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A group outing in the morning to the Necrapolis de Chauchilla, a cemetery in the middle of the dusty landscapes, was pretty random really.... The bodies weren't originally buried here, but dug up by grave robbers for the material and artefacts that would have been buried with them. Due to the climate here, constantly hot and dry the bodies have been very well preserved and even now they are just displayed outside with a wicker canopy for protection. This area gets just 30 mins of rainfall a year and it's summer all year around with temperatures ranging from 20 degrees to a ridiculous 50!! It's very desolate, dusty and dry. The mummies were all originally buried in the foetal position as it's said to help them be re-born in the after life. Those people that were ill are sometimes buried with lllama's feet to help them with their journey to the next life. Their long hair was preserved perfectly (some of it up to 2m long!!) and some of them were sporting dreads. As I said, very random!!
That afternoon, I passed up culture and a scenic flight over the nasca lines (which frankly just make me sick) in favour of sunning myself by the pool and making the most of the hot weather.
In the evening, I did go back to learning mind you with a trip to the planetarium to find out about the Nasca lines before our overnight bus trip onwards. It was built in memory of Maria Reiche a lady that the Peruivians hold in very high regard as she dedicated most of her life to researching and trying to understand the lines. In summary, what do scientists know about the Nasca lines?? Not a lot!!! It's one of earths almost unexplainable mysteries...so I'll tell you about the theory that I find most believable. Many generations of Nasca people used the lines and drawings as ways of recording things they wanted to or needed to remember. For example, the direction they would need to walk into get to water, the sparse landscape wouldn't have provided any markers on it's own and water would have been a constant battle out here. Also, rising and falling of the sun, longest and shortest days, much like our present day calender. Finally, astronomy maps to mark constellations, bright stars and positions. Whatever they were for they are amazing and it seems unreal that they could have coordinated such a large scale project, the lines cover masses of ground and it's estimated it would have taken around 800 years and careful coordination to complete. To top this they were only discovered in the 30's and a highway was actually built through the middle of them without realising!!
Our overnight bus journey was rubbish, another downfall of being on a tour, we had to travel Semi-Cama so no laying down, rubbish....
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