Off at 7.00am to Nasca in a Cruz del Sur bus; an 8 hour trip down the coast. The CdS buses are magnificent; double deckers with remarkably comfortable fully-reclining seats with blanket and pillow supplied ( flat-bed for a good kip ), films, music plus a smart cabin-crew service of ( soft ) drinks and meals. I must say, I am continually impressed by all the Latin American bus services, so far. Arrived in Nasca at about 3.00pm and went to my hotel, La Maison Suisse, which was about 2 miles out of town just beside the little airport. A good choice, as it turned out.
Nasca itself is nothing to speak of, just a baking hot dusty smallish desert town with a few touristy bars, hotels, restaurants and hippies. Pretty grotty really, but that was not the point of being there.
You may be aware of the Nasca Lines, for that is what I went to see. They were discovered by accident in 1939 and are one of the enduring mysteries of the world. They are described as 'enigmatic' and have entertained many explorers, geologists, tourists and weirdos ever since. Erich Von Daniken, the successful Swiss author of books concerning 'extra-terrestrial' visitations to earth, is one such ( I don't necessarily mean weirdo ). Coincidently, he is a friend of Herman, another Swiss who owns the hotel, La Maison Suisse, at which I was staying. We had a good conversation about the 'Lines'. I suspect they have been a good money-spinner for him ( and Von Danekin ).
The place is obviously on the Grand Backpacker Trail because, parked behind the hotel, there were several trucks full of the hardy no-frills camping variety of traveller. There were two groups from UK, coincidently. They told me they were going `sand-boarding´down some enormous desert sand dunes. Whatever turns you on.
The only way properly to see this sight is by air and therefore a booming trade is done by several companies operating light aircraft. It is not cheap ( these Peruvians know how to exploit their tourist traps ). There are some elevated platforms by the main road which cuts across the area, but obviously you don't get such a good view. I think some people, you know, the ones with long hair earings and sandals, just come to be in the area because it is thought to be 'mystical'. Myself plus three French employed one of these Cessna Somethingorother machines.
We went up for a flight lasting 35 minutes which was quite long enough to see most of the area. I think it was more than long enough for one of the French girls in the back who spent about 30 minutes throwing up. The views were impressive and quite extraordinary. I will try not to bore you with too much detail ( you can get it all on the internet anyway, I suppose ). The Lines cover an area of about 500 sq km of arid rock and desert. They consist of straight, and I mean dead straight, lines up to 50 km long emanating from central points, geometric shapes including areas that look like runways and, most impressively, many animal and plant 'drawings' of between 35 and 300 metres in length. It is thought that whoever made these lines ( like scratching the surface with a giant Redwood tree is how someone described it ) did it about 2000 years ago. Who they were, why they did it, and, significantly, how they did it are still unanswered questions but, of course, have generated many wildly differing and some amusing theories. I took loads of photos, most of them when we were circling overhead the impressive animal and bird figures at 1500 ft AGL. There was the famous 'astronaut' drawing ( only 35 metres long ) and the enormous 'condor' and 'hummingbird', a 'monkey' with a vast concentric spiralling tail, parrot, spider ( 300 metres long ) and many others. I think there are 70 altogether. We didn't see them all. We were given an excellent commentary by the pilot, and his mate. Now, the next weird thing is that I could see these figures quite clearly, as I could all the straight lines and geometric shapes, but when I came to look at the photos afterwards the animal/bird figures seemed to have totally disappeared! This was distinctly odd, I thought.
I show, below, just a few of these photos. I must have about 40 altogether.
See if you can make out any animal ot bird shapes which were so obvious when I took them. I don't remember seeing the wispy smoke-like trails evident on some of the photos, as on the right and below.
There was definitely an impressive condor somewhere....
....and a monkey with a big spiralling tail...
...and a dog somewhere....
...plus a crab with big pincers
...I remember seeing a whale......as well as a hummingbird with a very long beak.......
I don't pretend to be a good photographer but I just don't understand why the camera refused to see what I saw. Bloody annoying! Who says the camera never lies?
I suppose it all adds to the mystique of the place.
Go and have a look yourself! Make of it what you will.
Only a brief stop-over here. The Cruz del Sur bus leaves at night for a 16 hour journey north-east up into the Andes to Cusco. I'm taking my own beer supply and a good book. I was told by Herman that some of the journey is through mega-mountainous terrain the likes of which you don't get outside the Himalayas. He called it 'bustaineering'. Being Swiss he should know.
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