Perú/Bolivia - Part II (Ica/Nazca)

ICA

Huacachina sand dunes (2nd highest in the world), Ica, Peru
[please note that by clicking most of my images, you just get directed to a larger version... the ones with the blue border (above) link to my flickr page... which is chock-full of beautiful imagery you should definitely check out! The link is also available at your disposal on the side bar on the right hand side of the screen... also there were 2 camera's used... my Canon 20d and my Mom's crappy Pentax point-n-shoot, hence the differences in image quality]

This was the most fun I had the entire trip:


C'mon, how does this not look like shear pleasure?!

The drivers of these buggies, definitely have one of the coolest jobs in the world.

Although the video doesn't portray the coolness even remotely close (when will they ever?), we actually caught air flying over some of the dunes... going up near-vertical climbs, teetering on the summit for a couple seconds, then plunging down... waaaaaaay too much fun!
We also got a nice view of the Huacachina oasis:


Huacachina oasis, Ica

What was actually more of a surprise was when we got to the top of a 180m dune, the driver informed us we were all getting out... and not to take pictures. He nonchalantly went to the back of the buggy and pulled out some snowboards...
I have never snow/sand boarded. I watched someone else go first... standing... and it looked fun, but slow. Then, I saw someone go down lying on it with their stomach. They were at the bottom in less than 8 seconds! Now that looked like fun. So I lay the board down, strapped my wrists into the damn thing... and received a quick nudge. I was quickly told to keep my legs up in the air, and try to stay straight otherwise I could swerve, roll, and ultimately break some bones... and I don't think getting stuck somewhere in the middle of the Peruvian desert with broken bones on the 3rd day of my trip seemed like a good option.
And then before I knew it, I was lying in the sand staring at the sun, laughing my ass off.
Hitting the bottom of the slope was pretty harsh... my knuckles were bleeding after my second go (from touching the sand a split second on the way down). Oh, and for all you people placing this on your to-do list... some tips I learned the hard way. Don't wear anything with pockets. Don't keep anything in those pockets. Also, although you're going so fast you don't really know whats going on, don't yell in excitement as you reach the bottom... We all know sand doesn't taste good... it just doesn't have that savory texture... and trust me, Peruvian sand is no different.
After re cooperating from the buggy/boarding down at the oasis (with a nice cold Cusqueña!), we hopped back on a bus towards Nazca.

One thing I noticed immediately about Peru was the fact that every building seemed to be under construction... even the nicest hotel we stayed at (here in Nazca) bowed to this formula... because a building under construction, isn't a completed structure, so you don't have to pay tax on it. Good job to the government on that one, for making the entire country look like its recovering from something it will never recover from. Hence, it was easy to get roof (and all the guests' towels) access:

NAZCA


And I say this was our nicest hotel, although I didn't know it yet... it would be one of the very few with a working TV, warm water, and heating- which we actually didn't need now, as we were surrounded by desert and only at 500m (1640") above sea-level. That however, was all going to change soon.

Nazca is of course known for the infamous 'Nazca lines,' which are still ambiguous in their meaning and purpose. When researching this part of the trip, I couldn't wait to see them for myself... and I was a little disappointed... not in the sense you would think, I'll let you figure out on your own:

My pictures:
[#1 monkey, #2 hands, #3 hummingbird/heron, #4 spider, #5 condor (my fav), #6 whale, #7 dog, #8 parrot, #9 flamingo]

Their pictures:

















Notice anything different...?

Ha!

So needless to say I was expecting some very visible imagery...

For this blog I spent well over an hour trying to find ANY of the animal/plant graphics on GoogleEarth, and didn't find a damn thing. They definitely are not that easy to spot.

Besides the animals and plants depicted, there are also numerous shapes and countless lines. I also can't really communicate how large some of these designs are... some range up to 275m (900ft) across... The lines on the other hand are massive. Here's a satellite view of the area, the lines can actually be seen (in the red square), if they were hands on a clock it would be about 2:25. The red square itself is 13km (8 miles) wide.
Push the little + sign to zoom in, if you don't see it:

View Larger Map

The Nazca lines were made between 200BC and 700AD, I know that's like a 9 century window, but the fact remains exactly when, why, and how this ancient civilization (known as [surprise surprise] the Nazca culture) made these things. Your guess at this point is as good as anyone's.
Many believe they were for religious purposes, who else but god could see these things that they couldn't see. Keep in mind this is still a millennium before the Inca's and two millennias before aviation.
More specifically, that the animal images revolve around the theory that they were used as "walking temples" (also known as prayer labyrinth).
Take the hummingbird or heron for example:

The lines form a sort of circular path, which would actually make the geoglyphs themselves brighter, actually 'negative geoglyphs', as the dark top layer of sand was moved to expose the lighter sand underneath. These designs actually survived so long because there's no wind and the average annual rainfall in the Nazca region is about 1cm (0.5").

As for other theories... well there's everything from astrological maps, underground aqueducts, even that they are landing strips for alien aircraft.
There's more info on all of that on wikipedia's entry for the Nazca Lines.

ANYWAAAAAAAAY... we got to check out these Nazca lines in a 4 person (including the pilot) plane, which was pretty damn cool. And also the source for my first sickness. Not that I threw up (they hand out bags before departure), I just got a little queasy... cuz as you can imagine, there's only one way to see something directly below you out of airplane.... flying sideways.
And since there are two sides to everything, we would fly once on one side circle over a geoglyph, so you'd be staring right down at it, then doing it again but looking straight up into the sky.



"Shotgun!"

Something I also found amusing was the fact that these lines were only discovered in the 1920's, as the first commercial airlines started flying over the area, which meant that some of the designs had already been destroyed... the Pan American highway actually dissects one of them. Sad, but true. I mean, how the hell were they supposed to know?!

View Larger Map

The red dot shows where this next photo was taken.

You can even see how the road destroyed part of the "tree" seen here. Not to mention all the tire tracks crossing over everything.

And with names like "Tree," "Man," and "Hands," you would think the same marketing guy that changed bird shit to guano, could have come along and helped them out a bit.

My mom and the spider.

Up next was something I couldn't figure out when I got back home and started retouching my pictures:

Firstly: which way is up?
Secondly: is that a mountain or a canyon?
Thirdly: is it a hummingbird or a heron?

It's crazy to think about it... but obviously a long time ago that used to be a massive raging river... and I mean both a long time ago and massive, considering now they get 1cm of rain each year, and that that tiny blue spot to the right is a truck.

Landing was definitely the most fun (doesn't beat sitting jumpseat on a ChinaEastern flight during a perfectly clear night landing at the infamous [and now deceased] Hong Kong Kai Tak* airport... but still), it's also surprising how nimble those little planes are... the cockpits aren't so intimidating either, made me want to get a pilots license!

But all I got was this:

The rest of the day was spent walking around the town of Nazca, where everything was adorned with the designs from the desert geoglyphs... streets, signs, sidewalks, taxis, statues, benches, bus stops, etc...

That night we would hop on another public Peruvian bus... a night bus. Little did we know of the terror that awaited us... let's just say Pirates of the Carribean was going to be the least of my problems.

And I apologize for the layout issues, this blogspot crap is annoying sometimes, this post was a damn mission to get done, and I for one am happy it is... no more attempting to make it look nice... just the basics from now on!

[* if you know nothing about Kai Tak... shame on you! Google it.]