Peru-Nazca Lines

Our first tour was to Nasca Lines and Ica (eeka). Cost $286/pp. New bus picked us up at hotel for 3 hr ride to Ica. Fewer than ten passengers. We visited the Regional Museum w/its archaeological remains from the area’s ancient civilizations Paracas, Nasca, Wari, Ica-Chincha and Inca; toured the town; visited a traditional winery to see how they make Pisco, the national drink. Pisco is a fermented wine.

Pisco was at the
center of the devastating earthquake in July 2007. The Cathedral is still in ruins, but most of town has been rebuilt. Homes are mostly reed walls and no roof.

Then we visited the Huacachina Lagoon or “Oasis de America”. It is a lagoon, oasis w/trees and the highest sand dunes in the world-over half a mile high. Climbing to the top takes 3.5 hrs. It is a vacation spot where people ride dune buggies.

Lunch was at a restaurant at the Lagoon. This area is beautiful. We saw things we had never seen before. Entire town with no roofs. It almost NEVER rains, last rain was 1998. Their water comes from the Andes. We spent the night here at Huarango Hotel. It was adequate, clean, good breakfast.

The area looks like Arizona, same kind of cactus, desert.

Our guide showed us a black beetle on prickly pear cactus.The Ika beetle is shipped all over the world. She crushed the beetle to show us the red dye inside. It is expensive and used in lipsticks and food dyes. Natives used it for fabric dye. I tried this with a prickly pear cactus in Tucson and got the same red dye. In my 30 years in Tucson I’ve never heard of this being a commercial product.

On road between Lima and Ica there is a large shanty town. We saw several in the country. These are towns built for the highlanders who come out of the Andes to live and work. The Peruvian government must supply electricity and water to these areas. The houses are all small shacks, most without roofs. Walls are adobe or reeds. They must be rebuilt every year. People are mostly farm workers. Many TV antennas.

Nasca town-50,000 people, work 20% tourism; 50% copper, gold, silver, iron mining (they sell mostly to China); 30% farmers (artichokes, asparagus, potatoes). All irrigated from Andes.

Nasca Lines: Many trapezoids, parrot, spider, condor, monkey, dog, astronaut, whale, tree, hands. The history of these lines is very interesting. I had read mixed reviews on the value of visiting the area. Although it is difficult to see the lines from the air, we are both glad we took the tour.

The Nazca lines were made between 300BC and 800AD. The lines were long thought to be ancient Incan trails. The “lines” are trenches dug below the first layer of dirt, sometimes several feet deep. They show up because the dirt is whiter at that level. Why haven’t the lines disappeared? Because of the mountains and sand dunes, there is never a wind at ground level. Also, soil contains some gypsum from sea water. The designs were not discovered until 1920s when several pilots flying over the area noticed the patterns and told others about them. On June 21, 1941, a pilot noticed the winter solstice line. The lines were then called, “The biggest astrological calendar of the world.”

Our flight was ½ hour in 3-passenger Cesna. Flew at 2200 feet.

In Nasca our lunch was traditional-cold potatoes w/cold sauce on top and very hot sauce on top that. Much hotter than any Mexican salsa we’ve ever had. Also fried chicken breast.

Taxis were plentiful in this area.

Bus trip back to Lima-trip to hell and back, very funny. Left Nasca at 1:30pm; were immediately given sandwich and juice box. This was our “meal included”. Very hot on bus, A/C didn’t work. We had just had lunch but ate the sandwich because we thought it would spoil in the heat. The ceiling windows would not stay open on bus, windows didn’t open. There were six people on bus with us going to Lima.

The bus stopped many times, we thought it was overheating which turned out to be correct. Arrived Ica 4:00pm; we all sat on bus thinking it would leave in a few minutes. Finally we got off and stood outside where it was cooler. One passenger spoke Spanish. He went looking for answers. Came back and said we may take a taxi to Lima. Girl came out and said “5 minutes”; came out ½ hr later and said “10 minutes”. Then, “Hurry, run!” Then Spanish from her. None of us could understand her. She grabbed two bags, motioned for us to follow her. She ran across street, down a block, across another street, round a corner and ran onto a bus. We followed with hearts pounding and bags flapping. It was 5:59, bus started moving as soon as we were off the sidewalk. We stumbled around the bus looking for seats. Bus was full. This was a local/regional bus with no bathroom. It stopped many times for people to get on/off, some with enormous bags of vegetables. An old woman got on selling sandwiches. There was a mattress in middle of road; bus stopped while someone jumped out of bus, picked up mattress and threw it on top of bus. Most passengers were laughing; we sat in stunned silence. A few miles down the road bus stopped, someone threw the mattress off bus roof into driveway. Two guys ran out of building laughing, grabbed the mattress and took into building. Again, laughter and stunned silence.

We had two movies, one starring Woody Harrelson, Eddie Murphy and a very young Both movies were in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. Both were R rated for violence, language and sex.

The ride took seven crazy hours, should have taken four. I told our tour company about the ride; she gave us two free tickets to the top dinner show in Lima, La Dama Juana Restaurant Show Turisico in Miraflores’ Larco Mar Shopping Center.