NASCA LINES

The Spanish chronicler Pedro Cieza de León was the first European to comment on the hillside drawings that can be seen from ground level near Nasca and Paracas. Archaeologists had also studied similar hill drawings in Arequipa, Lima, Trujillo, and the mountains of Bolivia and Chile. But the profusion of lines etched onto the perfectly flat San José desert are the continent’s fullest expression of this cryptic practice, and were not fully appreciated until the first planes flew over the area in the 1920s. When viewed from above, more than 70 giant plant and animal figures pop into view, etched impermeably onto the desert floor, along with hundreds of straight lines, trapezoids, and other figures as long as 10 km. The shapes cover an astonishing 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles), including a cluster of drawings further north near Palpa.

The shapes were made thanks to the area’s peculiar geography. A thin layer of manganese and iron oxides, called desert varnish, covers the rocky surface of the San José desert. The Nasca removed the dark rocks to expose the lighter-colored rocks beneath, in canals that average about 20 cm deep. They piled the rocks into walls about a meter high to enhance the canal’s edge. The Nasca probably made the drawings in small scale and then used ropes and stakes to reproduce them larger on the desert floor.

The best way to see them is by airplane, which costs anywhere from $35 to $75. There are a dozen or so companies, and all seem to have professional pilots and well-maintained light aircraft—there has been only one accident over the last 25 years. Pilots bank sharply so that people on both sides of the plane can see the lines, but many people end up clutching barf bags as a result. Even those with a stomach of steel should avoid breakfast before flying and consider taking Dramamine or other motion sickness meds beforehand. The best time to fly is in the morning before winds pick up, decreasing visibility and making the flight bumpier.

Another option for viewing the lines is a three-story observation tower 19 km north of Nasca and on the way to the Museo Maria Reiche. Three small lines can be seen from here, including a set of hands, a lizard, and a tree. A few hillsides offer good views during the clearest light of the morning, especially the giant sand dune of Cerro Blanco.