Nazca Things to Do

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Overview


The Nazca Lines in the Nazca desert in Peru have been intriguing mankind ever since they were discovered in 1901 by Max Ulhe, a Peruvian archaeologist. Hailed as one of the world's unresolved mysteries, they were declared an Archaeological World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1994. One of the best ways to truly appreciate these fascinating signatures of an ancient civilization is from high above the sky.

The Nazca Lines were scratched on the surface of the vast Nazca Desert, a high arid plateau between 300 B.C. and 800 A.D. Cut into this stony desert are large number of geometric drawings and plant and animal etchings that spread across 500 square kilometres of the parched, rocky Pampa. There are also designs such as a dog, an enormous monkey, a bird with a wing span of over 100 meters, a spider and a tree. The lines, that represent some sort of vast astronomical pre-Inca calendar, are best seen from the air.

With virtually no insight into this mysterious civilization, the stylized form of the Nazca Lines will fuel your imagination and set you thinking about Peru’s history and ancient civilizations.

To see Nazca lines from air, you can either go directly to the Airport Maria Reiche to buy a ride from numerous companies there....or contact your local tour agent for drop off & pickup

airport tax is 20 soles as of feb 2010

About USD $50 to $55 a ride

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Let's get right to it, las lineas de Nasca are the main reason to visit the city. And what is the best way to see the drawings: flying of course! This is quite an adventure. Like i said in the Nazca intro, ask around town at the various travel agencies for the best price. I'd like to recommend NC Travel, it was $55 per person. The cheapest I found and they picked you and dropped you off at your hotel. Another great thing for those that can't speak spanish very well, they speak english at NC travel. Once you are picked up they take you to Hotel Nido del Condor, you'll watch a 45 minute video about the history and study of the Nasca Lines. This video is only in spanish. From here you are shuttled to the airport. Check in and then pay the 20 soles for the use of the airport. Again yes i think to pay to "use" the airport is a big scam, but you have to pay or you can board your plane tour.

Beware: Don't eat before the plane tour, if you might have a weak stomach. The pilots are great, they do a wonderful manuvour where they turn almost sideways to allow better viewing. Doing this side turn twice at each drawing, allowing for the left and right sides to view, can really begin to turn the stomach!

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You can go on to Nasca and stay there (e.g. Hotel Maison Suisse, just in front of the Nasca airport) in order to overfly the lines the next morning (with AeroIca) and then return to Lima in the afternoon.

Have a look at:

http://www.aeroica.net/home.html (also info about the hotel, they work together closely).

Another option is to stay in Ica: Hotel Las Dunas.

They organise trips from their hotel to the Nasca lines.

http://www.lasdunashotel.com/index.html

For buses Lima-Ica-Nasca: Cruz del Sur.

www.cruzdelsur.com.pe

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If you are afraid of small planes, or loop the loops at heights then this is the only other way to see the Nazca lines. The Maria Reiche Tower is located on the way out of town approx 30km north of Nazca. The tower is named after a german researcher Dr Maria Reiche who believed the lines were an Astronomical Calendar indicating the direction of stars, planets, and solar solstices. For 5sols you can choose to go up the tower, where you will see 3 of the lines, including the tree. But to be honest, this can not compare to the view from a plane, so if you are set on seeing the lines then you are best off stomaching the plane experience and taking the climb up the tower after for a closer view.

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The only real way to actually really get to see the Nazca lines is to fly over them. A 75 minute experience in a small plane will take you up over each of the different designs which are etched into the earth below. The pilot will also perform a series of acrobatics both to get you the best view and for a bit of a thrill, so it is recommended not to take the trip on a full stomache. The amount of lines along the desert floor and the intricacy of the designs will amaze you. It is really incredible to imagine how they got there and continue to stay for our viewing pleasure. The flight costs US$50pp (plus an additional airport tax of 15sols).

The Nazca Lines are a series of lines and geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert, a high arid plateau that stretches more than 80 kilometers.

They were created by the Nazca culture between 200 BC and AD 700. There are many very straight lines and hundreds of stylized figures, like an owl, hummingbird, spider, monkey, fish, whale, llama and lizard.

The Nazca lines were made by merely kicking off the top layer of sand to reveal sand of a slightly different colour below. Yep, that's it! So, it is always possible to kick the sand back, thereby destroying the lines and figures!! The reason the lines remained for nearly 2000 years is because of the extremely dry, arid and windless nature of the region here. Also, future cultures probably were clueless to the existence of the lines.

Just look at the poor lizard, its body was unfortunately cut into 2 by the Pan-American Highway because at the time of building the highway, no one knew about the lines.

The Nazca lines can only be appreciated from the air. So, since the Nazca people could not have seen their work (always presumably they have no means of flight 2000 years ago), the purpose of building these lines and HOW they were built remain as unsolved mysteries even after decades of analysis.

To enjoy the Nazca Lines, you have to take a flight. This light aircraft turns and spins around to show you the lines and it is a seriously giddy ride. You take pictures through the glass window and I guarantee you will knock your head on the window constantly as the aircraft flips and dips.

Do not take any food before the flight. As long as you have 1 guy in the aircraft who vomits, then, everyone will follow suit and none of you will see anything at all, just the bottom of the paper bag with er... stuff.

Competition is very high. The tour companies come and find you, so just arrive in Nazca and you will be the most popular guy in town. I think most of the prices and services are the same.

Besides the Nazca Desert Lines in Nazca, you may like to swing by the Cemeterio de Chauchilla. Grave-robbers had previously unearthed buried mummies and stolen all the good stuffs like jewellery and precious stones, etc.... The skulls, hair, teeth, thigh bones, etc... are all strewn all over the ground which you can spot easily.

In some of these graves, the authorities have simply dressed some skeletons and placed them there more for tidying up the place, then for authentic representation of the burial, i.e. these poses were not how the dead were buried in.

Note the hair of some of these skeletons. Long and plaited, you can definitely spot a Bob Marley.

You can easily combine a tour of the flight acros the Nazca Lines with a visit here.