Nazca lines

We decided to go for a walk to the plaza this morning but we hadn’t”t got very far before we saw a parade of school children. They had a band at the front and were followed by groups of different school classes from tinies to teens. Each grade wore matching outfits with quite a few being football kits. They made a colourful display as they walked round the streets.

We were then picked up for a flight over the Nazca lines. The Nazca Lines are a group of geoglyphs made in the soil of the Nazca Desert created between 500 BC and 500 AD by people making depressions in the desert floor, removing pebbles and leaving different coloured red dirt exposed. In recent years between 80 and 100 new figures have been found with the use of drones, and archaeologists believe that there are more to be found. Most lines run straight across the landscape, but there are also figurative designs of animals and plants. As some of the Nazca lines form shapes that are best seen from the air we took a flight in a small Cessna plane over the lines zigzagging aroun the shapes so that everyone could see them. It was hard to take photos but the experience was amazing. The shapes are usually made from one continuous line and the largest ones are about 370m long. The figures vary in complexity and include a hummingbird, spider, fish, condor, heron, monkey, lizard, dog, cat and a human. Other shapes include trees and flowers. No one knows the reason for the designs and suggestions range from aliens making them to them being religious symbols.
After being dropped off at our hotel we sat outside in the sun for a while, had some food and prepared ourselves for the overnight journey to Arequipa.