The Nazca lines

The hands

Spider

Hummingbird

The Astronaut

Surreal landscape

Many of you will find it hard to believe (thankfully I have photographic evidence) but the other day I wilingly climbed into a six seater plane (picture a station wagon with wings) for a flight over the one of South America´s great mysteries, the Nazca lines. What you will find even harder to believe is that I really enjoyed it, despite the incredible bumpiness and over-eager pilot!

The Nazca lines span a large area and are a series of animal figures and geometric shapes etched out of the arid, stony ground. They were created by ´clearing away the brush and hard stones of the plain to reveal the fine dust beneath´. No one is completely sure why they were made but it is thought ´they were probably a kind of agricultural calendar to help regulate the planting and harvesting of crops´. When you have a look at the above pics, try to remember that they were thought to have been done between 500 and 800 AD. Don´t ask me how they knew about spacemen and stuff...

Many thanks to ´The Rough Guide to South America´ for the above information.