Nazca

View of the Nazca line drawing called "El Arbol"

After a night of air-conditioned sleep, we hopped back on the Peru Hop bus.

Some Peruvian scenery through the bus window

Today, the group stopped at a Pisco vineyard and distillery (and tourist stop). We were given a brief tour and talk of the pisco-making process. Apparently, people had been making pisco in that spot for at least a hundred years. Pisco is the type of grape used to make the local sweet wine and hard liquor, also called "pisco". The national drink is the 'pisco sour', which reminds me a little of a margarita. The tour was kinda interesting, learning how it was similar to and different from the whiskey distillery tour we took last year. For example, pisco is distilled in a huge, copper-lined vat buried underground, then stored in clay "kegs". I only wish we could've seen the grapes.

The wine-taster

Froody, el catador

Pisco is aged in clay "kegs"

Eventually, we made our way to Nazca. It only merits a dinner stop on our bus route, but we wanted to stay a couple of nights and see the famous Nazca Lines from the air. Nazca is a small town in the desert and has been inhabited for over 2000 years. Being smaller, it is also much quieter than Lima and much cleaner.



We got up a little early and enjoyed some fresh juice and tea for breakfast, provided by our hostel. (Of course, Froody had bread with butter and jam. I got the lunchmeat and some cheese.) The airline we went with, Movilair, picked us up from the hostel. Once at the airport (pretty much dedicated to companies that gave tours of the line drawings), we got weighed, paid for the flight, then went to another window to pay the airport tax, then sat in front of a video about the lines. Finally, a small group of us were called together and eventually boarded the small plane.

I liked the flight. There was a lot of banking and flying at almost 90 degrees so that both sides of the plane could get a good look at the lines. The Nazca Lines encompass a huge area and, I think, were made over the course of a few hundred years. There are animals shapes, which are older, and geometrics, which are younger. I thought they were carved into the ground, but basically the dark rocks were moved over and the lighter-colored dirt was revealed. They've managed to last so long because it hardly rains in the area. The people, then and now, depend on a river that flows through the region.

Since we had an entire day and a half to spend in Nazca, we hired a guide to show us some of the local ruins, including the aqueduct.








Sorry for no pictures. Something's up with the Internet.