Caracas to Cusco in 7 days. Day 10
Lunes 12/12/2.011
Nasca a Lima
Distancia: 456 Km.
Tiempo Total: 7 horas y 23 minutos
Velocidad Promedio: 61,7 Km/h
Velocidad Máxima: 161 Km/h
Solving a little problem with the fridge’s securing straps.
The night they spent in Nasca, they stayed at the Nasca Lines Hotel, where they could negotiate a great discount off the regular rate. Another excellent hotel with good service and fine food.
Nasca, known as the city of the eternal summer, and capital of the province of the same name, is located about 280 miles south of Lima, at an altitude of 1,700 feet.
Nowadays, it’s a very active city, both by the influx of tourist that come here to see the famous Nasca Lines, as well as the mining, agriculture and commerce activity growth that the region is experiencing.
Something that caught their attention in this city, was the extremely poor conditions of its streets, in marked contrast to the excellent national road that serves it.
An observation tower that because of its location by the road on the plains of Nasca, lets you see some of the famous lines.
This tower was the subject of several jokes for its suspicious location and how clearly some of the lines could be seen from it. It seemed that it could be a trap to snatch some money from unwary tourists. They could imagine the tower owners retracing the lines layout during the night with brooms, and even drawing new ones, when necessary.
Our travelers didn’t dare to take any of the planes that offer flights over the pampas, and allow real good sights of the lines. The reason is that in several occasions, they heard strong criticism on radio shows indicating several recent crashes caused by poor aircraft maintenance and pilot irresponsibility.
Sometimes we think that the most interesting and fun part of the Nasca lines, are the very diverse and even wild theories that have been concocted around their origins.
The Nasca lines are stripes and figures up to hundreds of meters big, drawn on the dry plains. These drawings were made by removing the thin dark crust formed by the ground’s minerals (among them gypsum and iron) together with the wind and the almost total absence of rain. This crust, when removed, exposes the light colored soil beneath it, and the lines appear clearly against the dark background, which can only be seen as a whole, from a great altitude. They extend over an area of 111,200 acres, and estimates indicate that they were made during three distinct periods that ranged between 500 BC and 500 AD.
Besides the well known figures, there are a large number of straight lines that intersect in all directions, some of which have been linked to astronomical events.
The reason why they haven’t been erased over time, and this is a question asked by many who get to see them, is that the almost total absence of rain makes this place one of the driest in the world. Besides, the soil has a large gypsum content, which helps set the earth and stones from the surface in place when exposed to dew moisture. Finally, there is the wind factor, which even though it drags sand with it, is unable to find a place to deposit it on these obstacle free plains, so it ends up very far away, where it forms the dunes located north. Finally, the combination of the dark surface with the strong sun, creates a layer of hot air which reduces wind speed at low altitude.
This downhill tight bend, enclosed by both sides as seen in this photo, is located at the end of the very long and level straight that crosses the Nasca Pampa. As the road suddenly drops at the end of the straight, there is no way to see it as one approaches it, which presents an enormous threat to the drivers that are surprised by it. Watch out!
The perfect conditions of the roads in Peru so far, have been a source of amazement. Although this tends to change when entering some towns and cities, the condition of national roads is perfect. No holes, no missing edges, everything is clearly marked. What a contrast with those in Venezuela!
A very striking huge dune in the middle of town.
These fields are reminiscent of everything we have read and heard about how the Israelis have sown the desert. It’s impressive to see these green patches on either side of the road, in the midst of aridity, and the difference with our country, with all its water and fertile soils, where almost anything can be grown so easily.
How can this people survive and thrive amid the incredible dryness of the area, is something our friends couldn’t explain or have time to find out.
Entering the capital city of Lima.
Lima, a city where it almost never rains, has a climate that is characterized by high ambient humidity and a persistent cloud cover. It’s a strange experience to watch the cloudy and wet atmosphere in desert landscape like this.
From an architectural perspective, the Larcomar Shopping Center intelligently takes advantage of the fact that Lima is located on a cliff that overviews the Pacific Ocean. Its nice halls and corridors seem to hang from this cliff, while on its top, almost like a roof, Salazar Park complements it perfectly. For some members of this group of travelers, Larcomar has almost become the mandatory place to meet while in Lima.
Finally, this is where the meeting of many of those who had walked the Inca Trail, some of those who arrived by plane and our travelers took place. From now on, they will not travel on their own.
For more about this day’s trip, and many more pictures, you may click
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here and
here… That’s a lot of pictures!
