The Nascar Lines – Nazca Actually :)

August 15, 2011 in Places, Travel

Sally Franz

Okay, they are really called the Nazca lines, but when you have lived in North Carolina as long as I did, the Nascar capitol of the world, it’s easy to get the two confused. Except one is from a highly advanced civilization that created hundreds of geoglyph drawings somewhere between 500 BC-500 AD and the other is from a less evolved citizenry which leaves oil and rubber markings in a circle and occasionally kills people and yet and still it continues til this day.

If you find yourself, as I did in Lima, Peruwith a few extra days on your hands ask your hotel to book you into a tour of the Nazca Lines, a World Heritage Site since 1994 . It will take all day. I was taken in a private car a few hours ride to a very small airport which was at a 2,000 altitude. My friend Alanna and I boarded a tiny plane with 8 Japanese who were determined to fit the Asian tourist stereotype each hauling about 25 pounds of cameras, lenses and tripods.

The plane slowly reached altitude and we flew over the tan plains of dirt and gravel. There was not a living plant in sight. Suddenly the plane tilted violently and the voice on the intercom said, “There is the spider” another quick tip of the wings, “There is the condor.” Swooping, wing dipping and careening in tight circles we saw drawings in the dirt which had been created by removing the top red stones to reveal white soil underneath. The widest across is 660 feet across. Apparently there are two hundred or more animals, geometric symbols and lines. Within fifteen minutes it was over. I’m glad I took pictures.

The hummingbird, monkey, human hand, sharks, orcas, llamas and lizard are amazing, but the one they love to go on and on about is not on the flat plains, but on a nearby hill. It seems to be a spaceman or alien. Me? I think it is just the drawing of a Mayan medicine man who wandered too far afield fromMachu Picchu.

Still, it is curious. Who made these drawings? Why? How did they get the drawings to scale without being very high up. They were discovered by a pilot in the 1927. You can just hear the conversation.

“Guys I just saw giant drawings in the sand of a humming bird, a spider and a monkey.” “Dude, your license is going to be pulled if you’re drinking tequila up there!”

“No really, I saw a coyote and a killer whale and a space alien.”

“Shut-up man, it never happened. Go home and drink some strong coffee.”

“Just come up with me, and you’ll see. Come on trust me.”

“Yeah, like the time you told me the worm tasted good at the bottom of the beer bottle?” Thankfully somebody eventually believed this guy. But you really do have to see this one to believe it.

To rest up after our ordeal of a flight across the hot dusty plains we were deposited at a real life oasis in Huacachina outside of theIcagrape growing region. Yup, just like in the movies only better. We drove through mountains of sand and there it was between two huge dunes, a large rippling pool of blue water surrounded by date palms, flowers and camels. In the shadiest spot was a large red ornate wooden gate which led to a veranda overlooking the water. We settled into large overstuffed floral pillowed chairs as a team of smiling waiters descended upon us like messengers of mercy offering numerous concoctions to quench our parched throats. I wondered if the people who drew the Nazca lines thousands of years ago every got over to the oasis to throw back a cool one?

Sally Franz

Sally Franz is a motivational speaker, corporate trainer and author. Her newest book, about contracting an auto-immune disease (Transverse Myelitis-TM), which threatened to leave her paralyzed is an Amazon Best Seller: “Scrambled Leggs…a snarky tale of hospital hooey”. She is an avid gardener, artist and world traveler. And now she is about to venture out on her 26th move since the age of 20. Next stop? Portland, Oregon.