About 70 years ago, when the first flights started over Peru, pilots started reporting seeing mysterious shapes etched into the sun-baked desert floor near Nazca.
What they were seeing were not only geometric forms and parallel lines but many different designs and drawings such as a monkey, tree, hands, condor, astronaut, whale, and many others. How they got there and what they mean still have scientists guessing. The drawings are made on such a large scale(the condor's wingspan is over 100 meters) that early theories of visiting aliens were considered since none of the lines can be seen from ground level. So why and how would an ancient culture accomplish this and draw something that they themselves could not see??? It is estimated that the first drawings were made around 400 BC and they may have continued creating more for a 1000 years to follow. This being one of the driest places on earth, even a footprint left today would last 1000 years! Scientists have discovered that some lines point to the place the sun would have risen on the mid-winter solstice in ancient Nazca times but the animals and other shapes are still a bit of a mystery. So, the best... well, only way to observe the lines is by airplane and that's what we did.

From there, we visited Chauchilla Cemetery where grave robbers have looted most artifacts but archeologist have restored what they could. Because of the dry climate here, the mummies have been preserved quite well with hair and skin still attached as well as the original cotton textiles.