Nazca and Arequipa

Sorry we haven't posted in a few days, but we've been stranded in the desert (no joke). It all started pretty innocently, with a planned night in Nazca to see the Nazca Lines - huge drawings in the desert that are about 1500 years old. Turns out, Peru is pretty popular, so all the buses out of Nazca were booked the day we wanted to leave. Okay, so it was only a day longer than we wanted to stay (about 58 hours instead of 34), but you don't understand this town. Actually, we kind of liked it when we got there. Sure, it was dusty, noisy, and had absolutely nothing going on, but it wasn't without it charms. The town square was nice, and the main tourist street was nice enough for a stroll. It was one of the only street in town that is paved, and I guess they enjoyed it so much that they decided to pave every other street at the same time. The construction added considerably to the dust and noise levels. In retrospect, it was probably just the fact that it was warm that intrigued us about Nazca. We probably would have found some level of charm in Baghdad after coming from cold and foggy Lima. Anyways, we were there for one reason - to do an overflight of the Nazca Lines.

This is Nazca

The technical term for the Nazca Lines are that they are geoglyphs. They are credited to the Nazca people in around 500 AD but, again, they don't really know. There are hundreds of individual figures, from simple triangles to complex animals. I actually think they were created by aliens, for two reasons: one, how on earth could an ancient civilization draw such perfectly formed drawings in the desert with few (and distant) lookout points, and two, how else do you explain the "Astronaut" drawing?

They say this is an astronaut, but I know the truth

Really the only good way to see the lines is with an overflight on a tiny little airplane. We just love those. It cost about $70 each, but when in Rome. We were warned to not eat anything before the flight, but how bad could it be? It couldn't be worse than our crazy, windy flight in New Zealand. Steph took dramamine and had her motion-sickness bracelets on just in case. Turns out, she would need them. The pilots take you on a pre-determined course from one figure to the next, and even though you can see them just fine out the window, they find it necessary to turn the plane completely sideways so you look straight down on each geoglyph. Then, they do the same on the other side of the plane, just in case you can't look over the one person sitting next to you. I consider myself pretty bulletproof in the motion-sickness department, but even I got queasy. Steph with her medicine and black magic managed about the same. Still, it was really impressive to see the drawings first hand. Some of them were surprisingly small, but some as big as 200 yards across. They are perfectly drawn and must have taken very careful planning and coordination...by the aliens I mean.

Monkey

Condor

We survived

So after you get off the flight, your list of things to do in Nazca is pretty much checked-off. There are other tours that they will take you on, of course, but none of them seemed all that great. We had another day and a half until our bus would leave town. Let's just say it was a boring, boring day and a half. The Nazca Lines have been in place for 1500 years without disturbance, and all they did to build them was to dig a little in the dirt. That should tell you how barren this place is. We sat on the computers in the internet shop for hours, read and sat in the square, ate at a desert cafe a bunch of times, and just walked around. On top of all that, our bus was two hours late. Needless to say we had overstayed our welcome and were happy to get out of Nazca.

Not only was that extra day in Nazca a real waste of time, but it also threw a major wrench in our travel plans. We have to be in Cusco on the 1st for our train to Macchu Picchu, and were hoping to visit both Arequipa and Lake Titicaca before then. It took some debating, but due to time and transportation constraints  we decided to skip Lake Titicaca. We arrived in Arequipa this morning, and take an overnight bus (about 10 or 11 hours - don't worry, we have sleeping pills and booked the "first class" seats) to Cusco tomorrow night. That'll give us some time to acclimize and explore Cusco before going to Macchu Picchu. But first, we have about two days in Arequipa. You may not have heard of it before (I hadn't), but it is the second largest and apparently the second most popular tourist town in Peru (behind Cusco). Turns out, as it usually does, that this is no accident. We went into downtown earlier this afternoon and it is really, really nice. Arequipa is nicknamed "the White City" because of it's many colonial-style building made of sillar, a pearly white volcanic rock. It is also framed by 3 big (dormant) volcanoes. We spent a couple of ours walking around downtown - there are many churches, monasteries, markets, and public areas to explore. Steph especially liked the little side alleys that led to charming little courtyards, usually with a fountain in the middle surrounded by cafes and shops.

Arequipa's main square

There are little cafes like this everywhere

The main square with the mountains in the background

We are also really happy with our hostel, which is a pretty new house about 10 minutes outside the city. They have lots of things to do - pool table, ping pong, movie room, video games, plus a nice patio and hammocks outside to enjoy the warm sun. Basically, a good place to recharge out batteries after they were drained in Nazca. (I'm sorry I'm bashing Nazca so much - I would actually recommend a visit, just make sure you have a ticket out before you book your ticket in.) We may decide to take a tour tomorrow, we may just hang out. At the very least, we'll post again on the 31st from Cusco as we prepare for our trip to Macchu Picchu! Can't wait!