- Arrived at Nazca at 10:30 am, and took a cab to the hostel (Walk on Inn). This was one of the hostels recommended by fellow travellers on Lonely Planet Forum and the only hostel which replied to my email. So made a reservation before I left Lima ... oh, and they provided pickup at the bus terminal. The room was not ready when I arrived, so I stored the backpack at the hostel and walked around the downtown area. Also made a reservation for the excusion to the Chauchilla cemetery tour at 3:30 pm.
- Nazca´s downtown is super small, so getting around was easy. Had lunch at a restaurant at the corner of the plaza and made my way back to the hostel for the Chauchilla tour.
- Chauchilla is basically a graveyard with many tombs containing ancient pottery and humans remains. It is the only archaeological site in Peru in which ancient mummies
are seen in their original graves, along with ancient artifacts. For years, the cemetery was looted by treasure hunters who robbed the treasures the mummies kept in their tombs and left the corpses behind, so jumbles of human bones can be seen scattered all over the landscape. It was a really interesting tour - only wished the guide would have provided more insight into the ancient culture (he did, but just a little).
- Included in the Chauchilla tour was a
gold extraction and ceramic studio tour, and both were really lame. At each studio, a craftsman gave a brief explanation about
the process (of gold extraction and vessel elaboration process) with the help of some toy-size kits. And after 10 good minutes, they ushered you to the souvenir store trying to get you to buy something. I could have gotten better information from Google. It got to be a commission thing, otherwise there is no reason to package these studio tours to the Chauchilla tour.
- Hurried back to the hostel and headed to the Nazca Line hotel for the ´Planetarium Maria Reiche´ at 7 pm. Actually, prior to the ´Planetarium´, I took a cab to this place where (according to Lonely Planet) it supposingly provides daily evening lecture on the Maria Reiche theory. I arrived at a dark shady neighborhood with nothing but barking dogs (and yes, the right address). I immediately asked the cab driver to turn back.
- The Planetarium is developed by the Peruvian Institute of Astronomy, and its dome projection gave an overall view of the Nasca area and discussed the different interpretations about the origin, uses, and possible
meanings of the enigmatic lines and figures of Nasca. The most important theory is that of Maria Reiche´s - in which she found the connection between the Nasca lines and some astronomical events.
After the show, we were led to the backyard where we got a naked-eye view of bright stars, and then Jupiter (with its ring) through the telescope.
- Four girls including myself shared the room. All three are Brits. Papi is heading to Colombia after Nazca, and Victoria and Camilla have similar itineries than mine (at least in the next couple days). Victoria and Camilla end up being my wonderful travel buddies in Nazca and Arequipa.
