After breakfast we headed to the airfield just across from the hotel to get a flight to see the nearby Nasca lines. These are massive drawings and geometric shapes in the ground that can only be appreciated from the air. The fact that they were made hundreds of years ago raises the question of why something only visible from the air would be created.
There are many ideas that have been put forward to explain this from the ancient Nascans having hot air ballons, to UFOs. The most reasonable explanation I heard was that the animals were of the sort the shamans believed to be helpful in their drug induced hallucinations where they believed their spirits flew over the area. This also explains why when there was a time of drought the images stop and geometric shapes pointing to water sources were made. The people lost faith in their shamans and tried to appeal to their gods for water by themselves.
The above picture is thought to resembe an astronaut, but personally I think this is reaching a little...
As works of art these drawings are impressive and for that reason alone their existence is justified. As a religious plea to gods for water, however, it comes across as yet another massive waste of energy by a now extinct race trying to survive in a foolishly futile way. Harsh, I know.
The flight itself was very enjoyable. The pilot was twisting and turning the small plane continuously to get the best view of the lines. All but Jurgen disagreed with me though as they felt quite ill and Rodica threw up on the plane.
In the evening we set off on our nine hour overnight double-decker coach journey. The reclining chairs, TVs and food service made this trip very much like travelling by plane. I've never been in a more comfortable land vehicle.
There are many ideas that have been put forward to explain this from the ancient Nascans having hot air ballons, to UFOs. The most reasonable explanation I heard was that the animals were of the sort the shamans believed to be helpful in their drug induced hallucinations where they believed their spirits flew over the area. This also explains why when there was a time of drought the images stop and geometric shapes pointing to water sources were made. The people lost faith in their shamans and tried to appeal to their gods for water by themselves.
The above picture is thought to resembe an astronaut, but personally I think this is reaching a little...
As works of art these drawings are impressive and for that reason alone their existence is justified. As a religious plea to gods for water, however, it comes across as yet another massive waste of energy by a now extinct race trying to survive in a foolishly futile way. Harsh, I know.
The flight itself was very enjoyable. The pilot was twisting and turning the small plane continuously to get the best view of the lines. All but Jurgen disagreed with me though as they felt quite ill and Rodica threw up on the plane.
In the evening we set off on our nine hour overnight double-decker coach journey. The reclining chairs, TVs and food service made this trip very much like travelling by plane. I've never been in a more comfortable land vehicle.
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