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Nasca was only a short bus ride away and is one of those places that you ´have to see´. Obviously the main attraction are the lines with aggressive tour operators hounding you the minute you step off the bus! The town of Nasca itself is very small and doesn´t have much to offer and compared to the exhilaration of Huachachina we felt a little lost in this dry, arid land.
We managed to find a simple, quiet hostal with a really pretty courtyard perfect for relaxation and watching/listening to the birds. For a little entertainment we decided to pick up our cues and head for the pool table, much to the amusement of a group of peruvian lads......... maybe this had something to do with our presence at 10am :) at this time of the year the younger generation celebrate the up and coming festival by throwing water (or sometimes paint!) on unsuspecting passers by, mostly female! Dal got soaked, yet again! hehehe
After much deliberation we decided to visit the lines ourselves as the flights were costly and we had heard mixed reviews. Worried about being stranded in the desert we placed our best foot forward and caught a chicken bus to the observation tower where we were able to view 2 of the lines (Hands and Tree). A third line known as the parrot has unfortunately been eroded by the nearby highway which caused disruption of the soil.
There are many theories to date about the Nasca lines, unfortunately none have yet been proved and they still remain a mystery. Amazingly the lines are still perfectly visible due to the small rainfall, flatness of the land and preservation.
Maria Reiche was a German mathematician and archaeologist most famous for her research into the enigmatic figures of Nazca. She died in 1998 at the age of 95 and is buried in Nasca. 40 years of her life were spent solely studying this natural wonder and there is now a centre dedicated to her research, her theories involved astronomical calendars.
We took the risk of booking with an economical bus company...HUGE mistake, they always say lessons are learnt the hard way and it couldn´t be more closer to the truth. Boarding the bus we were firstly hit by the stench of stale sweat, secondly to find someone in our seats, thankfully this was quickly rectified! The bus was overbooked, people standing in the aisle, children crying every half an hour....this was the best part....it quickly took a downward spiral when the bus broke down, leaving us stranded for 4 hours. Just when we thought it really couldnt get any worse, one of the tyres blew up!!! Jolting us from our seats....its one of the moments when you just can´t imagine why this is happening...what did we do wrong.....i wanna go home......a night of standing in the cold rain, unsettled children, the toilet wasn´t working, people/children were sleeping in the aisles and definitely no thought of personal safety.....thankfully we arrived safe and sound in cusco 24hours later for what should have been an 11 hours journey.....looking back now from the comfort of cusco we see the funny side.....gosh is this travelling experience teaching us the art of patience and humour.
From what we have seen so far, (in the 5hrs of being here) Cusco has exceeded both our expectations, not as beautiful as the north but has exceptional eateries, free enticing wine and liquors! Cheers! :oP
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