November 20, 2007

Nasca Lines

Wonderful! No roosters to disturb our sleep this morning but up at 6:30 and off to the airport. We watched an informative video about the various theories of how and why the Nasca Lines were made, although all of it is just conjecture for the Pre Inca Culture that made them did not have a written language, therefore the reasons were lost.

Boarding a 5 passenger Cessna we were off on our flight. The pilot spoke pretty good English, and made sure we all saw each of the famous figures on our route. He dipped the wings to the right then to the left for pictures (we took videos too), and surprisingly these maneuvers didn’t upset our stomachs – perhaps because we hadn’t eaten breakfast yet? The views were spectacular. Were these lines and figures really messages to extra-terrestrials? The lines and drawings cannot be seen from the ground; were obviously made to be seen from above, but since airplanes had not been invented yet the question remains… why?

Originally we planned to head to Cusco in the afternoon, but the 35 C heat was taking its toll so we decided to spend the afternoon catching up on laundry, bike maintenance, blog stories, email and snoozing!

Ah such is life in South America, as we ate lunch, the power went off – all over town. Again the internet must wait. We spent half the afternoon walking the streets trying to find chain-lube (our mutual can was in John’s bike) with no joy. Settling for a big glob of grease in a baggie from an automotive shop we would try again in Cusco. Guess that’ll work in a pinch. I learned a great Russian word when I was working there that translates to “make do”. I can’t remember it but it would be a fittin word to know down here in SA.