Mysterious Nasca?

After a delightful few days chilling out in the posh suburb of Miraflores in Lima, I decided to head down to Nasca to check out the mysterious Nasca Lines. I had heard many mixed opinions about the place, but decided to go and form one of my own.

As soon as I jumped off the bus in the tiny town of Nasca, the hostel and tour rep´s were all over me, trying to sell their tours and accommodations. All before I even had a chance to grab my pack from under the bus! They are a pushy lot, and after another lengthy bus trip I was definitely not in the mood. I managed to agressively push my way through, find a decent hostel, have a bite to eat and then arrange the next day´s activities.

It ended up a noisy night in the hostel (thanks to the German couple next door!) so not much sleep was had. And I had to be up at 7am for a 7.30am transfer to the airport. By 8.30am I had watched a video about the lines which was incredibly boring and not that informative overall. After the video it was time to board the tiny 5 seater plane. A sudden panic almost immediately took over me. The last time I was in a plane of this size, I was on a family holiday in the States. We jumped in an 8 seater plane for a flight over the Grand Canyon where all I did was vomit the entire trip much to my families amusement. For the flight over the lines I was seated up front next to the pilot, therefore even more panicked that I may humiliate myself and vomit all over him! Thankfully I made it through the 35minute flight relatively unscathed.

Fortunately the day was clear and still, so the views over the lines were better than I had anticipated. But...I am still not sure what I really thought of the whole thing? There are many theories as to when, how, who and why these ancient images are drawn into the sand. Quite frankly, a couple of Peruvian kids could have been out there creating these images of condors, monkeys, hands and aliens as far as I was concerned. It just didn´t appear too mysterious to me and I really couldn´t comprehend why their status so famous? Each to their own I guess?

After the flight, it was a 40minute drive out to some tombs to check out some mummies. Our guide was great and very informative, but being in the cynical frame of mind that I was about this so called mysterious and famous town, I found it all a little too late to take it all too seriously. Very uncultured of me I know, but at least the mummies gave me a laugh...