More to Discover than Machu Picchu
It took about three hours by bus for my touring group to make the 250-mile trip from downtown Lima, Peru, to the Paracus Bay terminal. Once off the bus, the heat hit everyone in the face. It was hot, really hot.
A short 30 minutes away, perched in the southern Peruvian desert, lay the little hamlet of Pisco, the jumping-off point for the Nazca Lines and Ballestas Islands. An adventure to two spectacular sites many people have never heard of awaited us, and the heat factor quickly didn’t matter.
Boots in the Air
The Nazca Lines is a fascinating UNESCO World Heritage Site parked on a high, parched plateau that stretches more than 50 miles between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana. These mysterious geoglyphs—roughly 90 percent lines and geometric forms and 10 percent figures—were sculpted out of the hot sand. Some are huge; the biggest is 906.59 feet long. Most are only visible from the air or from atop the nearby hills. They are said to be anywhere from around 1,400 to 2,000 years old, depending on which data is used.
When drones were surveying the neighboring Palpa province recently, a few new lines—dated to 500 B.C.—were discovered. Degradation and erosion had kept them hidden. Included in this find are a 478-foot-by-108-foot pelican, humans and a Tupo needle (the long spike used by Andean women to secure their shawls). These particular etchings are located on hillsides. Some can be seen from nearby villages, and now four-hour Palpa land tours of these new discoveries are available.
To see the formerly discovered ancient creations, guide Jose Luis Lopez Falcon took us first to the Pisco airport. It is huge and, like the bus terminal, state-of-the-art. The 2007 earthquake in Pisco devastated much of the area’s infrastructure. Rebuilding was financed by foreign governments, so Peruvians didn’t stint on the budget. Even though the large airport services only about 90 passengers a day, it has 12 departure gates. The facility was so empty, voices and footsteps echoed.
Our small prop plane took flight for a one-hour and-40-minute journey to view the lines. We skirted in and out of the clouds, constantly yawing over the sand-colored, but sometimes reddish or dark brown, dry ground below. This gave passengers on both sides of the plane a good view, but the constant seesawing of the plane was not for the “faint of stomach.”
Once we acclimated to the movement, we gazed down upon the desert carvings. Geometrical shapes such as lines, triangles and parallelograms were easy to identify. Because of their size, forms were more difficult to spot. The hummingbird alone is 334.64 feet long. Once we learned how to focus on them, what we saw was jaw-dropping.
The nomadic Nazca people created these mysterious, giant designs between 500 B.C. and A.D. 600. Scientists and speculators have had a field day trying to figure out why they were constructed. Some think they were created as markers to be seen by the sky gods. Another theory purports the lines were indicators of water—quite important for those who lived in a desert.
Yet another hypothesis is that these desert sculptures could be linked to the heavens. Some are directly allied to constellations. One of the most outlandish theories was put forth by Eric Von Daniken. In his 1969 best-selling book, Chariots of the Gods, he alleged the lines were landing sites for aliens. In any case, scientists have yet to agree on the mysteries surrounding these mammoth figures.
Boots on the Ground
What isn’t a mystery and is just as remarkable is the Ballestas Islands, scattered in Pisco Bay. Often these islets are referred to as the “mini Galapagos” or “the poor man’s Galapagos.” In fact, in a Jan. 22 CNN article, 12 Destinations Travelers Might Want to Avoid, author Joe Minihane maintained the Galapagos is getting too crowded. He suggested the Ballestas as a viable alternative.
A good choice. The rocky islands erupt from the water and like the Galapagos, each one is unique. One of them, Paracus Candelabra, has a 557.74-foot-high geoglyph of a candleholder with a triangle at its midpoint, which is visible from 12 miles out into the Pacific. Many believe the triangle is a Masonic symbol. And not surprisingly, many believe it was used as a sailor’s guide to landfall. Pretty amazing considering it was created between 1600 and 1800.
Arches and caves populate many of the other islands’ landscapes. We watched Humboldt penguins waddle up and down the steep surfaces. Sea lions and bottlenose dolphins frolicked around them. The multitude of gray-footed boobies, Peruvian pelicans, gulls and cormorants in flight almost darkened the sky. They soared over the formations, while others just swam or roosted. The multitude of winged creatures has made some of the islets white with guano. (Visitors are advised to wear a hat.) Every few months, “guano guys” harvest the poo and sell it for fertilizer.
Time to Rest and Reflect
Because it is difficult to see everything in one day, a good choice is an overnight stay at La Hacienda Bahia, which overlooks the Bay of Paracas. One of its amenities is a private museum with displays of etchings, textiles, silver, quartz jewelry and metal dating to 200 A.D. It’s a great place to cool one’s heels.
Peru is a treasure trove of magnificent sites. Most travelers are aware of the two most popular ones: Machu Picchu, the unique Incan mountaintop city, and the Amazon River, whose source lies here and which boasts an ecosystem unlike any other body of water in the world. But as amazing as those two attractions are, the Nazca Lines and Ballestas Islands hold their own next to them. Visitors to Machu Picchu and the Amazon should consider extending their trip another two days to visit. They are well-worth it.
Planning Your Trip
For more information, visit peru.travel/en-us. For trip-planning assistance, visit your local AAA Travel agent or AAA.com/travel.
