Adventuras en Peru - Nazca

A bus ride through moonscape terrain that looked like it would have been the perfect setting for Star War desert planet Tatooine, we got to Nazca, a 53,000 person town about 8 hours south of Lima. Not much more of a dusty, in-the-middleo-of-nowhere place, it wouldn't be a traveler's destination if not for its proximity to the Nazca lines, mysterious figures drawn in the desert by a pre-Incan culture for reasons experts debate. Were they running tracks, water channels, or created by aliens? In addition to their purpose, another big puzzlement is how did this pre-flight culture know that the lines created figures such as a monkey, condor, and spider only when viewed from the air?

We viewed the lines via a sobrevueo (overflight) that was supposed to leave at 9 but didn't happen until noon due to fog (although that isn't the excuse for many other things or meetings that don't happen on time down here!). At noon the sun was directly overhead and the lines weren't as visible as in the late afternoon we realized, after talking with a British guy at our hotel who did the smart thing and went on a flight the day we got in, during the late afternoon. So that meant we had more time than we really needed to explore the small town, admiring clothed dogs, browsing the fruit & veggie market, fending off the same restaurant hosts who kept trying to get us to come in and eat at their establishments, and viewing deformed skulls in the Nazca culture museum.

Besides seeing the lines, the most notable event in Nazca was trying the worst wine I’ve ever had. I was skeptical when it was being poured, as the color looked a bit strange, muddled and not vibrant. But once my nose got within inches of it I knew it was going to be unpalatable. Despite that I gave it a try and the flavor instantly brought to mind paint thinner or turpentine (not that I’ve ever drank either, but you get the idea). I told the waiter we didn’t like it and he said something about it being artesian wine, but I didn’t get the concept. He took the bottle away and poured us a couple glasses of a semi-dry rose that was better, but certainly not great.

Have had some good vino here, though, and even some of the Peruvian wine isn’t bad, although many places also have a couple Argentine and Chilean wines by the glass. The best stuff comes at a price, though, and even though it may still be a bargain or at least comparable to prices in the U.S., I’m in it for the long haul and skimping where I can (or at least sometimes).