A whale in the desert in South America

Since we arrived in Peru a few days ago we've had a whirlwind trip across the country. It started when we landed at Lima airport at 4am, after flying from Panama to Miama, then back down to Peru -- a really crazy route since we flew back over Panama on the second flight. For the first time ever we were met at the airport by a driver from our hostel. This was so much less stressful than trying to find a legit taxi that early in the morning. We even got to crash in a bed recently evacuated by someone leaving for their early flight.

After a few hours catchup sleep we had a day to sightsee in Lima. We spent the time wandering around the plazas in the town centre, going on a tour of a monastery, and getting stuck with an annoyingly rude tour group through some catacombs. Seriously, that group reminded me of all the reasons I hate planned tours - it was full of smug & arrogant tourists who thought they had the right to treat the locals like crap, and somehow believed that the "no photography" signs didn't apply to them at all. Made me embarrassed to be around them.

We then got another few hours sleep before an early morning wakeup to catch a bus down south to Nazca. Nazca is famous for these mysterious giant figures that were traced out in lines in the desert. There's a bunch of theories as to how they came to be - from indigenous people plotting them out with measurements and mathematics, to aliens carving them out with lasers from UFOs (or something like that!).

Before we arrived at Nazca we were a little worried we wouldn't be able to find space on a flight over the lines, since we had nothing booked and it's peak season here. But these fears were totally unfounded - the bus station was full of hawkers trying to sell tours and it was easy to check straight into a flight from one of the local agencies. So we were quickly herded onto a shuttle bus to the airport and given maps and a quick briefing of the flight. It was a really small plane - only four of us on the flight, including the pilot. One cool thing was that I've always wanted to fly on a tiny propellor plane, and now I have!

The first line we passed over was the "whale". It took me a while to spot this one, honestly, I was looking for something much larger. But when I realised the right scale to look for, I was surprised how clear the thing was. Apparently they've just survived for hundreds of years - the heat of the desert keeps them preserved without any work.

We'd been warned the flight can get rough and the continual turning and banking of the plane can bring on motion sickness, and I definitely felt this on the way back. Fortunately I had hardly eaten anything all day, so I survived without having to resort to the sick bag, but I was close! Another thing I'd read was that it's a waste of time to take your camera on the plane, since you'd only get average photos anyway. But I'm glad I ignored that advice, and I'm really happy with how my pics turned out. To me it always feels like cheating to just buy postcards or to get copies of someone else's photos.

So what's my verdict on the lines? Definitely worth seeing. But somehow I doubt they were made by aliens and not some bored locals hundreds of years ago. There's even a figure of a dog with a rather large 'fifth leg'... I can't imagine aliens joking around with that!

Back at Nazca we had a 6 hour wait till our bus left for Cusco. This was a horrendous 16 hour ride over the Andes, with only one bathroom break! In Cusco we've got a week to sightsee, adjust to the altitude, and check out the Inti Raymi celebration before we head off to Machu Pichu...