We arrived in Nasca via bus (about 2 hours from Ica... oh, and Ica is about 1.5 hours from Paracas by the way) at around 10:30am on Tuesday. The big thing to see in Nasca are the Nasca Lines, which are lines in the sand that have been there for a really long time and no one knows how they got there. They are lines that form pictures basically, but they never get blown away by the wind or washed away, so it's really interesting. There's pictures of an astronaut, a dog, arrows, different creatures, symbols, there's about 15 different lines. And to SEE the lines, you have to take a plane to fly overhead and look down at them. They have 4 to 10 passenger planes, and 2 seats up front for the pilots. Up until 2 weeks ago, every plane only had 1 pilot, but then one of the planes crashed because the pilot forgot to fill the plane up with gas before taking off, and everyone in the plane died! So then the pilots all went on strike until whoever makes the big decisions agreed to mandate that every plane have 2 pilots so they can double check each other. I mean, really, Nasca is only known for the Nasca Lines, and if tourists won't go because it's not safe, it basically shuts down the whole city.
Lucky for us, the strike ended about a day or so before we arrived. And even though there were only 3 different companies open for flights... all 3 had 2 pilots in every plane. So the 4 of us got on a 4 passenger plane, which is definitely the smallest plane I've EVER been in! If I leaned forward I'm sure I could've touched the pilot on the shoulder, and I was in the backseat! One thing I didn't quite think all the way through BEFORE I got on the plane was how my stomach would handle it... as I'm sure most of you know... I have a really, really weak stomach! And, sure enough, after zipping around half of the lines, soaring back and forth to the right and then the left like we were in an air show or something, I was starting to feel really, really nauseous! Little by little it got worse and worse. The pilots kept circling our microscopic plane around and around each line so we could get a really good, close look at it, and eventually I started to realistically consider my options...
Option number 1- I could throw up right on my shoes in front of me, but if I did that, then it was sure to get it everywhere and on everyone else as well because we were basically all crammed in that tiny plane like sardines!
Option number 2- I could try to find something to throw up IN to minimize the damage and trauma to everyone else.
I went with option number 2 and found a plastic bag in the front seat, which I then just held open in front of me for the remaining 10-15 minutes repeating over and over in my head the whole time, 'breathe in...breathe out...breathe in...breathe out.' LUCKILY, I didn't throw up! I couldn't believe it!!! Later we met up with another group from Germany who we had seen earlier that day and found out that half of the people in their plane threw up!
After we got back to earth (finally!!! I love you earth!!!), we all just sat in the small airport staring blankly at the wall for a good 20 minutes to recover. Even though none of us threw up, apparently we were ALL really, really close. And, believe it or not, after we recovered and were walking to find a restaurant to have some lunch, Silvestre told us that his dad died from being in a small plane crash just like the plane we were in! Silvestre was 13 yrs old and his dad was a pilot of one actually and flew all the time... but that one time he went, something happened and they crashed! I still don't understand HOW Silvestre managed to get on an airplane after experiencing that, but he replied by saying, 'you've gotta do one thing that scares you everyday. You have to face your fears.'
So there you have it my friends... face your fears, whatever they may be!
And when we were having lunch after that on the 2nd floor of a local restaurant, we were in an earthquake! How crazy was that day! My first earthquake. Only a 3.0 where we were, but a 6.0 at the center.
I wouldn't recommend chasing earthquakes if that's your fear, but other than that... face your fears!!! :)
What a great trip!
