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This was a long day, we packed in a lot of sightseeing. Everything was arranged through Nazca Flights, and fortunately it all worked out. We got up at 2:15 A.M. and went downstairs to the hotel lobby. The hotel had prepared a "breakfast to go" for us, which I thought was a nice gesture. A car showed up at 2:50 to drive us to the Lima bus terminal. We boarded a big tourist bus, found our assigned seats, and settled in for a long ride to the city of Pisco. It was light when we reached Pisco. We boarded a boat that took us out onto the Pacific Ocean to see the Ballestas Islands, which is a big reserve for marine birds and animals. There are indeed numerous flocks of birds swarming the islands. The ocean waters are rich with fish, so naturally the birds who prey on the fish are abundant. The highlight of the Ballestas Islands is the Humboldt penguins. These penguins are unfortunately on the endangered species list. We could only see the birds from the boat, tourists are not allowed to land on the islands. After our boat tour, we took a ride to the Pisco airport. It was a long wait for our flight - it was more than an hour late departing. We found out later that the delay was due to adverse weather conditions. Since it never rains along the Peru coast, I assume that bad weather meant there were clouds over the Nazca Lines. Once our plane reached the planes of Nazca, it began a series of curves as it overflew each Nazca geoglyph. First the plane would bank so that everyone on the left side of the plane could see the figure below, then the plane did a 180 degree turn so it made a second pass over the same figure, but this time banking to the right so that everyone on the opposite side of the plane could see. The plane's manuevers did not bother me, but there was a boy a couple rows ahead of me that had to use the airsickness bag. I was surprised how hard it was to see the Nazca figures. The images that you see in the magazines appear to show giant figures that are easily discerned. But a couple of times I couldn't even identify the figure drawn in the sand, even though it must have been right below us. In my photographs, I show some "untouched" photographs, and then the same picture with the contrast cranked up to a high number. I did enjoy our flight over the Nazca Lines. I had heard about these mysterious lines ever since I was a child. Today, the lines are still an archaeological mystery. It is too bad that the South American civilizations had no system of writing, so we have no records of what they thought. Because our flight was delayed, our tour of the Paracas National Reserve was just a brief glimpse of the area. It is too bad we didn't have longer time, because our guide for this part of the tour was a funny guy. He told us that he learned English by listening to Heavy Metal bands. He showed us some fossils, and we got to walk around a little bit in the northernmost end of the famous Atacama Desert. There isn't a sign of life anywhere, because it never rains in this area. Funny how the ocean is especially rich with fish due to the Humboldt current, but on land, the whole area is lifeless. We took the long bus ride back to Lima, and arrived late at night. We went to bed after a long but very interesting day. I was really glad we had been able to see the famous Nazca Lines. Panorama Photos
MapsWe took an early morning bus from Lima down to Pisco, and then boarded a boat to visit the Ballestas Islands. A plane took us from Pisco over the famous Nazca Lines, and then we a short time for quick tour of Paracas Reserve before catching the bus back to Lima.
On the plane, then handed out these big postcards showing a map of the most famous geoglyphs.
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Click on any thumbnail to begin the slide show at that photograph Day 14 Photos
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