So after saying goodbye to Julian (we’ll miss you!) I waited a long time for my bus to Nazca to show up. It did about an hour late and I got on. The man who ran the luggage counter was rather old and his eyes were going bad. This was obivous as every time he looked at my ticket (which was a couple times) he had to squint at it. At first he thought I was going to Lima. I managed to convince him I was going to Nazca, but I suddenly became concerned for my luggage. I watched carefully out the bus window but never saw my bag get on the bus…and we were about to leave. So I jumped off the bus and ran inside to ask if my bag was still in the office. It wasn’t, but now I had to run completely on faith that my bag would be in Nazca (it was, turns out it had gotten on a different bus for some reason; I’m assuming space issues). The ride was at least five hours longer than I was told it would be and was rather uncomfortable. Not to mention we broke down at one point and had to change a tire, which had about ten more holes than it should have. By the way: don’t ever show your camera to the locals unless you feel like taking a lot of pointless pictures. But I did have a nice conversation with a teacher who lives in Lima. She told me the city was rather expensive and not that interesting. I had been expecting this and it only confirmed my feeling that I wasn’t going to stay there that long.
Finally we got to Nazca and I jumped off the bus in jubilation. A quickly found a nice hostal and set off to see the city. In short there was not much to see. In fact the only reason anyone really comes here is to see the famous mysterious Nazca lines, the geoglyphs designs set into the pampa nearby. I had wanted to see these ever since I was about ten years old and first heard about them from a video game (no that’s not a joke). These lines were thought to have first been made around 500 B.C. and continued through the eras of Nazca civilization. Their exact purpose is yet unknown and especially confusing to researchers. Why put so much time and effort into creating something that you really can’t see unless you’re directly above it in a plane, particularly a few thousand years before they’d even be invented? Maria Reiche spent more than 50 years studying the lines and she believed that they were a giant astronomical calender. Others thought they were used for worship rituals. Others suggest extraterrestial intervention. Some people think they’re mearly the result of some halucinagenic substance experimentation. Whatever you want to believe these things are quite beautiful seen from above…but rather hard to photograph. There are many interesting shapes including triangles, a killer whale, a monkey, a condor (my personal favorite), and a strange figure called the astronaut. A warning though to anyone considering doing the flying tour. The companies mention that anyone prone to motion sickness may have difficulty during the flight and they weren’t kidding. The constant rocking of the tiny plane was really unsettling. There were five tourists including me in my plane, and by the end three of us had thrown up. Fortunately there were enough air sick bags to go around.
Back on the ground I got on a bus for short ride to Ica. Arriving in Ica I somehow found myself swept into a cab and taken to nearby Huacachina. This is a small town of only 300 people or so nestled in the giant sand dunes. This place was a real oasis that I had never seen before and was very peaceful…for a bit. The hostal was quite happening. Packed with tourists who drink at the bar by the pool and blast horrible disco music long into the night, this wasn’t really the place to go for peace and quiet. The dorm room I slept in consisted of no less than 18 beds, and they were almost all full. There’s not much to do around there but I did climb to the top of the largest sand dune I have ever seen to watch the sun set. One of the local dogs even followed me to the top to keep me company. Ahh…I love dogs. I miss you Jesse! (unfortunately my dog has never told me if she can read or not) The rest of the evening was spent lounging around the hostal pool.
The following morning I got up to go sandbuggying. This is where the hostal takes you out in a sand vehicle that looks like it’s powered by a lawnmower engine around the sand dunes. I actually enjoyed this more than the Nazca lines. Two vehicles went out into one of the vast expanse of the desert. The whole world was their racetrack and the drivers had no inhibitions about cutting loose out in the sand. This meant they’d challenge each other to drag races and often come mere inches away from whamming into each other and then one would put on a burst of speed and zoom right in front of us, literally making us eat his dust. Must be how they keep their job interesting. Now you may not realize it but I’m a bit of an adrenaline junky, and this wild ride sure got the heart pounding. The driver surged around tight corners just a few steps away from tumbling over the side of the sandy mountains. He’d charge up a steep slope only to plummit down the other side. This was a rollercoaster ride that had me grinning from ear to ear (which tends to get sand in one’s teeth). That wasn’t all though. We also got to go sandboarding. This is a lot like snowboarding (which I have done once), except when you fall it doesn’t hurt that much. We’d be driven to the top of series of dunes, strapped on the boards, and then went on down. The results were always humorous. We were given no instructions by the way. I am definitely getting back into skiing or something when I get back to the states. So after a fun afternoon of tumbling down the slopes we were set to go back to our hostal, and then in typical fashion our sandbuggy ran out of gas one kilometer from the end. The driver called for help and soon another buggy came with to gas us up. For some reason the buggy still wouldn’t start up. After couple of minutes of it failing to turn over the guys in the other buggy tried a time honored tactic: ram the clunker from behind. So they gave us a good “push” with their buggy to start us up. I have no idea why, but it actually worked.
Back at the hostal I quickly got my stuff together and jumped on a bus headed to Pisco. This town is by the Pacific coast and is host to a nearby nature reserve. So today I took a tour of the Nacional Reserva de Paracas and the nearby Islas de Ballestas. You can check out the new pictures to see how that went.
So tomorrow it’s on to Lima. I’m not really excited about this as I’ve heard it’s a very polluted city and rather expensive. They do have movie theaters though and some ruins closeby that are supposed to be cool. And I hear you can do paraglyding as well so I’m sure I’ll find something to do in my time there. Be sure to check for new pictures and our moments page (remember that?). There’s been an addition of a different nature recently. Love to all and happy graduation Grace!
Random fact. The Peruvian presidential election was held this weekend. Voting is compulsory in Peru. If you don’t vote you’re fined 120 soles (about $40). It’s also illegal to drink alcohol 48 hours before voting. Really. All the bars close before the election. I have never heard of this before.
Sphere: Related Content