Over the last two days Anna and I spent about 20 hours in busses, so that we could spend about 30 minutes in the air. However, the flight was over the famous Nazca lines, so crazy as it may seem, all that bus travel really was worth it.
We took an overnight bus on Thursday night and managed to get Cama seats. These are the ones that open the flattest and are also much wider and cushier so we both slept really quite well. We arrived in Nazca at about 6am and made our way to the travel agent, luckily just across the street from the bus station. Originally our flight was scheduled for 8am but there was low lying fog, so we were moved to a 9am start.
We spent the next couple of hours sitting in the hostel next door before we got loaded into an amazing car to head out to the airport. It was one of those huge Ford monstrosities, gold with a lovely shag pile dash cover edged with gold tassel. It really made me think of that line from “Love Shack” that he has got him a car as big as a whale!
We got out to the airport after having to wait for people who were late and were rushed onto a plane as we were now late for our takeoff time. We were also delayed as each plane took 5 people and we were 5 groups of 2. Anna and I stood our ground and didn’t get split up, so we raced out to a tiny Cessna and headed up the runway.
Then we headed back down the runway. There was a problem with the radio. By the time it was fixed it we had missed our takeoff time and had to be rescheduled. The rescheduled time was 11.15am – not good as we needed to be back at the bus station just after 12! We were also starving as we hadn’t had breakfast – it isn’t recommended because so many people get airsick on the flights. But luckily they snuck us in just after 10am and we were soon in the air.
I can tell why so many people get airsick, they do lots of tight turns and tip the plane right on its side to let you see the lines but I’m glad they do because the view is amazing. The lines are both pictures and geometric figures. They were made by simply pushing the dark top layer of rocks to the side to reveal the pale clay below, but they are HUGE. The pictures are often over 50m long and the geometric figures stretch with precision for miles sometimes.
No one knows why they were made, there are lots of theories, star maps, maps to water sources (the Nazca valley is one of the driest deserts on earth) and of course alien landing strips, but why ever the people did it, they are truly one of the most amazing sights I’ve seen.
We got back to Nazca, had a really good lunch then were back on the bus to Arequipa. Being a day bus we got to see some of the countryside and it was spectacular. Most of the time while it was light we were travelling along the highway which runs on the narrow strip of land between the coast and the desert mountains. The land is dry, just dust and rocks rising sharply up into mountains which catch the sea mist at the top. It was really exciting seeing the Pacific Ocean from the other side as it crashed into Peru. The whole effect was fascinating.
The bus trip was fine except that we didn’t get fed which is unusual, but luckily we were well prepared with snacks, so we napped, watched a few films and arrived back at about midnight.
Now we will hopefully have a couple of quiet days before we head home. One of the movies on the bus was Australia and I’m feeling quite homesick for the accent now! Looking forward to seeing you all soon.
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