Nasca, Peru - day 1

The only downside of the hostel (more like a cheap hotel) is that there is no kitchen and no way to make hot water.

I woke up early, so I spent some time checking mail and news before heading out to find coffee and something to eat. I have plenty of time. The ladies are not scheduled to pick me up until 9:30 am to go to the airport.

Checking google maps. I see there is a cafe only about 3 blocks away. Off I go.

It is a small corner cafe. They offered coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice and buns. Plain, buttered, jellied or with a variety of different meats. The coffe and orange juice were guaranteed. I wasn't to happy about the bun selection, but I ended up having 1 buttered and 1 with cheese. Total for everything, $3 usd. I will be back tomorrow mostly for the excellent coffee and large orange juice.

I got back to the hostel and about 9 there is a knock on the door (30 minutes early). It is the ladies to collect me,,,, with news. There are not enough people signed up for the economic 30 minute flight, but they need 1 more person for the VIP 40 minute flight. Am I surprised, no. The flight I committed to was $80 usd, plus airport tax and fees totaling another $12 usd. The VIP flight they said was $140 usd, but they would discount to  $120 (I think $120 is the regulary price. I think they are scamming me a bit). I told them I would do it for $100 usd. They said that was not possible, but I could pay $110. I agreed.

We all jump in the car again and head to the airport.

At the airport, I jump on the scale to make sure I am not too heavy. The brochure says they may charge extra if you are over 200 lbs. I think I was over, but not by much. I then paid for the ticket, and airport fees and I am ready to go.

After about 10 minutes, we are called to board the plane. It is an 8 passenger Cessna. Looks a little old to me, but no backing out now.

There is a pilot, copilot and 5 paying customers. We all get strapped in, headphones on and we are ready to go.

With this longer flight we will see 17 geoglyphs. On the shorter flight only about 12.

The sky is clear and it is a beautiful day to fly.

The Astronaut

We start flying over the geoglyphs and looping around each one to people seated on the right and left side of the plane see all the figures out their side of the plane.

The geoglyphs are much more impressive seeing them from the plane than they show in the pictures.

From WikiPedia:

The Nazca lines (/ˈnɑːzkə/, /-kɑː/^[1]) are a group of geoglyphs made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru.^[2] They were created between 500 BC and 500 AD by people making depressions or shallow incisions in the desert floor, removing pebbles and leaving different-coloThe Nazca lines (/ˈnɑːzkə/, /-kɑː/[1]) are a group of geoglyphs made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru.[2]

They were created between 500 BC and 500 AD by people making depressions or shallow incisions in the desert floor, removing pebbles and leaving different-colored dirt exposed.[3] There are two major phases of the Nazca lines, Paracas phase, from 400 to 200 BC, and Nazca phase, from 200 BC to 500 AD.[4] In the years leading up to 2020, between 80 and 100 new figures had been found with the use of drones, and archaeologists believe that there are more to be found.[5]

Most lines run straight across the landscape, but there are also figurative designs of animals and plants. The combined length of all the lines is more than 1,300 km (800 mi), and the group covers an area of about 50 km2 (19 sq mi). The lines are typically 10 to 15 cm (4–6 in) deep. They were made by removing the top layer of reddish-brown ferric oxide–coated pebbles to reveal a yellow-grey subsoil.[6][3] The width of the lines varies considerably, but more than half are slightly more than 33 cm (13 in) wide.[2][7] In some places they may be only 30 cm (12 in) wide, and in others reach 1.8 m (6 ft) wide.[2]red dirt exposed.^[3] There are two major phases of the Nazca lines, Paracas phase, from 400 to 200 BC, and Nazca phase, from 200 BC to 500 AD.^[4] In the years leading up to 2020, between 80 and 100 new figures had been found with the use of drones, and archaeologists believe that there are more to be found.^[5]

In the last picture I adjusted the contrast to make the geoglyphs more visible. Again, from the plane, they were great, pictures not so. The towers you see in this picture are the towers we visited yesterday. We only went up on the taller tower on the left side of the road. (The road is the a portion of the PanAmerican Highway in Peru, passing through Nasca)

One last interesting thing today. One of the guys on the flight with me today is from the the UK. He flew from the UK to Ushuaia, Argentina. (That is the southern most tip shown in the map. He started walking from there. Although he is carrying a small tent, mostly he just sleeps out in the open. I think he said he has been walking for 7 months. His plan is to walk all the way to Alaska. He expects this to take 2 years. He did get a bed in a hostel here in Nasca for an extra treat for himself. He said the haircut in  town, shave and shower at the hostel makes him feel like a new man. ( I can only image)

The walker is the guy on the back right of the picture.

I have extended my stay here for a day. This gave me a chance to get my laundry done and enjoy a few more sights here. Unlike yesterday and today, it should be a realatively "free, no cost" day. Tomorrow I will visit the Aqueductos  and a couple other places before catching a bus to Huacachina, Peru at 2.