Nasca

In order to see the all the Nasca lines, you need to take a trip in a light air plane. We had been warned that the ride would be bumpy so armed with a small breakfast and travel sickness tablets, we thought we would be OK.

So far so good, you can see us in the air, feeling quite pleased that we are OK.

This is the astronaut. (Some theories propose that the lines were made by aliens and the like.) This one measures 32 metres. Other shapes that can be seen are spiders, a monkey, spiral, condor and flower to name a few.

By now the pilot is lurching the plane around the shapes so that we can see them.  

This is a hummingbird. It measures 136 metres. Some people argue that the lines are part of sacrificial offerings to the gods, and the lines mark the walks they made whilst chanting for water.

It rained here three years ago for 4 hours due to El Nino and destroyed numerous ruins and mummies as it never usually rains.

The study of glaciers in the mountains suggest that during the middle of the Nasca civilisation it didn't rain in the mountains for 40 years.... and during this time the pottery started to reflect scenes of war and taking of trophy heads... read: they fell apart!

Photographer Jason has had enough, the tablets are not working and this plane is driving him crazy.

Claire luckily held it together or else we would not have many photos.

We went to the Inca burial site of Chauchilla the next day. We expect something a little cheesy but what we found was amazing.

The Nasca civilisation mummified all there dead and placed them in underground chambers. Unfortunately the graves have been robbed for precious artifacts and the archeologists usually arrive afterwards to find what is left and try and tidy up.

Needless to day there are a lot of these really old bodies around.

This is one is our favourite as he looks like Bob Marley with his dreads

Who would have thought that they would have made a CH T-shirt?

Claire bought this for me and made me wear it!

Would you wear this T-shirt????