Nasca and Paracas

Nasca and Paracas

Nasca -  Home of the famous Nasca Lines, literally thousands of lines and many figures that can only be seen from above carved into the earth a very long time age.

A German woman named Maria Reich spent about 50 years of her life measuring and documenting them and the Italian government still funds archaeology in the area. That seems like a lot of effort for what is really an oddity.

No one is really sure why, but the most recent theory is that due to a drastic climate change the king put the people to work on the lines and figures to please the gods. The king likely didn’t believe it would make a difference in the climate, but idle hands can lead to revolutions. What is known is that they took about 95 years to complete.

Nasca lends itself well to carving in the earth as it is dead flat with the exception of some dunes. Not very picturesque.  They have a nice farmer’s market loaded with fresh produce – the tangerines were wonderful. The hostal Don Agucho is clean and well equipped with a pool and large rooms.  The staff worked hard to straighten out our mess with the bad travel agent and got stuck for about what we did when it was all said and done.

 

Paracas – When Paracas flooded a very long time ago due to a weather oddity the entire society got up and left for Nasca.  They might rethink that now. Paracas is on the Pacific Ocean and is maybe the most barren National Park in the world. Is the Sahara a national Park?  They do have a red sand beach.

The Ballestas Islands are off the coast and can be best described as the Oregon coast with 20 times more wildlife. Sea lions, pelicans, a couple types of cormorants, boobies, penguins, and other birds everywhere.  It provided for a nice boat/bus outing for today.

What they lack in Paracas is a good market for fruit, etc. We will solve that soon though. Off to Lima…

NOTE:  On today's tour, we met a very nice family of four from Australia.  When I asked how long they are travelling, they responded they are riding BACK to Los Angeles and have been on the road for two years now.  Wow!  They expect to be back in LA an another year.  We'll be following them on their blog at www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/4438.