🙂 Incredible to witness from above.
🙁 Slight motion sickness with plane banking steeply to give best views.
Next stop was Nazca Lines – SO excited as had read about these as a child and always dreamt of seeing them! It was a very easy on line booking process with Nazca Lines Flights who offer a range of day tours from Lima. We had booked the option of the full flight and Ballestas Islands combination – a great choice although a long day. We headed to the massive and very empty airport which had been purpose built for mass international arrivals and which never materialised! We were a little nervous after reading numerous versions of ill fated flights and poor safety! We had also taken travel sick pills as a precaution which proved to be a wise move! 🙂
The flight was 1.5hours and the pilot was excellent in ensuring that he banked on all aspects of the lines to give all passengers excellent views. Scientists believe that the majority of lines were made by the Nasca people, who flourished from around A.D. 1 to 700. Certain areas of the pampa look like a well-used chalk board, with lines overlapping other lines, and designs cut through with straight lines of both ancient and more modern origin.
More recent research suggested that the Nazca Lines’ purpose was related to water, a valuable commodity in the arid lands of the Peruvian coastal plain. The geoglyphs weren’t used as an irrigation system or a guide to find water, but rather as part of a ritual to the gods—an effort to bring much-needed rain. In total, there are over 800 straight lines, 300 geometric figures and 70 animal and plant designs, also called biomorphs.
On the way back the flight felt a little more rough – perhaps because our concentration was no longer on the lines! But we landed safely. Spotted flamingoes just outside the airport! What an amazing day full of magnificent memories to treasure.
Go Back to: Lima
Go to: Ballestas Islands
Go to: Arequipa to Chivay
