Nazca, Peru: 11th Feb 10

This morning we boarded a very small 6-seater Cessna plane (smaller than the inside of a Ford Fiesta) to fly over the Nazca lines. The last time we were in a Cessna plane we jumped out of it at 10,000 ft!


The lines were created by the Nazca people almost 2,000 years ago by moving the red rubbly rocks from the desert plain to reveal the white earth below.


Nobody knows why the lines were created, but there are several theories: It was a huge astronomical calendar; a tribute to the gods; a huge weaving loom (yeah right, grip? Get one!) or my favorite…an alien landing pad.


As well as hundreds of lines and trapezoids (the technical word for rectangularytriangles) there are images of animals - a monkey, an eagle (with 100 metre wing span!) a whale, a dog, a humming bird, a flower and…a spaceman, or maybe just a man, who knows! And many more.

The pilot had to make a lot of twists and turns to make sure everyone got a good view of the lines which made Matt feel like he was going to hurl, he had to lie down for two hours afterwards!


In the afternoon we drove back through the desert to Lima!