Day 80 28.09.15
While some of our group chose to see the wildlife on the Baltra islands (or also called the Galapagos for the poor) we had a little sleep in, and then drove to meet them at the port. On the way to the port we saw more of the seaside view we had been missing when travelling to Pisco from Lima.
We saw the beach and little fisher boats.
The road to the port was a very long straight road just along the shoreline.
When we got to the port we had some time to kill and so walked along the promenade enjoying the view of the little fisher boats and the birds that were fishing.
I also saw a young flamingo, which obviously had yet to deposit the special pink pigments in its feathers.
They had lovely little statues of penguins, dolphins, sea lions etc. set up all along the boulevard, made out of different scrap metals.
After we had reunited with the boat part of our group we headed back to the bus. We were introduced to a special breed of dog along the way, which is an old Incan breed. They are hairless and with that a great dog for people with allergies.
We drove away from the sea and the beach, and headed out into more desert landscape. Along the way we could see several chicken farm, as they are easy to erect and run in the desert.
We also saw some agriculture in the places where water sources were either close or not far under ground.
The landscape was getting more and more sandy and we were reaching the oasis of Huacachina.
The oasis was a harsh cut to the vegetation we had seen so far, and actually was a great and refreshing change in scenery. After we had ordered our food so that it would be prepared when we came from the dunes, we boarded our sand buggy that would take us all around the adjacent dunes.
Unfortunately you cannot really tell that much from these photos, but riding this sand buggy was a lot of fun. Up onto these high dunes, dropping quite low or driving along very steep hills definitely let adrenaline kick in.
We also got to see the oasis and the aligning non-desert cities in the distance from one very high dune.
Parking the sand buggy at one point in the desert we went sandboarding. This was so much fun! As we all couldn’t actually board or snow board, we raced these boards down flat on our bellies taking a lot of speed and triple the amount of sand throughout all our clothes.
We passed a second oasis that was now dry (had been dry now for about 10 to 15 years) to which quite an elaborate stone driveway led. We were later on told that back in the days the president decided that this oasis was his personal oasis; let this walk way be built in order for him to be able to drive along the path to take his family to this oasis in full privacy. Now the oasis is dry and the pathways are being covered in sand through the natural process of the moving dunes and sandstorms.
We headed back to the oasis with water for lunch. After trying to get rid of as much sand as possible I had an avocado salad as a starter and a chicken soup as a main. There was a lot of soup and I felt too full, ready to take a nap on the bus.
I had to wait just a little bit longer as our next stop was a pisco distillery that was about 20 minutes away. We got a detailed introduction to the process of pisco making starting from the grapes.
The grapes are poured into a large basin and treaded on by a couple of men during the night to avoid wasps and other insects. From there the liquid pours into another basin being filtered already by the actual basket and pieces of cloths inside the baskets.
The skins that are left behind are pressed in this press to get out even the last bit of juice.
From here the juices are filled into different large tanks where the mixture is left to ferment.
After the sufficient time the mixture is heated up over a large kiln.
This is often done in these types of flasks made out of copper.
The alcohol evaporates and travels along the tube upwards and into the spiral where it condenses from the cold water surrounding the pipes. Here the best aroma can be caught to produce the finest pisco.
After the explanation of the production process we got to the pisco testing. I again tasted this pear schnaps taste, and my favourite grape type is the Torontel. The others were either to strong or too altered with (strawberry flavoured pisco) and even the pisco sour cocktail mixture didn’t really win me over.
Instead here is a little photo of a cat vs. a guinea pig.
Moving on from the distillery, we saw the desert change from very sandy dunes to a rockier desert.
Again, so many long long and winding roads.
When we were closer to Nasca, we stopped at a higher positioned plateau and overlooked the beautiful valley.
We headed straight to a tower where you could see two of the Nasca lines figures, the tree and the hands. The tower is about 6 metres high and you have a surprisingly good view of the images.
I thought they were going to be much more vast and not as “small” as they appeared for me. Of course we were 6 metres high up above, but still their size confused me a little.
The geology of the desert planes of Nasca is a dark coloured layer of stone and sand on the top, and as soon as you dig a little lower, you find clear white stone and sand. That is how he figurines of the Nasca lines are made; by clearing the top layer to the side and leaving behind the white coloured layer. The lines are between 10 cm to 50cm wide, in some cases (geometrical shapes) even 6 metres wide.
Some of these lines are not only straight but actually depict different animals and plants found from all over Peru and not just the Nasca region (for example monkeys and parrots from the jungle or whales from the sea.)
A German woman called Maria Reiche discovered the Nasca lines. To be fair they were first seen by commercial airline pilots flying over the region. They told archaeologists who acknowledged them for the first time. Only however when Maria Reiche got involved in these archaeologists studies, she found that some lines produced quite elaborate images and pictures. She found this by walking along the lines, following her steps on a piece of paper. Every turn she took she would make a representative turn on her paper. That is how she found the image of the spider.
Maria Reiche then dedicated her life to the Nasca lines, protecting, cleaning, and measuring them and telling the world about them. When she first came to the lines she was hated by the locals, as she would live out by the lines by herself in her car, prohibit any further roads to be built along this large field and also prohibited the locals from proceeding with any kind of agricultural projects on the lines. As soon as she was able to present her findings to the world and tourists started pouring in, the opinion of the locals changed and Maria was praised and worshipped. She remained at the lines her whole life and continued her studies on them.
Here a small overview from our hotel of the different images along the desert planes. (The red square represents the tower we had been earlier).
After a quick shower we headed out, now sand free, to a special observatory constructed in the hotel where Maria Reiche lived the last 20 years of her life, where the relationship between the lines and astronomy was explained a little more and where we got to listen to some theories about the lines. We also got to see Saturn from a very precise telescope and as soon as the moon came out got to take photos of its deep craters.
There are many theories surrounding the Nasca lines, why they were positioned where they were positioned and what their meanings are.
Some say that they relate to different star signs, others say that they are the plea to their gods to provide then with more water, some say that they point towards sources of water, others say that they are the landing strips for UFOs, but nobody really knows. The Nasca lines were produced over a period of 1000 years, and some even show evidence of having been produced and then the idea of them changed and new images were drawn over the old ones.
Some of the large rectangles seem more like large gathering places with alters, while others have been covered up partially by the soaring sand storms.
After the great observatory we headed out for dinner. I had a Parhuela, again a dish I was told to try. It is a seafood soup with a very very rich broth full of seafood. I also ordered a jug of lemonade (1 litre to be exact), a great dinner!
We rolled ourselves back to the hotel and fell asleep quickly.
