CROSSING SAND DUNES AS THE CROW FLIES
We arrived in Nazca surprisingly fresh and well-rested from the overnight bus from Arequipa – thanks to the fantastic Cruz del Sur buses that have more comfortable seats than some of the beds we had here before. Just off the bus we were determined to take a flight over the famous Nazca lines the very first thing in the morning, but were also slightly nervous about the small sport plane we would have to take. We were advised to skip breakfast in the morning, and we had also taken some seasickness tablets in the hope that its impact would help with air turbulence too – here you see the impact of all the learnings from our travel adventures so far!
Navigating the Nazca lines
The Nazca lines are a bunch of lines and large shapes that crisscross the desert and that are only really visible from the air. They were created by the Nazca culture, which lived in the area until 700 A.D., so they significantly pre-date the Inca civilisation (and also airplanes, without which the lines can’t be seen). That brings up the interesting question of what their point was, with some people speculating that they are evidence of alien presence and communication. While a lot of open questions remain, current scientific thinking believes that the Nazca used the signs to perform rituals and ask for favours and fertility from the gods (who, looking on the people from the sky would see the drawings from their own perspective).
As the signs are quite large (up to 100m long), the only real option for seeing them is to hop on a small plane for a 30-minute flight. There is also a lookout tower where you can see two of the drawings, but we heard that it isn’t as impressive, so once we`re here we thought it would be a mistake to miss out this opportunity. It turned out that this pane was far smaller than even our flight to Rurrenabaque, a small Cessna that seats only 6 people and the two pilots! We also had to get weighed so everyone could be balanced out properly in the airplane - apparently anyone above 100kg has to pay a surcharge, there`s no discount for light-weight people though...! While our guidebook said there were some concerns about safety in the past, our pilots (Majoro Air) were extremely professional and we felt safe in their hands and had a great time. After the flight, we felt a lot of respect for the two pilots who do this same flight up to 12 times a day!
Our co-pilot was also our tour guide, telling us in our headphones which symbol we were seeing on each side (“Right side, get ready for the whale coming up under the right wing for my favourite passengers! There it is, hello Mr. Whale!”) before the pilot circled the plane around so people on the other side could get a good look as well. We had underestimated how difficult it would be to actually spot the shapes, the desert is completely full of lines, so it isn’t easy to pick out the shapes between them. Also, from the air, even 100m shapes look quite small and you only have 15 seconds or so on each side to spot them then to try to take a picture of it, so we missed the first 1-2 shapes until we were able to get used to what we were looking for (on the plus side, you had a second chance when the pilot circled around, trying to look through the other side’s window). For the photos, we increased the contrast and zoomed in to make them a bit more visible for you.
Once we had caught on though, it was hard not to be swept away with excitement as we were treated to images of the Whale, the Trapezoid (also known as the UFO landing strip), the Astronaut (which definitely rather looks like an alien), the Monkey, the Dog, the Hummingbird, the Spider, the Condor, the Alcatraz, the Parrot, the Hands and the Tree. At the same time, with all the swooping and swerving around, we were glad we didn’t eat breakfast and relieved when the pilot announced it was time to head back to the airport.
After arriving back to the city, our appetite soon returned with a vengeance, so we had a shower and quick breakfast/lunch, before hopping on a 2-hour bus to Ica, and its suburb Huacachina. We would have liked to spend another half-day exploring the interesting wells the Nazca had built to get their water, and the mummified bodies too, but we were pressed for time by the end of our stay in Peru, and we had to get back to Lima for our flight to Colombia by the end of the following day.
Huacachina - Sunset Sandboarding in an Oasis
Luckily, the oasis village of Huacachina was on the way, and some travelers we had met previously told us it was a great place to spend the night (or a couple days if you have the time). It is a pretty little oasis surrounded by enormous sand dunes, which are the village’s main attraction. Luckily, we arrived in the village and checked in to our hostel just in time to go on a sunset buggy and sandboarding tour too! If you happen to visit, I would definitely suggest staying at La Casa de Bamboo – it is a clean and stylish place to stay at a reasonable price with a restaurant serving amazing food (including the best pancakes we’ve had for a long time), exactly what we needed after coming back from the desert completely covered in sand (including our hair, mouth, ears and nose)!
For our sunset tour, we boarded a 10-person dune buggy. At first we weren’t sure what to make of the reinforced steel bars on the side that gave it a cage-like experience, and we couldn’t quite place the vaguely familiar-seeming but strange seat belts that you put over your shoulders and buckled between your legs. When we reached the sand dunes, we quickly realized why it felt familiar: it was exactly like on a rollercoaster! To the encouragement of the passengers’ screams, the driver sped up and down the sand dunes and made tight turns, before coming to a stop on the top of a quite large dune – this would be where we start practicing sandboarding. Rather than standing on our feet, he suggested that as beginners, we lay down on our stomachs and slide straight down, dragging our feet behind us as breaks. It was actually much easier (and less scary) than it looked, although we do have GoPro footage of a spectacular fall from me, as my board accidentally turned and I went down the dune sideways at full speed (it turns out the braking also keeps the board straight, which the driver / guide forgot to tell us). Luckily I escaped with losing a bit of skin on my elbows and a stiff neck for a few days. It was a good fun to slide down the steep dunes and keep the momentum for about a good 100m. After all this adrenalin, we watched a beautiful sunset above the desert and headed back to the village for a thorough shower and a pancake dinner.
The following day, we hopped on our final 4-hour Peruvian bus trip to Lima, where we had a few hours before flying to Bogota. We paid a visit to some important monuments in the historical centre, and managed to get to the main square at the right time for the changing of the guards at the Government Palace. We wanted to ensure that we leave a lasting impression on Limeno-s and grow their awareness of Hungary, so we accepted the invitation to give a short interview to some local students for their English assignment about our Peruvian experiences and impressions. Due to nervousness they forgot the questions that were meant to be asked so we had a good few attempts shooting the video. We finally visited the Chinatown to try a recommended chifa, Wok La, a Chinese-Peruvian fusion restaurant, which concept is common all across the country due to the high number of Asian immigrants. After 1.5 months of potato and quinoa-rich diet it was time for a bit of change! This vibrant district is busy with people queuing in front of the best chifa-s and street stalls of freshly squeezed fruit juices at incredibly low prices (1 sol for a glass). On the Chinese market, which seemingly covers the lion part of the district you can literally buy everything, so we took the opportunity to re-stock a few essentials.
We would have loved to spend some more time enjoying the atmosphere of the Miraflores and Barranco districts, but we were unfortunately out of time and unwilling to sacrifice our time allotted for Colombia. Peru is such a big country, and there is so much to see, we could easily have spent another week without even adding any new destinations, just spending more time at the places we visited anyways – so we might have to come back again some other time!