Nazca

We visited Nazca in order to see the famous and mysterious Nazca lines, carved into the desert by Pre-Incan communities. They consist not only of lines and geometrical figures, but also several designs including a dog, a monkey, birds, a spider, and a hummingbird. The lines were not discovered until the 1930s when planes began to fly over this region. Part of the Pan-American highway cuts right through some of the lines because the lines were unknown at the time.

Do you see the astronaut?

We took a 30 minute flight in a small eight passenger plane over the lines. I was surprised to see so many different areas of geometric patterns and sequences of lines - the desert appears to be covered in them! I was also amazed at the huge size and intricacy of the most famous shapes, given that the Nazca people had no vantage point from which to view their own work.


The flight was a little bit expensive, but it was definitely worth it! Though there is a lookout point where some of the shapes are visible, the best view is definitely from the air. The best time to fly is in the morning when visibility is best. Our flight took off around 8:30 AM. We flew with Aeroparacas airline and found them to be very safe and dependable.

Do you see the hummingbird?

Before the flight we took motion sickness pills, and we were very happy that we did. The pilot makes quick sharp turns and drops so that everyone has a chance to get a good view of the lines, but it can easily make you feel dizzy and nauseated. We’re also glad we skipped breakfast. A Greek woman on our flight who had eaten breakfast was not so happy. She looked very pale and ready to hurl when we got off the plane.

Do you see the hands and tree?

The evening after we had done the flight, we visited the Maria Reiche Planetarium, located in the Hotel Nazca Lines. Dr. Reiche was a German mathematician and archaeologist who studied the Nazca lines for over 40 years. She believed that the lines represent a Pre-Incan astronomical calendar and discovered that some of the lines match the rising of the sun on the horizon on the summer and winter solstices. Interesting lectures are given each night at the planetarium on Dr. Reiche’s theories, and those of other experts.

Do you see the condor?

Nazca is a small, hot and dusty town with not much else to do. We wanted to do a dune buggy tour that included sand boarding and visits to some nearby archaeological sites, but unfortunately it was too expensive for just the two of us and no other people had signed up for the tour at the time we were available.

In our free time, Minh finally got a haircut. It was too hot in Nazca and he couldn’t take the long hair anymore. The stylist did a great job! But it was so long that twice we had to tell her to cut it shorter in the back.

More Photos of Nazca

Where we stayed

Hotel Oro Viejo: We really enjoyed our stay at this hotel. The room and bathroom were very spacious and had lots of nice natural light. The room was nicely decorated and had a comfy bed. All of the rooms surround a courtyard with a nice garden and small pool. We really enjoyed the pool and hung out there a couple of times to cool off - the town is extremely hot during the day. We paid USD $50, which is a great deal for this touristy town. The price included a really nice breakfast of eggs, toast, ham, cheese, coffee, tea, fresh juice and fruit.

Where we ate

La Encantada: We had a delicious fish stew type of dish at this restaurant. Its one of the nicer places in Nazca and appeared to be popular with Peruvian visitors.

Chifa Guang Zhou: Good, authentic and cheap Chinese food. We ate here for lunch. The portions were enormous - one entree was enough to feed us both.

La Choza: Sounds like common sense, but this is where we learned not to go into restaurants where there is a guy outside trying to lure customers in. The service was terrible! We ordered a pizza that took over an hour to be ready. Turns out that right before our order was put in, someone had ordered 5 pizzas to go. However, the waitress neglected to mention this until 45 minutes after we had placed our order. As a consolation, she offered us a free drink, but our options were only water or soda. I asked if we could have a free garlic bread, which was the cheapest starter on the menu, and the waitress said no. We almost walked out but as we were about to leave, the pizza finally came. It was mediocre. Also, the restaurant did not take credit cards - not a big deal, but every other restaurant on this main street accepted credit cards. From this point on we rely on tripadvisor.com to choose restaurants.