June 18th - Nazca III

Well, my last day here in Nazca was a good one. I started early, with a tour to the ancient aqueducts at 8am. I rode in a van, held together mostly with rust, with my Peruvain guide, two German girls and three folks from Israel. We bounced our way to the site, and got out to explore. As much as 2200 years ago, the inhabitants of this inhospitable land discovered that there were underground rivers which could be accessed to sustain their lives here. Spiraling stone structures were built for access and ritual purposes. Our enthusiastic guide used volume and elaborate gesturing to make up for any deficit in his English skills, and his tour was best appreciated from the next aqueduct down the path. The site was interesting, and the water surprisingly warm. From this site, we went on to an area where a hill overlooks some smaller geoglyphs, and then moved on to an Inca site, where large crumbling adobe blocks were stacked over the immaculate Inca stone work, creating a vision of a citadel that once overlooked the valley.

On returning from the trip, I checked out of my friendly hotel and grabbed some lunch, then back to the agency for the trip to Cahuachi, the major site of the Nazca culture. Two other folks had signed up for the trip, so the three of us piled into the guide's car (in slightly better shape than the van). The trip was about 25 km, but took about an hour because almost all that distance is on unpaved, unmaintained, unmarked roads that first lead into an area with occasional huarango trees, then past a village of four houses and a soccer field, then into a moonscape of flat, rockstrewn desert. After maybe 10 km of that, the ground changed and became more sandy and we saw the beginnings of miles of evidence of excavated tombs - the ground was strewn with bones and pieces of cotton and broken pottery. Here a femur, there a jawbone, bits of memories were dusted over the desert floor as graverobbers had taken the 'valuables' and left what the couldn't sell behind. As we got closer to the site, we got out to explore a bit. The fascinating thing about this site is that it is mostly unexcavated at this point. Shadow forms of giant temples lurk under sand dunes. Ramps and plazas appear as slopes in the desert until you notice the evidence of an adobe wall, tracing the perimeter. We got back into the car and made our bumpy way to the area where excavations have begun. It was fascinating to see the work in progress as stairs, walls, rooms, and ceremonial areas emerged from the giant pyramid mound. We climbed to the top to survey the area, and it's honestly huge. They say it's larger than the Chan Chan complex. And the work has just begun.....so interesting.

After 2 or 3 hours of exploring, the wind came up, and we decided it was time to go. We got some nice photos of the sunset on the way out, and drove the long and dusty way back to town.

And now I'm here with you again. I'm taking the night bus to Arequipa in a few hours. I'm looking forward to arriving for my class and meeting the group. It will be nice to have some playmates on this grand adventure.

I'm so tired. It's been a long day, and conversing in Spanish for hours on hand really tires me out. But hopefully a good dinner and a bit more reading will be the perfect antidote, and maybe I'll even get some sleep on the bus.

Until tomorrow,

Karen