Nazca ... wow

The sun came out, the fog burned off, and they finally let the planes take off around 11.  The basic flight is half an hour over the Nazca lines, but there is a longer flight that goes over the Nazca and Palpas lines.  There was a minimum of two required for the longer flight so although I requested it, I wasn't sure if I would get it.  Fortunately, Rachel, a young woman from Great Britain who is traveling alone requested the longer flight just yesterday, and she was worried all night whether she would get it.  Obviously ... meant to be.

So while the other hundred people waiting got on "huge" six passenger planes, Rachel and I were escorted to a teeny tiny four seater.  Two pilots in the front (I liked that!); Rachel and me in the back.  It was amazing.

First of all, it was the smoothest ride.  I was a little concerned about the plane bumping around, but while it was noisy, it was a gentler ride than in a car.

Second, I was completely wrong about the terrain.  It is not all flat and dry.  In places where they use the underground water, it is green and lush.  And while much of the lines are on the flat  mesas, there were bare, rocky mountains, and some of the "drawings" were on the sides of the mountains.  Especially the Palpas lines which are even older than the Nazca lines and a little farther away.  They were smaller and mostly on the sides of mountains rather than carved into the ground.  I was glad I got to do the longer ride and see the Palpas lines, too.

Finally, the distances were much bigger than I had imagined.  It often took a few minutes between "drawings."  But the entire surface is marked with more than a thousand criss-crossing lines.  And besides the animals and people, there are huge trapezoidal "fields" that are scrubbed clear with rock borders.  They look like landing strips.

It was just amazing.  Even though I had seen pictures and watched the planetarium show, this is one of those things that you just have to see to believe.  It was well worth the fifteen hour round trip in a car to Nazca.

So, bearing in mind that pictures just don't do this justice ...

My view of the pilot

Looking out my window 

A perfect hummingbird

The astronaut on the side of a hill

Shapes on the ground

A Palpas family group on the side of a hill.

The Palpas star

That was it.  A one hour flight was not enough.  We had a long drive back to Lima, stopping for a view of the Nazca irrigation system.  They ran the underground water through channels accessed by wells.  But instead of building a deep well with a bucket dropped into it, they built spiral ramps down to the bottom of the wells.  Like the Inca walls in Cuzco and Macchu Picchu, the original Nazca walls have survived massive earthquakes and the water still flows in the original channels.

We also stopped in Pisco for a wine tour and tasting.  Pisco is the local alcohol and it is used to make a pisco sour, the national drink.

We arrived back in Lima in the evening where I will spend my last day in Peru.  Hasta luego.