Flying above the ancient Nazca Lines

On our second and last weekend in Lima, the entire group went on an excursion to a place that simply can’t be missed when in Peru – the Nazca Lines! The Nazca Lines are a series of mysterious human-made geoglyphs in the dry Nazca Desert, some up to 370 meters long. Because of how large they are, they can only be seen in full size from the air. The origin and purpose of the lines has been discussed widely, with some theories suggesting that they were made by aliens or that prehistoric people used hot air balloons to see the lines from above, although there is no archaeological evidence for that. Most scholars believe that they were created by the Nazca people between 200 BC and 700 AD, probably for religious/ritual reasons. There are hundreds of lines, and all of them are different. Some are simple lines, while others form geometric shapes, phytomorphic shapes such as trees and plants or zoomorphic designs of animals and humans. The lines are all shallow, but because of the dry and windless climate of the desert, they have mostly been preserved. Only some have been ruined by modern roads. Our minibus left Miraflores at midnight between Friday and Saturday and set off for a 6-hour drive to Nazca, which took closer to 8 hours because the driver was – well – a little bit inexperienced. Not long after we had left the hostel, he drove over something sharp so two tires got flat and had to be changed, which took an hour to do… About an hour after we had gotten on the highway again, we were woken up by police sirens. The police had ordered the minibus to the side, probably because our driver had fallen asleep (some of the others who were awake said that he was driving like he didn’t have any control of the car…). On top of all of that, the ride was extremely bumpy due to Peru’s terrible road conditions, and we also had no other choice than to sit up during the ride, so we didn’t get much sleep that night. 

 At 8 AM the next morning, we arrived in Nazca Airport, ready to catch our flight at 8.30 AM. Checking in and boarding went smoothly, and so did the flight for most of us despite the extremely rough ride. Only a few people were sick, where I actually thought we were all going to be sick! The plane ride was absolutely amazing! We got to see so many lines and the pilots were great at pointing them out when we approached and also to show us the lines twice, one for the left side and one for the right side. The ride only took half an hour and it was over too soon, but it had been an amazing experience. It was amazing to see them in real life after wanting to for sooooo long! 

 We then had to wait at the airport for everyone to finish as the flights could only hold 5 of us at a time. We spent the time buying souvenirs and calming our nerves, before we were off on the road once again, driving to the lookout tower, so those who didn’t choose to fly could also see some lines, although only three of them. Most of us decided to join them, but I was actually disappointed with how low the tower was, so it was impossible to see the three lines in their full glory from birds eye perspective, but still it’s better than nothing. I’m really glad that I chose to do the flight though! 

 If you do choose to see the Nazca Lines when in Peru – and you totally should – do take the plane ride experience as well as the tower if you can afford it and aren’t afraid of flying. It’s so worth the money, the upset stomachs and the waiting time!