The Mystery of Nasca
I left Huacachina with PeruHop to head toward Arequipa, but we first made a stop in the Nasca (also Nazca) Desert. You may have already seen a National Geographic special of Nasca's prime attraction: the Nasca Lines, or ancient geoglyphs in the desert.
The lines are really fascinating. They are located in an arid, 80km wide plateau, date back to 400 AD by the Nazca culture and are now a UNECSCO world heritage site. There are about 70 geoglyphs in the shapes of animals, such as hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, etc, and were created by removing the surface's red pebbles in order to show the white undersoil. Because there is hardly any wind in the uninhabited desert, the lines have remained largely intact.
No one is quite sure WHY the lines exist: some think it was for religious purposes. Others think it was aliens! What really makes the lines fascinating is that there is no nearby place to view them from the air...so why did the Nasca people create HUGE projects that could only be seen from the sky? Yep...aliens :)
I was originally interested in viewing the lines via plane, but my research showed that motion sickness is very common with the riders because the pilots constantly dip the plane so that passengers on both sides can see. Since I sometimes get motion sickness while in a jumbo jet or driving a car in the city, I knew I would be miserable and that I would waste $90. So, I stayed on the bus and went to the look out point: a 3 story rickety viewing tower. From the top, you can see two geoglyphs: a frog and a tree. It was really cool, and I was satisfied with just two. I didn't even have to get sick to my stomach after all!
Once we took a few photos of the surrounding hills and desert, we got back on the bus and finished a night journey to Arequipa.
The lines are really fascinating. They are located in an arid, 80km wide plateau, date back to 400 AD by the Nazca culture and are now a UNECSCO world heritage site. There are about 70 geoglyphs in the shapes of animals, such as hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, etc, and were created by removing the surface's red pebbles in order to show the white undersoil. Because there is hardly any wind in the uninhabited desert, the lines have remained largely intact.
No one is quite sure WHY the lines exist: some think it was for religious purposes. Others think it was aliens! What really makes the lines fascinating is that there is no nearby place to view them from the air...so why did the Nasca people create HUGE projects that could only be seen from the sky? Yep...aliens :)I was originally interested in viewing the lines via plane, but my research showed that motion sickness is very common with the riders because the pilots constantly dip the plane so that passengers on both sides can see. Since I sometimes get motion sickness while in a jumbo jet or driving a car in the city, I knew I would be miserable and that I would waste $90. So, I stayed on the bus and went to the look out point: a 3 story rickety viewing tower. From the top, you can see two geoglyphs: a frog and a tree. It was really cool, and I was satisfied with just two. I didn't even have to get sick to my stomach after all!
Once we took a few photos of the surrounding hills and desert, we got back on the bus and finished a night journey to Arequipa.
The tree (You can see some of the branches)
The frog (Can you see the two footprints?)
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