We arrived in Nazca and hit the ground running.
We chose to spend a night here even though it wasn't one of Peruhop's scheduled stopovers it there was too much to see there and it would have been a shame not to experience everything this place has to offer.
We knew there were going to be logistical issues trying to see everything as we only had 10 hours!! I'd looked at tours and we could only manage to visit 3 out of the 6 places on the list. I suggested a private taxi but didn't know where to start looking and we needed to be organised before we crashed.
We got off the bus just after 5pm and there was a tour place next door. Colin suggested we called in but I was knackered after a night with a couple of hours sleep the night before and I put up a bit of a protest. I just wanted to check in first. I saw sense and we called in. The guy was lovely. The guys bartered and bantered and struck a deal. We got a private guide for the following day and we were able to see everything on the list.
We had a decent night's sleep. The view from the room left a lot to be desired 🤣🤣
Construction work lol
I forgot to say that we called into a store to pick up snacks and Colin's choice was an eyebrow raiser to say the least.
We were picked up at 8.10 the following day by Carlos and off we went.
Nazca's main industry is mining. The whole are is rich in minerals from gold and silver to copper. Most of the moves are Chinese ownef. The second is electricity generated by wind farms, which are ........ owned. The power is sold to Chile.
We stopped off at a roadside shop and bought a big hand of bananas, the biggest mango I've ever seen and a few bottles of water and pop for less than 3 euros.
First stop (the only one I couldn't miss) was the Chauchilla cemetery.
It's not just a field of graves. Don’t imagine headstones or closed tombs. Carlos explained that these people were Nazca people. Hundreds of years before the Incas.
What you find are the bodies themselves. Skeletons – many still with hair or even some skin – wrapped in clothes, staring at you from the sunken eye sockets that seem more alive than they should for people born a thousand years ago.
The preservation is remarkable and it’s due to two main reasons.
The first is the way that the bodies were prepared for burial. They were covered in embroidered cotton and then painted with resin before being put into tombs made of mud brick. This kept out insects and slowed bacteria that might have destroyed the bodies faster. The second is the weather and the surroundings. We were in the Nazca desert so no moisture to speed up decomposition.
Carlos said that they were buried facing east. This is towards where the sun rises, signifying new birth.
Next we went to the aqueduct of Cantalloc built by the Nazca culture to balance the dryness of the climate, drew groundwater to irrigate the lands, and it still works today. You can see the inside of the trenches – from 3 to 6m depth – by coming thought windows that lead on narrow and humid spirals which get bigger as the get nearer to the mountain, the source of the water. Every May, some of the remaining descendants gather with the local head of the community to give praise and thanks to the gods for the water, which is part of a massive irrigation system for their crops.
Onwards to the Paradones - Paredones was an administrative control center between the coast and the mountains and place of residence of the representative of Cusco, built with Inca planning and technology.
Located on the slopes of Los Altos de Nasca hill -2 km from the current city of Nasca-, its architecture is based on the use of rectangular adobes (bricks)on low carved stone walls.
A large square is the central element of the development built by the Inkas. Around it were buildings of an administrative nature, warehouses, barracks, ceremonial areas, temples and a tower from where a large part of the Nasca valley could be seen. The hills that surround the central nucleus are covered with remains of lower quality houses, tombs and ceramic fragments. The entire site is over 2 square km. After the declaration of independence from the Spanish, the locals virtually demolished most of the buildings, taking the adobe blocks to build or repair their own houses.
We called into see a local potter, who makes replica pottery using the same tequniques as the Nazca people did. He also used the mineral colour pigments such as copper, iron etc which he ground down and painted the pieces of pottery before firing them in a below ground kiln.
On the way back for lunch, we stopped to see some more Nazca lines.
In the afternoon we headed off to the Cahuachi pyramids which were built over hundred of years. Each 10, years another one had been built. The walls are 4m tall. It is thought that each of the pyramids had a priest, who also had lots of underlings (a lot like the Catholic church). None of the inhabitants of the different pyramids ever met due to the height of the walls and because they were completely self contained.
Back on the night bus to Arequipa. Colin excelled himself and managed 6 hours sleep!! I got less than 2. Its the last one I'll ever use. We arrived 4.30am a d were dropped off at our hotel whose check in wasn't until 11am. The lovely guy on reception, let us use the room and I slept until after 11.
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