nasca lines

Like most people who visit Nasca, I was only there to see the lines. And basically did nothing else. Other travelers completely skip it, which is a shame, I think. And though seeing the Nasca Lines for the second time around isn't something that I dream of, it was another experience I'm glad I had.

Here's a little bit of history first. The geoglyphs in the Peruvian coastal desert were created by the Nasca culture between 200B.C. and 500A.D. They were built by removing the reddish surface gravels and sand to reveal the lighter layer below giving a strong contrast to its surrounding. The development of this geoglyph-building cultures even started with the Chavin in 500B.C and the Paracas and the geoglyphs were not only created on the desert but also on Andean foothils. But the great majority of these geoglyphs were built by the Nasca culture.

Straight lines stretching for several kilometers.

To see the Nasca geoglyphs, one has to fly over the desert. That was how they were discovered in the early 1920s anyway. Price of tour-operated flights from the Maria Reiche Airport varies between 70-100USD. I paid 85USD which included transport to and from my hotel in the city. The flights, which are only done in the morning, last just for 30 minutes but waiting for my turn took more than an hour. The airport operates like a real passenger airport collecting terminal fee, having baggage and security checks before proceeding to the departure area and passport check. The lady who checked my bag was surprised to see Ngyaw inside my bag, and found him/it cute.

The geoglyphs has two types; the representational figures and the kilometer-long straight lines. Straight lines is kind of redundant but I just have to emphasize that they are really straight. Viewing it from above will make one think how people from that time were able to build these lines, stretching to several hundred meters to kilometers and keep them straight. Some of these lines criss-cross forming geometrical patterns.

12 figures are showcased during the flight. Thanks to the arid environment, they have survived even after thousands of years. Most of these figures are animal representations including a whale, dog, parrot, spider, condor and monkey. The humming bird is the most preserved of all the figures and can easily be spotted. The heron bird is the longest, measuring 300 meters though it was already fading. The tree and the hands, which has a total of nine fingers, are the figures the can be seen from an observation deck along the highway. The astronaut with its big bulging eyes etched along the slope of a hill seem to be waving at us and commanding attention.

The astronaut.

Archeologists believe that the Nasca people made these lines and figures by using only simple tools and surveying equipment. But there is still no concrete explanation as to what these geoglyphs are for. It was first believed that they serve astronomical purposes, with the lines pointing to the spot where celestial bodies are during solstices. More recent studies argue that they are related to rituals for water and fertility. But the most bizarre is from the believers of ancient astronauts, which I would also like to believe. They say that the straight lines are landing strips of an ancient airfield used by extraterrestrials. And that the figures were made by the Nasca people for the ET's mistaken as gods.

The figures are scattered on the desert and to see all of them, our 6-seater plane had to make several turns, making the flight really uncomfortable. But more dizzying was the maneuvers it had to make so that the persons seating on both sides of the planes could see the figures. I missed the spider because I had to close my eyes for a short while to fight the nausea. The 30-minute flight seemed to take forever. And after seeing the astronaut, all I wanted was for the pilot to turn the plane back and land. The co-pilot/tour guide, noticing the look on my face, gave me some liquid to smell but it only worsened what I was feeling. (I wish I had white flower with me that time.) All four of us passengers got dizzy but thank god, no one threw up.

After landing, a thought occurred to me. I knew what the figures are for. They were for us! Some people from thousands of years ago realized that in the future, people will have the capability of flight. And being clever, they knew that weird figures that have no clear purpose will attract people's attention, even those from as far as the other side of the world. And the Nasca people will be laughing really hard from where they are seeing these travelers who, despite knowing beforehand that the flight is nausea-inducing, will still board that aircraft just to see their masterpiece.

The hummingbird.

Just a note. The two other passengers with me received some certificate from their tour operator. Guess taking that flight, and surviving it clean, was really something to brag about, eh. And thanks to them for the candy that calmed my gut.