Nazca Lines & Creepy Skeletons
Written by Bessie on Wednesday, December 24, 2008 in Peru
Feelin' normal
I've been really looking forward to Peru, and it's not disappointing. Mysterious shapes in the sand and well preserved old mummies, what more can you ask for?Feelin' normal
Flying over the Nazca Lines
So the truth about the Nazca Lines is that no one really knows who built them or why. After seeing them, I think those alien conspiracy theories are just crazy talk. To me, it's obvious that some ancient civilzation created these figures in the sand as tributes to gods. Some guess it was part of a ritual to walk the lines. The best scientific guesses are that they were made by a Nazca civilization about 900 BC to 600 AD. There are pottery and things that replicate the same shapes in the sand.
There are over 800 lines in total, and they're all just spread randomly around the desert. Some are animals, plants, and just plain fun geometric shapes. Part of the mystery though is that you can only really enjoy them from a plane. Even from nearby mountains or on land, you can't tell what you're looking at.
I also made a little video, so you can feel what it's like to bump around in this little plane. My stomach ended up doing cartwheels after the pilot kept spinning us in circles over the shapes, and I'd see the horizon perpendicular rather than it's normal horizontally, comfortable self. My friend Kate and I ended up getting split up on 2 flights, but us both sitting co-pilot made it worth it. The 30 minute ride costs a hefty $60, but it's well worth it, especially if you keep down your breakfast.
Creepy Cemetery of Chauchilla
A cemetary is a cemetery is a cemetery, unless you're in the desert of Peru and the cemetery at question is hundreds of years old and full of loose bones, mummies, and skulls. There's a theme in Peru that little is known about many of the ancient civilizations because very little or nothing was written down about them. But you leave behind mummies and things, all sorts of modern day archeologists will sort through and deduce things about your culture.
If you're creeped out by bones and dead people, maybe just skip over the paragraphs and "enjoy" the Halloween scenes. They are very Tales from the Crypt-esque.
The mummies at hand here are super well preserved because the people used herbs to wash there dead, peeled back their skin and put layed of cotton between the bone and skin. Creepy, but cool, because dozens of old mummies are hanging out in hundreds of years old cotton with hair, some even have dreadlocks.
Basically it was burial site after burial site filled with bones. How did someone discover this? Well, it's the desert, and basically as the sand blew away people started noticing the cotton and random bones around, and they decided to dig. Walking along the trails there were random femurs and skulls hanging about. There were obviously some offerings of pottery and things in the burial sites, but if there was any gold, that is long gone.
Don't Kate and I look pretty next to these old bones?
Oh, and here's how pretty the desert is.
That's a nice note to end on.
Comments on "Nazca Lines & Creepy Skeletons"
hi nancy! it's a really cool place, and allows all sorts of opportunities to expand spanish vocabulary to include things like momia, tumba, and místerioso.
A famous destination for UFO and alien life hunters. I have seen this plane ride before narrated by such folks on TV! I'm very glad you got to see it all for yourself................PEACE AND LOVE.................
It's easy to feel like Indiana Jones here in Peru. Brings out the khacki in all of us really.
Interesting plane ride! Thanks for sharing. Glad it was YOU with that bumpy plane ride! The... ummmmm... graves? What is casual to some, creeped me out a little. Healthy-looking hair, though...
definitely a plane ride I won't be quick to repeat, but it was cool.
haa haa, yes, healthy hair, but I think some of them had dreadlocks which seemed very impractical for the desert frankly...
Aliens conspiracy theories......just tributes to their gods???......and who might qualify better as a "god"?? Someone landing in a large craft that appeared out of the heavens.....godlike maybe with "magical" powers unknown to ancient cultures......hummmmmmmm? :) :)
i loooove the mummies! i want one. it's funny to think that someone would believe aliens would have made those lines. why would aliens come here to draw monkeys in the desert?
haa haaa, i knew you'd like that one! :) Yeah, the aliens theories are ridiculous, really.
Awesome sites. Peru sounds amazing! Thanks for the updates. I may not comment much, but I really enjoy the photos, videos and commentary.
by Nancy H at December 29, 2008 04:16 PM