Nasca

As Cath has said it´s up to me to tell you about the Nasca desert and lines...

Having read about the lines all those years ago and been fascinated by them ever since I´ve got to say I was a little disappointed by the Nasca lines... That said I think they are absolutely amazing and well worth seeing... (I know it sounds a contradiction, I think it´s just that I´d built up in my mind what the lines were going to look like)..

Anyways, for those that don´t know, the Nasca lines were discovered between 1920 & 1940 (reports seem to differ on the exact year), when the first airplane flew over the Nasca pampa (think a large flat area on top of a mountain about 2,000 metres above sea level) and there was discovered large pictures in the ground, that were only visible from above... for example there is a picture of a monkey, whale, condor, etc... measuring several hundred metres in length.

The bit that has always fascinated me is that the Nasca people (archaeologists believe the lines date between 100 & 600AD) did not have a written language, and as such lots of theories abound (star charts, seasonal markings, visitations from space or just ritual markings appeasing the gods). The truth is, no one knows, and it´s unlikely ever to be known.. One of the biggest enigmas in Archaeology.

Anyway, It was very very cool to finally see the lines, I guess I was just disappointed that some of them were not clear, either because of fading or because of other tracks going over them... Not surprising though after nigh on 2,000 years... In fact it´s fairly spectacular that they´ve survived as long as they have!

Hopefully we´ll be able to post some pictures soon, in which case you should be able to see what we´re talking about... But if I´ve sparked any interest check out: http://www.crystalinks.com/nazca.html

Cheers
Andrew (& Cath)