Nazca Lines

Hello all,

Last night we went out for dinner in Nazca. The town is fairly small! The four of us (from now on you are to assume that is me, Rachel, Courtney and Ash!) shared a roast chicken, chips and salad for dinner which was yummy. Then we came back and I did some washing (be proud Mum!). The water here has cut out twice while we have been here. I was lucky to be able to do any!!

Today 12 out of 18 of us met at 7am to get the bus for our Nazca Lines flight. We drove about 10 minutes to a small airport. We got split into three groups - I was with Rachel, Ash, Josh and Kathleen. I was feeling rather nervous. Small planes have always scared me a little because in 2004 our neighbour was flying one at Lake Eildon and he died when it hit power lines and crashed. But again, I just kept telling myself that I've done lots scarier things. Last time I was in a small plane was 2009 and I had to jump out of it (sky diving!). So in comparison this shouldn't be scary at all!

I got sat right at the back on a double seat to myself because I was the smallest. This was good because I had a good view. The Nazca Lines were discovered in 1939 by an American scientist who by chance was flying over and noticed the patterns. They're a series of images, patterns and shapes that are dispersed over 500 square kilometres in the desert. The most elaborate designs (and the ones you see on the flight) include a whale, astronaut, monkey, hummingbird, condor, spider, pelican, hands and various shapes such as a spiral and trapezia. I was lucky to spot all of them and snap some good photos, they were smaller than I thought. You can only see them from a plane, the only alternative is a small tower that allows you to see two. 

Towards the end of the flight I started to feel quite ill. The headphones were pressing into my glands which are swollen with my throat. I felt quite dizzy and sick but after sitting down for a while after the flight I was ok. A few of the others were the same. I'm so glad I did it though, it was a really unique experience and one of those things you have to do when you come here or there's pretty much no point coming! Thank you Nan and Pa xoxox

We got back to the hotel and chilled out for a bit. Rachel and I have both done a tour in Asia with G Adventures (the same company as this) and we feel so far that in comparison this is much slower paced. We didn't really have time to sit around on that one. As a result, we are both feeling a little homesick because we aren't keeping insanely busy like we were in Asia. So we have spent a little while reading up on what is to come and are quite excited about all the adventures we have coming up!!! We are coming up to places where there is more to do and see so the pace will pick up then. 

This afternoon we sat by the pool and read our books for a bit, and then took part in a traditional Pachamancha lunch. This was in a sort of shack, and our food was cooked in the ground. It's a traditional Peruvian meal that's used for celebrations such as birthdays. The food is cooked inside various leaves (e.g. Banana leaves) inside a mound of dirt for four hours. Emma and Willy from our tour had to tip some water and place some food on the mound which apparently is a traditional way the incas said thanks for their food. The food was delicious. We had beef, chicken, potatoes, cooked cheese, Spanish onion and sauce made of capsicum. We also had a drink called chicha which has lemon, pineapple, peppercorn and cinnamon in it. I had tried this last night and it's really nice!

Now we have about 5 hours to kill before our bus picks us up. The power and water are currently out (so if you're reading this it means it came back on, I hope it did!!) as we are in the middle of the desert. 

Tonight we are getting a ten hour overnight bus to our next destination, Arequipa. Wifi permitting, I will post about our day there tomorrow!

Lots of love to all

Claire

Xoxox