Nazca Lines - October 18th

Today we went to see the famous Nazca Lines (featured in the Crystal Skull Indiana Jones movie). The lines were created in the Nazca desert a thousand years ago by the Nazca people. There are numerous geometric shapes, figures and straight lines. Its thought they were used for religious ceremonies and possibly the lines as a calendar.

Six of us fit into a small Cessna plane that took us on a half hour flight over the Nazca desert. We saw 12 figures in total: a whale, trapezoids, astronaut, monkey, dog, hummingbird, spider, condor, alcatraz, parrot, a set of hands and a tree. It was really amazing to see everything from the air. It was very impressive how large the figures are (some 300m long) and how long they have lasted. Of course makes you wonder just how they were made in such perfect huge shapes without technology or being viewed by the air!

On the way back to the airport our pilot took us for a "zero gravity dive" - pulling the plane straight up and then plunging down. At the top of the curve you and all your belongings fly out of your seat and float for a second or so like in a space shuttle. Pretty fun!

The picture with the lines is the hummingbird.

-Lisa