The Parabolic Journey to Nazca & The Nazca Lines

We knew our arrangements in Nazca may present and issue, so we had a backup plan.  Today was all about rolling with the punches. We called our hotel in Nazca three times but always got voicemail. Carrie tried the manager's cell phone but also no answer. She also never responded to emails. We were beginning to get worried that we'd even have a room. If we couldn't reach our hotel, how was our guide supposed to reach us later to tell us want time he was picking us up for the Nazca Lines flyover? So we ducked into a nearby hotel in Cusco that we knew had a branch in Nazca and made a new reservation.  Then I called back our old hotel and left another message that we cancelled.  I also called the tour operator and let them know we changed hotels.

We arrived at a the us station to get our tickets, and here was where my Spanish finally broke down.  I was getting a mental block and couldn't exactly discern that we were stopping in Nazca first. I started to panic a bit,but Carrie got the gist of some hand gestures and calmed me so I could finally ask another attendant that I could understand and we confirmed the route. Somewhere, somehow I had written down that it would take 8 hours to Nazca. When a European woman nearby overheard us, she said it was 16 hours.

Stunned silence.

You could have slapped us on both cheeks and we wouldn't have budged. 16 hours?? That gets us in at 6am. Overnight on a bus. This information we learned 10 minutes before departure time. We acted quickly, phoned the hotel to notify them of our next day arrival, changed the reservation, then laughed. We tried to find the bright side. 1) We had already purchased first class seats on the double-decker bus, which were more spacious than any American first class airline cabin. 2) We'd save ourselves from paying for another hotel night.

Good thing we were comfortable because I got motion sick. I won't go into detail but luckily I didn't need a barf bag. The bus steward took care of me, I begged the driver at a stop to let me get into my luggage to get the Dramamine, and we continued the trip. Andean roads were like riding a parabolic curve, back and forth, up and down, nausea. The roads are more like figure-eights than S curves, in the dark. I'm dizzy just thinking about it.

We arrived in Nazca 2 hours early, dumped at a bus station in the middle of the night.  Two men with a car were there for us, but were from the old/cancelled hotel. Really?? 15 hours ago we left a message that few cancelled with them and they didn't get the message? We weren't digging how they were doing business and found our way to the new hotel. They were gracious to let us have a room at 4am so we could catch some Z's. Hours later at dawn the guy from the old hotel stalked us in the lobby of the new hotel and showed us an email from Carrie. We explained our concern about their shoddy communication and our change of plans.  Luckily our guide still found us.

So off we went to the Nazca Lines! I forgot my passport but I had a copy on me, so after much begging the airstrip authorities and tour operator let me on the plane with my copy. *phew* Again, backups were handy. I was so psyched for this excursion! We were 6 in a plane so everyone had a window seat. The lines were amazing, vast and huge, perfectly straight, stretching out over the Nazca desert. We saw the whale, monkey, condor, parrot, alcatraz, dog, hands, tree, astronaut, hummingbird, and spider.  So very cool!

There aren't many tourists in Nazca and it's far less congested than Cusco. I'm glad we made this stop to see something so mysterious, and to get away from the crowds. Tonight we're going to a lecture at the planetarium about the lines and southern constellations.  We'll attempt some stargazing tonight, but we'll be doing that for sure in Easter Island in a few days.  A few days!!

We confirmed that our bus ride back to Lima tomorrow is just 7 hours, because we didn't want any more surprises.  Luckily this route is along the Panamerican Highway so there are no twisty mountain roads. I'm taking the Dramamine just the same.