A flight over the Nazca Lines
The Nazca Lines
The Nazca Lines are situated some 400 kilometres south of Lima on the vast pampa plains. The nearest cities are Ica and Nazca. In Lima various bus companies offer tours to the cities and the trip itself takes around 7 hours. The best thing to do is to book a day trip. In addition to the bus ride from Lima, this also includes a flight over the Nazca Lines. It is possible to stay the night in Nazca but you can also return to Lima the same day. Part of the lines form geometric shapes but there are also wonderful drawings of animals. The best preserved drawings are the Hummingbird, the Spider and the Monkey. The figures probably had a religious meaning. According to archaeologists, the Nazca Lines form a huge astronomic calendar in which the figures represent the various solar stages. It is said that the indigenous farmers used the complex designs to determine the agricultural cycle and used the knowledge to farm their land.
How were the Nazca Lines made?
The enormous drawings were made using 2 techniques: for some, the creators stacked grit and stones in reliefs, but more often they dug out the red grit on the pampas to reveal the lighter coloured subsoil. It is not quite clear why the figures are so large. The possibility that there was such a thing as hot-air balloons some 2,000 years ago has been dismissed. It is quite possible that the creators wanted to show their work to the gods, watching from the skies.
The Astronaut
Aliens
The last drawings were found in the late 1980s. The discovery of a remarkable image called the Astronaut caused quite a stir. The drawing shows a waving figure who seems to be wearing a space helmet. There is still speculation on the possible involvement of aliens in the creation of the Nazca Lines, and they still attract people who believe that the drawings mark the spot of an alien landing site.
