Nasca lines

Chris:

At 8:00 was going on. We were picked up from the hotel and taken to the airport. There, the passport and the weight were checked and the passengers were classified into the aircraft. Afterwards you had to pay the airport fees at a counter and wait for the call for check-in (about 10 minutes). There the passport was checked again, we had to go through a scanner – which peeped (almost) almost for everyone. Again wait a few minutes.

Then we was picked up by the co-pilot and brought to the plane (theoretically 6 passengers, but all where only filled up with 4-5 persons). After a small photosession, the seats were allocated and we were allowed to board (or should you say, “thread”?), even with a small car the door would be larger.

Everyone had to set up headsets to understand the co-pilot’s explanations, what to see and were looking at, since we did not recognize some of the characters. The plane has circled each figure twice – once to the right and once to the left.

Unfortunately it was over too fast. After just 30 minutes, we landed again.

The exit at the airfield is simply a “gate” over which one can easily climb. Why the effort with multiple passport controls? Being complicated like as usual in South America – not comprehensible for us.

Kasia has then made a Señora happy by buying almost half the shop. Well, it was not so much, and the 200 soles (just over 50 euros) are certainly a good investment into memories.

Here are some pictures how the figures should look like.

Kasia:
So really, half the shop? There were only a few nice things 😉 and the “Señora” has insisted on being a Señorita 🙂 .
The Nasca lines are still a mystery. It is known that they were created by a pre-Inca civilization, presumably between 100 and 600 AD. Their purpose is not known, theories range from religion to astronomy to the extraterrestrial. The Nasca plain is around 500 square kilometers in size and was named World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1994.

In the beginning I was disappointed: the co-pilot told me that this and that figure should be, and I saw only sand-colored surface. But then they were there, the fine lines. There are mainly geometrical figures: rectangles, triangles and straight lines. In between always the figures. Chris and I have both photographed and filmed, and indeed some beautiful recordings have succeeded.

We could take a first look at the lines yesterday from a vantage point. Very unsatisfying, I do not understand the people who come to Nasca and do not make a flight over with a plain!