All in the family

On the way to Nazca

After filling up on tastings and adventurous activities we made our way further south to the town of Nazca. As per usual, we looked up hostels in our trusty Lonely Planet on the bus ride and had a particular one in mind when we got off the bus. Also as per usual there were tons of taxis offering us rides and tour operators trying to sign us up for things or recommend a hostel. We gave them all the cold shoulder and headed to the hostel we had in mind. It turns out one of the guys hassling us works along with his cousin and numerous hostels in town, so once we got close to the hostel he sent his cousin to convince us to go where they recommended. We kept up the cold shoulder until we realized they meant the same hostel we were headed to. We laughed it off and had him take us on a tour of the place and help us get set up. During the whole explanation we heard we got kitchen privileges, but this turned out to be a misunderstanding. After cooking popcorn and buying eggs for breakfast we found out the kitchen was for making tea and coffee only (the señora didn't like other people in her kitchen). Needless to say Liz wrapped each of the eight eggs in their own plastic bag and we carefully carried them all the way to Arequipa.

Mirror headboard? 

Stairway in our hostel

Happy pisco sour

Most of our time in Nazca was spent relaxing (again) and walking around the town. Usually people only spend one or two nights at most because they book a few tours then get on their merry little way. But Liz and I soaked up the surroundings a different way- we went to numerous set lunches (you can get a huge bowl of soup, a whole plate of rice and meat, a piece of cake, and some chicha all for around 10 soles!), searched out many pastelerias, and even did a bit of souvenir shopping.

Terrace on top of our hostel with a view of Nazca

The viewing tower (not ours)

We did end up booking a tour on our last day. This area is known for huge geoglyphs covering the desert that were made between 450 and 600 AD by the Nazca people by removing the top reddish layer of rock and soil to leave the white under ground exposed. There are several theories on why they were created; some say it was to mark water sources, others say the animal carvings were signals to the gods. The most avid researcher of the lines was Maria Reiche, who now has a museum dedicated to her in the area. They left her one-room house at the museum site set up just as she left it, with drawings strewn about, a dusty old bed, and her slippers waiting to be put on. After muling it over for numerous days and being asked consistently by the same tour operator we gave in. We knew we wanted to see the Nazca lines, but didn't know how we wanted to experience them and Kyra was skeptical about how much they were charging for a tour.

Notice the lines over the bird figure and the tire tracks to the right (not our picture)

Huge hands we were able to see from the tower (nada) 

We ended up not regretting the tour one bit! We had a great tour guide named Orlando, who had a wealth of knowledge about the history and theories behind the Nazca lines. He took us to three different sites: a natural hill to view the lines, a tower built by Maria Reiche to view the lines and figures, and the museum where Maria lived. He would make us stand in certain spots to see the continuous straight lines heading towards the mountains or to the sea. He showed us football field-esque areas that were cleared for sacrifices to the gods. He told us how disappointed he was that some of the lines have been ruined by car tracks before it became a protected site in 1994. The Panamerican Highway actually runs right through the large lizard figure, cutting of its tail and arm. While at the museum, Liz and I became surrounded by grade school kids saying "Hello" and "How are you?", but too shy to say much more. We actually ended up having quite a good conversation with one girl about Hannah Montana and Justin Beiber. As Orlando drove us back to Nazca we ended up explaining in detail how to search for the best flight deals to the United States and what to see when he got there. He even came in to our hostel and we gave him a demonstration on how to look it all up. It really was a win, win situation.

Various Nazca lines with the highway running through (nope)