Nazca (Peru)
17 MAY - 18 MAY 2015
17 MAY - 18 MAY 2015
On November 12, 1996, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit the down of Nazca, virtually destroying it. Within 12 years however the town had almost been entirely rebuilt, and by the time we arrived in 2015 you could say it had been completed. It goes to show that when there's nothing happening in a town then it doesn't take a lot to get things back to the way they were. As a town in its own right Nazca mimics the environment in which its set, dry and plain.
Aero Paracas - Nazca - Peru
Aero Paracas - Nazca - Peru
Nazca - Peru
Nazca lines - Nazca - Peru
Nazca lines - Nazca - Peru
Nazca lines - Nazca - Peru
We weren't here for the town though. We were here because at about 5pm on Saturday afternoons as a kid growing up during the 80's in Sydney there used to be a show on Channel 7 named 'Great Mysteries of the World'. For years, during that half hour, I was introduced to mysteries such as the Bermuda triangle, the search for Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, and of course, the mystery of the Nazca lines. The latter of course fascinated me the most as the angle of discussion always centred on the reasoning behind why these geoglyths exist, what they were meant to represent and who/what was the communication for. Inevitably the theory always slanted towards the notion of extra-terrestrials having managed this piece of work - which too me was fantastic, as anything to do with astronomy, aliens, alien life forms, anything...was of great interest to me. Of course other theories suggest that this could just be 'old school' graffiti with the young guns of the day just looking to express themselves in new and exciting ways - which is cool I say, but hey, where did the alien looking dude come from? What was that idea all about?
Nazca lines - Nazca - Peru
Nazca lines - Nazca - Peru
Nazca lines - Nazca - Peru
Nazca - Peru
Nazca - Peru
Nazca - Peru
Nazca - Peru
Of course this is THE attraction of Nazca and there are tour operators everywhere in the town. Unbeknownst to me we actually selected a company with a good safety record, Aero Paracas. Something that probably should have been at the forefront of our mind when flying over the plains as there had been a number of incidents, both crashes and hijackings, which makes the idea generally a little precarious.
Once airborne and away however most of those concerns faded from the mind. The lines however were not as impressive as I anticipated overall. Perhaps it was the our elevation of our flight or the entire weight of expectation but the there was something just entirely underwhelming. Some geoglyths did stand out, such as the 'Spaceman', the 'Spider' and 'Monkey', and from that the idea of what/why and who did not diminish.The burning questions are still ever so valid and create the elevated nature of mystery which brought us here in the first place.
So to you alien creatures that are still looking to communicate, just drop us a Tweet and tell us all about it! We're listening!
