Nasca Lines

So after the last post I spent a few more thoughtless hours on the computer before we attended dinner with the rest of the guests, which was 0. We were the only ones at dinner in a fairly large room. We felt that we had to whisper because of the emptiness in the hotel. Papa and I had a romantic pasta dinner with a bottle of wine. Ha.
Afterwards, papa went to the room as I studied the model of the maze. Apparently papa noticed me acting quite weird and confronted me when I got back. He showed me a draft on my blog which repeated "All work no play makes Adam a dull boy". I felt very offended and tried to punch him. It was then I realized he had a bat and next thing I knew, I was locked in the kitchen refrigerator.
Lucky for me, Lloyd (pronounced y-oid in Spanish) was there to set me free. I found a fire axe and began my search to kill papa.
I finally managed to find him and violently axed the door down to his hotel room and in a growling roar said "Heeeeeeeere's Adam!"
And I think you know how the story goes. And Shelley Duvall is ugly.

That's how our Night in Nasca, Peru went.

The next morning we drove to the Nasca airport, which is actually the 2nd busiest airport in Peru. This is because the Nasca lines are very popular among tourists who come to Peru, as well as, home grown Peruvians.
We boarded our dozen person propellor plane and began a hot flight over the arid Nasca desert plain. We gutted out the multiple G turns, dips, and dives (Guy Fieri style, only we didn't look like Jersey Shore Swedes with cool cars).
The pilots would turn to each side, showing us the ancient lines drawn up in the desert floor roughly 1200-1500 years ago. These lines differ from animals to shapes to figures... At least 10,000 different lines and 300 different figures span over the barren surface. The intersting part about the lines is how they have survived this long, given they are only dug about 8-10 inches into the stony ground. One of the reasons for this is because the sand briefly covers them during the day, however winds during the night brush the sand away. It is impossible to see these lines from the ground or even from towers or mountains of the surrounding areas. The most effective way is to fly, which is why this is so interesting. Were these messages to the gods? Was this a primitive sort of calendar? Maybe they were mimicking constellations they believed they saw in the stars... These are all questions that cannot be answered and possibly will never be.

The Astronaut

These lines were made by pre Inca civilizations and their purpose is a complete mystery to the modern world. Including a woman who dedicated 40 years of her life studying these lines, German mathematician Maria Reiche. She did everthying from initially exposing and cleaning the lines to carefully studying each line and figure to expose some truths to this mystery. 40 YEARS!!!! Until the DAY she died, deeming her ¨Lady of the Lines.





The Hands

After the Nasca lines, we began our 5 hour trek back to the capital coastal city of Lima. Bisecting our trip was a tour of a vineyard in which we saw more horses than we did wine!!! Although papa and I did down a few complimentary glasses of good wine to support a fine nap on the 3.5 hour drive.

It was an interesting couple days, considering we relived "The Shining" (if you didn't catch on) and got to see an ancient enigma.

Off to Caral in the morning, the oldest city in America.
Ciao