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Nazca is a friendly town on Peru's Southern Coast. It is most famous for the so-called Nazca Lines, a mix of long lines, geometrical figures, and giant drawings in the desert sand.

[edit] Understand

The Nazca Culture was discovered in the 1890s, when a German archaeologist named Max Uhle received an array of ceramics while working at the Anthropologisch-Ethnografische Museum in Dresden. Among the ceramics he received, there were many that came from South America, but among the vessels, some beautiful and colourful examples that drew his attention. The Nazca ceramics he had analyzed were so beautiful that he decided to travel to Peru in search of the exact place of origin of these ceramics. It was in 1901 that Max Uhle came to Peru, and after months of searching he arrived at the Valley of Ica at a place called Ocucaje, where he met some old farmers who knew about the ancient cemeteries where these colourful ceramics were frequently found. Uhle then made a series of excavations and discovered the Nazca ceramics at many archaeological sites, started to classify them and also made them known around the world.

The Ancient Nazca People

The Nazca culture had as its main capital the Ceremonial City of Cahuachi, an ancient pilgrimage center that is located some 28 kms southwest of the modern city of Nazca. According to archaeologists, the Nazca culture thrived between 500 BC and around 600 AD, and their cultural influence stretched from Cañete in the north to Acari in the south, covering am area of almost 600 kms, with the Ceremonial Center of Cahuachi as its capital. It is believed that the Nazca people chose the lower section of the Nazca Valley to build Cahuachi due to the abundance of water coming from underground, a sort of natural springs that allowed them to irrigate their fields and produce essential crops for life.

The Nazca culture is credited with making the famous Nazca Lines, as the evidence abounds. Most of the animal figures and other designs that were etched onto the desert surface are repeatedly seen also on the pottery and textile iconography left behind under their necropolis and found around the desert and at the archaeological site of Cahuachi. Archaeologist also have discovered hundreds of pottery fragments that suggest the Nazca people gathered in the desert to carry out religious ceremonies and it is very likely that after a ceremony they smashed the pots as an offering to the gods, which they believed where above in the sky. The fragments found on the figures were mainly pieces of panpipes and whistles, which suggests that music, along with dances were involve in their religious ceremonies.

In the Nazca desert, the presence of over 300 hundreds figures and over 10,000 lines has been recorded, covering a huge area of 525 kms, according to archaeologists and scholars. Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Orefeci believes the Nazca people lived for over 800 years at the ceremonial centre of Cahuachi (500 BC – 350 AD), and it began to decline due to certain natural disasters that took place around 350 AD. Dr. Giuseppe Orefeci says that during this time there were changes in the climate and El Niño caused a great flood that engulfed a big portion of the Nazca valley, including the ceremonial centre of the Nazca people Cahuachi. Orefeci says that after this natural disaster it is very likely that the Nazca people began to reconstruct their city, refusing to abandon it due to its great religious importance, but some years later the Nazca region was severely damaged by a huge earthquake that split their city in two. The evidence was found at various excavations that Giuseppe Orefeci had been carrying out during the last 20 years at the site. Many human bodies were found under the fallen walls, which proof that many people were killed and the city was utterly turned into ruins. It was around 400 AD that the Nazca people abandoned Cahuachi and moved out to the upper section of the valley, where the modern Nazca city lies today. It was at this time that the great under ground channels of the Nazca culture were built.

Nazca Channels or Puquios

In addition to the Nazca geoglyphs, as they are archaeologically called, it is also important to mention their great achievements in hydraulic engineering. The famous underground channels of Nazca, locally known as Puquios (a Quechua word to describe a natural spring), are one of the greatest legacy also left behind by the Nazca Culture, this unique underground system is unique in South America and perhaps in the whole world, as their construction are very intricate. The Nazca culture built over 50 underground channels in the Nazca region between the years 400 AD till around 500 AD, and many of them are still in use by the local communities in the Nazca Valley. Without doubt, one of the best preserve channels are those located at the zone of Cantalloc or CANTAYO, as it is also called. On this area visitors can see a series of blow holes shaped in a spiral form, which probably served to clean their inner part periodically, and also to restore them in case of tremors or earthquakes.

Nazca Ceramic

Long before the Nazca Lines were discovered, the Nazca Culture was already known by many, thanks to the colourful ceramics that were found at the many cemeteries located along the banks of the Nazca River. The peculiarity of these vessels is that they show in a very realistic way the ancient world of the Nazca men, showing mainly their everyday life, animals, plants, birds, and gods, stylized creatures, including zoomorphic and anthropomorphic designs that sometimes reach more than ten colours in just one vessel. The best examples of these Nazca ceramics can be seen today in museums in Lima, such as the Anthropological and Archaeological Museum in Lima, The Regional Museum of Ica, and many others in Peru and around the world.

Nazca Textiles

The Nazca people believed strongly in a life after death, this belief drew them to mummified their corpses and wrap them with finest textiles, which after 2000 years still today show, quality and colours, as if they were woven yesterday. In the Nazca times, like in many other pre-Inca civilizations the textiles seemed to have play an important role, in the case of Nazca, their textiles were made with fine art and also great skill, using cotton and fibre of Andean camels. The Nazca culture considered their textiles to be an important element within the society, and on special burials, the corpse had to be wrapping with these beautiful pieces of art with the aim of accompany the dead in the after life. The Nazca textiles were created with a high technological and intellectual point of view and were very sophisticated. At the archaeological site of Cahcuachi, Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Orefeci has uncovered many textiles in very good conditions, which are currently display at the Antonini Museum in Nazca.

Discovery of the Nazca Lines

The Nazca Lines were first spotted when one of the first Peruvian airlines called Faucette, started to fly from Lima to Arequipa in the 1920's. Pilots who flew over this area had noticed that between the valleys of Palpa and Nazca there were many lines crisscrossing the desert in all directions, this great news were shown at the local papers in Lima, and soon arose the interest of some people.

In 1926, the archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspe came to Nazca , drawn by the reports of strange lines at the desert. He made some researches at the Nazca zone, getting simply to the conclusion that the Lines were part of ancient sacred roads. Xesspe never flew over the area, so he never got to see the figures on the desert, but only some straight lines.

It was not until 1939 that the American professor Paul Kosock, from Long Island University, discovered the Nazca Lines properly. Paul Kosock was drawn by reports of ancient irrigation systems located in the Nazca Valley (the Puquios or aqueducts), in Nazca he made some surveys of the Nazca channels recording at that time over 50 underground aqueducts still in used by the local communities. One day he was told that at the Nazca desert, there were also other ancient channels, even older of those he had already seen. Thus, he went to the Nazca desert, and found only long shallows furrows. He thought that perhaps these ancient channels were located very far away, so he hired one of the small airplanes the farmers used on those days to fumigate their fields in the Nazca valley. Once he took off and started to fly over the desert, he was amazed by hundreds of lines and geometrical forms lying down below. In one of his comments he said that he ordered the pilot to follow one particular line to see where it finished, but the surprise was even bigger when he suddenly found himself flying over a huge design of a bird. It was this way the Nazca Lines were discovered, some years later Paul Kosock would meet the German researcher Maria Reiche who followed Kosock's investigations and devoted her life to studying and preserving the lines.

[edit] Get in

There are frequent collectivos (small buses) to and from Ica. They leave when full, it takes 2 to 3 hours and cost 12 soles.

There are several direct overnight buses from Cuzco (14 hours) and Arequipa (9 hours). Delays can occur in the wet season. Prices vary between 60 and 170 soles.

There are also buses to Lima (Cruz del Sur buses go via Ica and Paracas) throughout the day and overnight, the journey takes about 6-8 hours.

Nazca is a small city that does not have a proper bus station. Most of the bus companies are situated on the northwest part of the city.

[edit] Get around

Often heard lies at the bus stop "That's a very good hotel, but it is full because there is a convention in town. I know because it's our family's hotel. But don't worry, we have another hotel and we can give you a room there!" "The hotel is full. I know because I work there." "The hotel changed owners and is now very, very bad." "They've upgraded and the price has doubled/tripled/$850 a night/whatever" "The owner is a Polish women (one wonders what the Polish ever did wrong in Nazca!) who is very unfriendly and she'll attack you! (sometimes another former Eastern bloc nationality is used...) "My father has a hotel, my brother is a pilot and I have a travel agency"

Getting around in Nazca is easy. You can walk almost anywhere and a taxi inside of town really costs around 3 SOLES although every taxi driver might try to charge you more.

The big hassle in Nazca are the touts that hang out at the bus stations and on the streets. They represent shady or nonexistent hotels and travel agents, claim to work for your hotel or to offer cheap flights for viewing the Nasca lines. Ignore them and have your hotel pick you up from the bus station.

[edit][add listing] See

There are various travel agents in town. As warned above: having an office in Nazca does not make one a trustworthy travel agent! You are hereby warned.

Be very careful where you buy in Nazca, and never buy from people that address you on the street or await you at the bus stop.

• Museo Arqueologico Antonini, Av de la Cultura 606 (follow Jr Bolognese about 1km east). Informative museum about the surrounding archeological sites. It also has a collection of pottery and textiles. In the garden there is a working aqueduct and a scale model of the lines. Entrance U$ 6.00.

• Aqueducts of Cantalloc 2000 years ago, in pre-Inka times, the inhabitants of Nazca developed a system of underground aqueducts to irrigate dry lands that lacked of surface water. Thus, they were able to combat the ever-growing desert. The system is unique in Peru and perhaps in the whole world.In spite of the harshness of the desert, in the Nazca region still exist over 30 underground channels, which are used by local farmers, who grow mainly cotton, corn, beans and potatoes, as well as a variety of fruits. In addition to the channels, nearby visitors may also see various lines etched on the desert floor representing geometric forms, as well as the Inca ruins of Paredones.

• Cemetery of Chauchilla For many years the Chauchilla Cemetery was looted by treasure hunters, who destroyed the place completely, taking away all the treasures the mummies kept in their tombs for centuries. Grave robbers just left behind the corpses, which can be seen today all over the ground. In addition to skulls and bones, visitors also can see several tombs centuries old, as well as long human hairs, ceramic fragments and others remains scattered on the desert surface. It is the only archeological site in Peru, in which ancient mummies are seen in their original graves, along with ancient artifacts, dating back to 1000 AD. This archaeological excursion is combined with the visit to a Nasca Ceramic workshop, where visitors will learn about the old technique of making Nasca pots and also a visit to the gold extraction centre to see an old way of extracting gold using huge mortars.

• Chicchitara Carving Rocks, in the Palpa Valley.

• The Palpa Lines

[edit] Nazca Lines

• The Nazca Lines are the star attraction. Scattered over 500 square kilometers of an arid plateau between the Nazca River and Ingenio River, they are huge representations of geometric patterns, animals, humans figures and thousands of perfectly straight lines that go on for kilometers. They were created by removing surface stones, revealing the lighter-colored soil below. They're unquestionably ancient (dating back 1400-2200 years), and remarkably precise (with straight lines and clean curves). The images on the ground are so huge that the only way to view most of them is from the air, a fact which has led to speculation that the ancient Nazca people who created them either had air travel (e.g. hot air balloons), or - even less probable - were directed by an alien civilization. The prevailing scientific viewpoint is that they were created using low-tech surveying techniques, but nobody actually knows who made them or why. Most hotels and a couple dozen tour agents offer round flights in Cessnas. Shop around before buying. The price is US$50-90 depending on the season and your bargaining skills. An airport tax of 20 soles is usually not included in the price. There are also flights which include the nearby Palpa lines.

In order to get a flight, you can either book it with an travel agency in advance (probably a good idea only on the high season from December to March), with any representative that can be found on bus stations and on the streets (although a little bit riskier since there are some scams) and finally you can go yourself to the airport and contact the flying companies directly (being this the best option from a budget-wise perspective). Either way, it's highly recommended that you pay only after you took the flight and ask several companies to compare prices and services; since although everyone of them will claim that they are giving you the standard price, this might not be true. Keep in mind that all flights can start at anytime between 7 AM and 4 PM, so don't feel pressured to be in the morning or the choose the first company you cross with.

The small planes used for the air tours love banking hard and motion sickness is very common among passengers. A motion sickness pill is recommended.

• There is a observation tower along the Panamerican highway with a view of three of the figures and a lookout on a mountain. If you get airsick, this is the way to go. You can go there by tour, public transportation, or hitchhike your way out there. Hitchhiking is not a good idea in Peru. Better take a bus (Flores, Cueva or Soyuz) to get out there and then make a bus stop (no trucks or cars!) to take you back to Nazca. Access to the tower costs 1 sol.

[edit][add listing] Do

• Kusi Illaq Wasi, Calle Arica 602, +51 56.9709175 (in Peru: 056 9709175), [1]. Their name translates from Qechua into English as "the House of the Happy Traveller" and lives up to that title being a good tour operator in Nazca. Good deals and a high degree of knowledge. The prices and deals on their website are REAL! They speak really good English as well. If you work with them, ask for their guide Marco!

[edit][add listing] Eat

• For fast and cheap street food try one of the stands at the south-east corner of the Plaza de Armas.

• Pacante's fastfood café, Jr Bolognese 464. Simple and cheap burgers, with a friendly owner who likes to talk to gringos.

• The restaurants you find all over town that are used by natives offer a full menu (soup, a choice of 3-5 main dishes, and a drink) for 5-10 soles.

[edit][add listing] Drink

There are several bars along Jr. Bolognesi.

[edit][add listing] Sleep

• Hotel Alegria, Calle Lima - 166, ☎ 056-522702, [2]. checkout: 12:00 M. nice with a swimming pool. 35$ a person.  edit

• Brabant Hostal, Calle Juan Matta 878, tel. 056 524127 http://brabanthostalnasca.webklik.nl email: brabanthostalnasca@hotmail.com. Open since March 2007, a cheap, quiet, safe and clean small hostel, one block from the main square. The Dutch-Peruvian owners provide a family atmosphere, great service, good breakfast, roof terrace, games, internet, and laundry. They also organize flights over the Nazca Lines and other tours at good prices. Bus terminal pick-up day or night, just call or mail them before. Multiple languages spoken. Dorm bed 4$ (12 soles), single room 6$(20 soles), double room 9$(30 soles), triple 45 soles, cuadruple 55 soles. People hanging around the buses when you arrive NEVER work for this hostal!!! Don´t believe whatever lie they might tell you!!
• Hostal Camiluz. A quite and safe place to stay in Nazca, located just 3 blocks away from downtown.  edit

• Hostel Don Agucho, Av. Los Paredones con Av. San Carlos Nº 100, ☎ 056 - 522048, [3]. On the right side of the Nazca River, 3 blocks from the main square, in a very quite zone away from the commercial centre and traffic. Has a swimming pool surrounded by a charming garden with comfortable hammocks and furniture to chill out on, free tea and coffee, English spoken and lots of information about Nazca. On the south side of the river and therefore in a very dangerous part of town.  edit

• The WalkOn Inn, José María Mejía 108 (2nd street behind the church), ☎ 056 - 522566 (nazca@walkoninn.com), [4]. Has a nice swimming pool, free internet and free WiFi and very good and friendly service in several languages (en-fr-de-nl-es), possibility of laundry service and burning CDs or DVDs of your pictures. On the second street behind the church yet in a quiet neighborhood. They have a good and inexpensive travel agent at the reception. The rooftop terrace has a great view of the town and its surroundings. roomprices: maximum 25 soles per person, 12 soles for a dorm bed, 6 soles for breakfast buffet..  edit

[edit] Stay safe

[edit] UNeSiNa

There is a website of the "Union de Negociantes sinceros de Nazca" [5] (meaning the union of honest businesses in Nazca) that tells you where you should and shouldn't do business. They base their content on interviews with tourists while they are waiting to travel out of Nazca to their next destination.

[edit] Responsible traveller

Remember that if you work with people who don't have a legitimate business you also work with people who don't pay taxes and thus steal from the society they are living in. This is why they can be cheaper than honest businesses that act correctly. As a responsible traveller, it is your duty to pay taxes where due. As a responsible traveller of course you choose to pay your taxes where due in the country you visit. You only work with people who will give you a legal invoice (in Peru that is either a "boleto" or a "factura") with the name of the business and their VAT number printed on it, together with consecutive numbering on the face.

[edit] Get out

If you go to Lima, we suggest to take the Cruz del Sur Bus company that leaves everyday at 11:30 am and at 2:30 pm. The trip takes 7 hours approximately. If you go to Arequipa, you might leave in the afternoon or in the evening. Cruz del Sur leaves at 3:00 pm and also later in the evening. The trip last 8 hours. Most of the other companies leaves in the evening from 10:00 pm to 12:00 am.

Heading to Ica takes 2.5 to 3 hours on various bus lines. Prices range from 7 soles (Cueva) and up per person.

The long trip to Cusco from Nasca can be broken up into three legs if you don´t mind being called "gringo" when hanging out in the intermidiary towns. Hourly colectivos ply the paved, but curvacious, road to Puquio where you will find 3 simple hostals near the main plaza (18 soles a night for doubles with bano privado). From there, buses head another 6 hours (40 soles) to Abancay. In Abancay, you will find that the Hotel Paraiso next to the bus terminal is your best bet. From there, Cusco is a 5 hour bus (20 soles) ride on an equally winding, but paved, road.

This is a usable article. It has information for getting in as well as some complete entries for restaurants and hotels. An adventurous person could use this article, but please plunge forward and help it grow!