We finally managed to drag ourselves away from all that was going on in Cuzco for the small town of Nazca famous for being the home of the Nazca Lines, a collection of enormous images on the surface of the desert area. These images are only really recognisable from the air and so have confused experts as to their intended use and also as to how exactly the Nazcans of around 2000 yrs ago actually managed to make them!
Despite this being the sole reason for our visit to this area, Flo was still a bit reluctant to get her travel-sick-seven-yr-old alike self to sign up for one of the flights which would take us over the lines in a small 6 seater aircraft, but after only a small amount of abuse she relented and we were signed up to go the following day.
After an early breakfast (very light in flo´s case for fear of seeing it again) we jumped into the back of a minibus and headed for the tiny airport on the outskirts of town where we were sat in front of an informative (read boring) documentary from the mid eighties, which basically the lines still remained a bit mystery but in no way was this going to stop a large group of social misfits from spending a lot of time conjecturing wildly.
After watching this, and then sitting patiently whilst another group watched it again, and waiting whilst others who arrived at the same time as us were lead off to their flight, we were too called over to the tarmac, where after a brief welcome we were loaded into the small plane. Flo managed to get the front seat next to the pilot (making her co-pilot? shit thats a scary thought),
thankfully not in the back since i reckon she would probably have yommed up the back of whoever was sat in front of her since it was pretty cramped for those who actually ended up there. Anyway, we were soon airborne, and without yommage, and heading for the first of the lines.
The lines themselves were harder to spot than we had been lead to believe! But with a bit of squinting and the pilot rocking the plane from side to side so that everyone got a look i think we managed to spot all of them! Following the route above (on the back of our 'certificates' for having done the flight - flo's is going on her wall next to the one she got for completing the fish trail in hull, a prestigious award if ever there was one) I was able to take photos of where the lines 'should' have been, and even though at our first look at the photos that id taken we wrote them off as being a big pile of shit, if you look at the larger versions you can actually see the lines - hurray! Seeing the lines, when we actually could (the monkey was particularly elusive), was pretty cool and to top it all off flo only felt 'slightly' ill when we were returning to the airport and wasnt sick at all!
That was about it for Nazca so the same day we made ar
rangements to escape and make our way towards the city of Ica and from there a short 10 minute taxi ride to the tiny town of Huacachina, a small group of mainly hotels and restaurants surrounding a small oasis lake surrounded by enormous sand dunes.
Huacachina was an amazing place but we didnt really get up to much, I went sandboarding, and although i didnt take out the camera for fear of breaking it, i did get a photo taken by and Israeli girl but i havent seen her since. I'm sure she'll treasure the photo and the magical times we spent together. I'm pretty sure that had i taken my camera i would have looked something like this in the photos:
We spent a lot of time enjoying the weather in Huacachina, but one trip we did take was a wine and pisco tour of the area, our first stop was a Pisco distillery, where they make the drink which is an icon of South America. The spirit here tasted fine but on our second stop to a vineyard we tasted what i think was the worst wine i have ever had the misfortune to taste. I could have done better myself! Peruvian wine= BAD. Our last stop however introduced us to the delights of Tejas. We went to a small shop attached to the factory which makes the small chocolatey treats then sends them all over Peru and the rest of the world.
After we dragged ourselves away from the sun of Huacachina it was on to the oppressive greyness of Lima, where we found ourselves slowed down somewhat by the childlike fragility of my travel companion. Illness (like hunger in the shreddies ad
verts i like to think although maybe not with a spoon) struck. So our time in Miraflores was punctuated by spells in bed for miss page, but we did make it to the sex pots - yay.
Then, off to the Jungle...
Despite this being the sole reason for our visit to this area, Flo was still a bit reluctant to get her travel-sick-seven-yr-old alike self to sign up for one of the flights which would take us over the lines in a small 6 seater aircraft, but after only a small amount of abuse she relented and we were signed up to go the following day.
After an early breakfast (very light in flo´s case for fear of seeing it again) we jumped into the back of a minibus and headed for the tiny airport on the outskirts of town where we were sat in front of an informative (read boring) documentary from the mid eighties, which basically the lines still remained a bit mystery but in no way was this going to stop a large group of social misfits from spending a lot of time conjecturing wildly.
After watching this, and then sitting patiently whilst another group watched it again, and waiting whilst others who arrived at the same time as us were lead off to their flight, we were too called over to the tarmac, where after a brief welcome we were loaded into the small plane. Flo managed to get the front seat next to the pilot (making her co-pilot? shit thats a scary thought),
thankfully not in the back since i reckon she would probably have yommed up the back of whoever was sat in front of her since it was pretty cramped for those who actually ended up there. Anyway, we were soon airborne, and without yommage, and heading for the first of the lines.
The lines themselves were harder to spot than we had been lead to believe! But with a bit of squinting and the pilot rocking the plane from side to side so that everyone got a look i think we managed to spot all of them! Following the route above (on the back of our 'certificates' for having done the flight - flo's is going on her wall next to the one she got for completing the fish trail in hull, a prestigious award if ever there was one) I was able to take photos of where the lines 'should' have been, and even though at our first look at the photos that id taken we wrote them off as being a big pile of shit, if you look at the larger versions you can actually see the lines - hurray! Seeing the lines, when we actually could (the monkey was particularly elusive), was pretty cool and to top it all off flo only felt 'slightly' ill when we were returning to the airport and wasnt sick at all!
That was about it for Nazca so the same day we made ar
rangements to escape and make our way towards the city of Ica and from there a short 10 minute taxi ride to the tiny town of Huacachina, a small group of mainly hotels and restaurants surrounding a small oasis lake surrounded by enormous sand dunes.Huacachina was an amazing place but we didnt really get up to much, I went sandboarding, and although i didnt take out the camera for fear of breaking it, i did get a photo taken by and Israeli girl but i havent seen her since. I'm sure she'll treasure the photo and the magical times we spent together. I'm pretty sure that had i taken my camera i would have looked something like this in the photos:
We spent a lot of time enjoying the weather in Huacachina, but one trip we did take was a wine and pisco tour of the area, our first stop was a Pisco distillery, where they make the drink which is an icon of South America. The spirit here tasted fine but on our second stop to a vineyard we tasted what i think was the worst wine i have ever had the misfortune to taste. I could have done better myself! Peruvian wine= BAD. Our last stop however introduced us to the delights of Tejas. We went to a small shop attached to the factory which makes the small chocolatey treats then sends them all over Peru and the rest of the world.
After we dragged ourselves away from the sun of Huacachina it was on to the oppressive greyness of Lima, where we found ourselves slowed down somewhat by the childlike fragility of my travel companion. Illness (like hunger in the shreddies ad
verts i like to think although maybe not with a spoon) struck. So our time in Miraflores was punctuated by spells in bed for miss page, but we did make it to the sex pots - yay.Then, off to the Jungle...
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