Fly Over the Nasca Lines
Excerpt from the book Soul Searching in South America from the Teresa the Traveler Series.
We arrived in Nasca with one goal in mind: to fly over the Nasca lines and the following day we did just that. A taxi picked us up and brought us to the Nasca airport, a small airstrip used almost exclusively to fly tourists over the Nasca Lines. Monique and I, along with three girls from the UK, piled into a small Cessna for a hurl-inducing 30-minute ride over the following formations: whale, triangle, trapezoids, astronaut, monkey, dog, condor, spider, hummingbird, Alcatraz, parrot, hands and tree.
We arrived in Nasca with one goal in mind: to fly over the Nasca lines and the following day we did just that. A taxi picked us up and brought us to the Nasca airport, a small airstrip used almost exclusively to fly tourists over the Nasca Lines. Monique and I, along with three girls from the UK, piled into a small Cessna for a hurl-inducing 30-minute ride over the following formations: whale, triangle, trapezoids, astronaut, monkey, dog, condor, spider, hummingbird, Alcatraz, parrot, hands and tree.
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Created by the Nazca culture between 400 and 650 AD, the hundreds of individual figures, made by removing the reddish pebbles and uncovering the whitish ground, range in complexity of design. Over 70 designs are of animals, birds, fish and humans while others are lines and geometric shapes. They were drawn in an area covering nearly 500 square kilometers with the largest figures spanning nearly 270 meters. The dry, windless climate of the Nasca Desert ensures that the lines remain well preserved.
The lines were discovered in the 1930’s by people traveling over the area by plane and ever since, anthropologists have tried to uncover why they were made. They remain a mystery since flight had not been invented at the time they were constructed and the shapes can only be viewed from the air. Archeologist Johan Reinhard published an article in 1985 theorizing that the lines were part of a religious practice of the Nasca people who worshipped mountains and other water sources critical to life in the desert. He felt the symbols representing animals and objects were meant to invoke the Gods’ aid in supplying water and the lines were sacred paths leading to places were these deities could be worshipped. My theory is that they were created by parent to keep their children busy. From what I could see, the desert is pretty baron and there isn’t much for kids to do. Their mothers probably sent them out during the day to turn over pebbles and stay of their hair until their household duties were finished. Monique and I breathed a sigh of relief when we landed safely on the airstrip. Not only did we make it over the lines without hurling, we didn’t crash either unlike the group of four Brits who along with their two pilots crashed in October of 2010 killing all six. In February of the same year, another plane crashed killing all seven on board. Poor safety standards were to blame for the incidents but the government stepped in and regulated the industry closing a number of the shadier companies down in the process. For tips on visiting Peru CLICK HERE
For tips on visiting South America CLICK HERE For general travel tips on what to pack and how to plan ahead CLICK HERE For tips on travelling on a budget CLICK HERE |
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Where I Stayed...
Hostel Oro Viejo Jr. Callao No. 483 Nasca, Peru Tel: 05652 3332 Single $25US oro_viejo@terra.com.pe www.hoteloroviejo.net This quiet hostel has a pool and private bathrooms and comfortable beds. It is located 2 blocks from the bus station. |
How to Get There: Fly to Lima, take a bus to Nasca and book a flight over the Nasca lines
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