot be seen at ground level and assuming that the Nazca people had no way of viewing their handiwork from above, the purpose of the Lines is a real puzzle. Scholars and nutbags differ on this and the theories range from the Lines being landing sites for visiting aliens, running tracks, an astronomical calendar, sites for mountain worship and a fertility/water cult.

Before boarding the Bus of Doom to Arequipa, we while away a few hours at the local archeological museum, the Museo Didactico Antonini. We learn a bit about ancient Nazca culture and nearly pass out from the dead heat. Later in the evening, we stop at the Plaza Mayor and enjoy watching what seems like the whole town sitting around the park and chatting in the twilight.

Quelle surprise! Despite ideal bandit conditions - pitch darkness, desolate windy roads and steep overlooking hills from which to launch an ambush - the overnight bus to Arequipa is not attacked. We don' sleep much though.

If you want to see photos click here. Good luck trying to make out anything of the Nazca Lines. The photographer had a jittery hand.