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Nasca
We took the cheapest bus we could from Ica to Nasca, which was only a 3.5 hour journey. A man on the bus initiated a conversation with us and asked us if we had a hotel. We had been through these protracted conversations before and just said we had a reservation. He asked which hotel so we told him the one we were thinking of going to. To our surprise and relief he worked for that hotel and gave us some information. We decided to go there and another surprise was waiting for us as we got to Nasca. A man at the bus station was shouting, “Carlos, Carlos”. We ignored him at first and then realized the man on the bus must have phoned his relatives and we got picked up from the bus station and taken to the hotel.
We tried to locate a veggie restaurant but it had closed down so we found another one. This restaurant had the tallest kulak we have ever seen. He was even taller than Charlie and for a kulak this is a strange event indeed. He was probably the product of a growth hormone experiment gone wrong. This was an expensive restaurant for the seasoned travelers but had incredible service only let down by removing plates and bringing other courses before all at the table had finished! Calum explained this rude behaviour and defended the kulaks thinking it was a lack of hot lamps. Phooey… they are just different!
The Nasca Lines
The 3 of us decided to appreciate the Nasca lines fully by taking a small flight over them, since you can’t see them properly from the ground. We arrived at the airport and got to watch an extremely erratic video about the lines, which featured 1980s archeologists, inappropriate soundtracks, and irrelevant history sections. We were all thoroughly bored by the time it was over.
While we were waiting for the plane, some Japanese girls came into the airport. We knew that neither of them were Betty because they weren´t wearing orange lifejackets.
Eventually it was our time to go on the flight. We all clambered into the plane, which only had 4 seats! Charlie got to sit next to the pilot. A kulak! What were we thinking! Anyway, we eventually took off (reasonably) safely and started our tour over the lines. The pilot insisted on flying over the lines, then turning the plane on its side so people on either side of the cabin could see each side of the lines clearly. They were created by the Nazca culture between 200 BC and 700 AD. There are hundreds of individual figures, ranging in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, and lizards. The Nazca lines cannot be recognized as coherent figures except from the air. Since it is presumed the Nazca people could never have seen their work from this vantage point, there has been much speculation on the builders' abilities and motivations (thanks Wikipedia).
We flew over about 12 patterns in all. The plane became increasingly hot. Calum made it about halfway through the 35 minute flight before he had to use the sick bag. Charlie followed suite about 2 minutes later. The pilot soon learned his lesson and resumed flying the plane normally. Too late kulak! Lisa thoroughly enjoyed the vomiting affair. The two boys didn’t and thought the entire trip a bloody waste of money! It was only until about 2 hours after the trip that Charlie realised the embarrassment of having been sick WHILE SITTING NEXT TO THE PILOT! The fact that he couldn´t speak English is only a small consolation.
After the flight we returned to the hotel and had a rest, Calum feeling very sick went to bed. Charlie and Lisa enjoyed a hearty breakfast. We then organized another trip which was haggled down from the original price and went to a cemetery to see mummies. The trip also visited a pottery factory and a gold factory. At the pottery factory we had a small demonstration into the making of the pots, which were made in the Incan style. Charlie asked the man what the pots were used for but apparently they were just decorative. Crazy Incans, all that work just for decorations. Anyway we left without buying anything and moved onto the gold factory.
The man demonstrating showed us how to remove gold from stone with the use of Mercury. We were astonished as he poured this bottle of mercury all over his hands (gloved) and into a washing up bowl. The mercury was squeezed out and the gold remained. We then we saw rocks being crushed by kulaks rocking on wheels (Please see video). We felt sorry for them but they were making gold and got paid pretty well.
After the factories we were driven by a different man in a very old American style Ford car. We went down a rough track for about 40 minutes until we got to the cemetery where it was blowing a gale. We walked around the first few opened graves and had our driver being the guide. He explained that the graves were robbed and the mummies just thrown out on the plain. It is the friction of sand which has caused the skin to fall off, within the last 20 years. There was no explanation as to why the mummies were not brought inside, but it is a kulak country. There were also baby mummies and various bones and skulls. There were bits of material that had been bleached in the sun also. We were left to walk around the other opened graves by ourselves but we decided to leave the ones furthest away as the wind was blowing all the sand at us and we were surprised our skin didn’t come off like the mummies’. We escaped into the museum after leading each other through the sand storm. This tiny museum had a better preserved mummy and a child complete with finger and toe nails. The guide told us that they are buried in foetal position as they are then reading for a new life. This requires the cutting of ligaments when the person is dead so they can be bent around. All the gold and material had been stolen from the graves. But some are intact and haven’t yet been opened, we all decided to become grave robbers. It´s sad that they blame grave robbers for so much but at least they are recycling and not just burying gold into the ground when it could be put to good use!
We escaped the wind and the other people (one was wearing a very frightening multi-coloured top) and fled to the taxi demandind to be taken back to Nasca.
Final Thoughts: A very hot town, which is OK but there was no swimming pool. Seeing the lines would have been cool if it weren´t for the clown pilot (this comment does not apply to Lisa, she enjoyed it! Apart from the sick smell).
Mark out of 10: 5
Next time... Cusco
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