Stomach-Churner...
Alright, so I skipped over Arequipa, as I had already seen the frozen dead girl and the nun zoo the last time I was there, at the beginning of my trip. I spent a few hours there (the hotel lady was MEAN - New Zealand Nick & Pauline, if you go to Arequipa, don`t stay at the Hostal Tuni de Oro!!) and then cuaght the night bus to Nasca. After English Nick`s traumatic bus experiences (read here), I opted for the bus that costs a small fortune, but the seat fully reclines into a bed. Did I mention I HATE night buses?
Anyways, this one was actually quite brilliant - it was everything they actually claimed it was. The bed-seat was quite comfortable, and I got a great sleep. My only complaint was that they played the movie ¨Scary Movie II¨- as if that isn`t the most repulsive waste of film ever!!! Disgusting. The thing is the buses here play everything, whether it`s a movie, or raunchy videos of L.Am Pop music, at top volume. Anyways, I actually slept well until they kicked me off the bus in Nasca at 6:30 am (an hour EARLY!) in the middle of the dusty, sweltering desert that is Nasca. You would think that at that obsene hour you wouldn`t have to dodge the touts harassing you to sell you tours and godknowswhatelse... but they were SHARKS in Nasca! They even banged on the window outside while I was inside looking at my map. I was in no mood for it at that hour! :-)
Anyways, I decided to walk to town, since I had all the time and I just felt like succumbing to my temper tantrum and not giving any of them the satisfaction of getting in their cabs. So, I checked my map, hoisted my pack, and set out with firm ¨No gracias¨s and set resolutely on my way walking down the dusty road...... in the dead wrong direction. Yup, in my stubborness, I firmly marched down the road towards Lima.... ya. It sucked when I realized and had to turn around 15 min later and walk past them all again to actually get to town centre... :-) :-) That`ll teach me... :-) Anyways, by 8 am I was all set up for the tour and waiting at the Nasca airport.
The Nasca lines are huge lines and shapes scratched into the desert by an ancient culture, and to see them you need to fly over them. They are so strange - there`s a dog, a monkey, a condor, hummingbird, little man who kind of looks like an astronaut, trapesoids, etc, and tons of perfectly straight lines that go forever. No one really knows how or why... some say the usual theory of landing strips made for or BY aliens, others think it was pleas to the water gods, etc. Super interesting and very cool. We went up in the smallest plane ever invented and I got to fly co-pilot. I even got to (was forced to) fly the plane while the pilot wrote down some figures or something for awhile... I thought it was cool, but I don`t think the others in the plane liked my steering much, especially when the pilot said ''Up please... no UP!'' ... :-) (How was I supposed to know?!)
Anyways, the pilot takes you over the lines, and banks 90 degrees to each side so everyone can see them. Believe me, the real trick, once you realize you aren`t going to fall out, is holding on to your breakfast... It was pretty dizzifying... The guy behind me threw up... but not when I was driving...
I really liked the lines.. so strange! At the end of our flight the pilot thought we would really like it if he did his rollercoaster trick... so he yanked back on the steering thingy and we went nearly straight up, and then he death-dropped us back to earth. Great. I thought we were dead, and my stomach thought I was trying to kill it... It was fun though (after I realized we weren`t dead).
So, by 10:30 am I had seen all I wanted to see of lines in the desert (super dry and hot - barely any rain every year) and thought I might go see more dead people (mummies and bones in the desert) but there were no tours going out and I didn`t feel like going with the slimy guy who offered a ¨special tour, just for you¨ (I`ll have to ask Nick how his was :-) )...
I then caught a bus to the town of Ica, smack in the middle of the craziest, hugest sand dunes I`ve ever seen...
Anyways, this one was actually quite brilliant - it was everything they actually claimed it was. The bed-seat was quite comfortable, and I got a great sleep. My only complaint was that they played the movie ¨Scary Movie II¨- as if that isn`t the most repulsive waste of film ever!!! Disgusting. The thing is the buses here play everything, whether it`s a movie, or raunchy videos of L.Am Pop music, at top volume. Anyways, I actually slept well until they kicked me off the bus in Nasca at 6:30 am (an hour EARLY!) in the middle of the dusty, sweltering desert that is Nasca. You would think that at that obsene hour you wouldn`t have to dodge the touts harassing you to sell you tours and godknowswhatelse... but they were SHARKS in Nasca! They even banged on the window outside while I was inside looking at my map. I was in no mood for it at that hour! :-)
Anyways, I decided to walk to town, since I had all the time and I just felt like succumbing to my temper tantrum and not giving any of them the satisfaction of getting in their cabs. So, I checked my map, hoisted my pack, and set out with firm ¨No gracias¨s and set resolutely on my way walking down the dusty road...... in the dead wrong direction. Yup, in my stubborness, I firmly marched down the road towards Lima.... ya. It sucked when I realized and had to turn around 15 min later and walk past them all again to actually get to town centre... :-) :-) That`ll teach me... :-) Anyways, by 8 am I was all set up for the tour and waiting at the Nasca airport.
The Nasca lines are huge lines and shapes scratched into the desert by an ancient culture, and to see them you need to fly over them. They are so strange - there`s a dog, a monkey, a condor, hummingbird, little man who kind of looks like an astronaut, trapesoids, etc, and tons of perfectly straight lines that go forever. No one really knows how or why... some say the usual theory of landing strips made for or BY aliens, others think it was pleas to the water gods, etc. Super interesting and very cool. We went up in the smallest plane ever invented and I got to fly co-pilot. I even got to (was forced to) fly the plane while the pilot wrote down some figures or something for awhile... I thought it was cool, but I don`t think the others in the plane liked my steering much, especially when the pilot said ''Up please... no UP!'' ... :-) (How was I supposed to know?!)
Anyways, the pilot takes you over the lines, and banks 90 degrees to each side so everyone can see them. Believe me, the real trick, once you realize you aren`t going to fall out, is holding on to your breakfast... It was pretty dizzifying... The guy behind me threw up... but not when I was driving...
I really liked the lines.. so strange! At the end of our flight the pilot thought we would really like it if he did his rollercoaster trick... so he yanked back on the steering thingy and we went nearly straight up, and then he death-dropped us back to earth. Great. I thought we were dead, and my stomach thought I was trying to kill it... It was fun though (after I realized we weren`t dead).
So, by 10:30 am I had seen all I wanted to see of lines in the desert (super dry and hot - barely any rain every year) and thought I might go see more dead people (mummies and bones in the desert) but there were no tours going out and I didn`t feel like going with the slimy guy who offered a ¨special tour, just for you¨ (I`ll have to ask Nick how his was :-) )...
I then caught a bus to the town of Ica, smack in the middle of the craziest, hugest sand dunes I`ve ever seen...
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