Penguins vs. Aliens

Sunday, April 19, 2009
Bus from Nazca to Lima

Yesterday (Saturday) we traveled to Paracas in order to take a boat cruise to the Islas Ballestas, Peru’s version of the Galapagos Islands. The islands really are just barren rock – volcanic rock that is normally a dark gray or reddish color, but appear pure white from all the guano (bird droppings). There’s not a single green plant – but the rocks are absolutely teaming with birds of all sorts, sea lions, and penguins (!). The only man-made structures on these islands are for the guano industry, which is harvested from the island every 6-8 years for fertilizer and other purposes (for all you chip lovers, it is an ingredient of Doritos). There are two guards that live there for 3 months at a time completely cut off from society. I have to say, that can’t be the world’s best job. But the islands themselves were awesome and we 'ooohed' and 'awwwed' over the cute baby sea lions plopping into the water and silly penguins waddling around the ledge to peer at us.

Final stop that night: Nazca, sight of the famous Nazca lines (there are also the nearby Palpa lines from an even older civilization but they don’t the PR for some reason). Between the two, there are seventy human figures and 10,000 lines. The ancient Nazca civilization dug these massive figures between 500 BC and 500 AD, but they weren’t discovered by modern civilization until they were noticed from the air in 1927. We went to a planetarium that night, where we learned a bit about the history and theories behind the lines. Some say they were for ceremonial water purposes and pointed to water sources themselves, while others (including the German scientist Maria Reiche, who spent decades studying the lines) believe they are used as an ancient astronomical calendar – good chances, since some of the lines mark the summer and winter solstice. Then of course, there are those who say aliens constructed them. Well, the first two theories seem pretty valid to me (not that I’m knocking the idea of aliens), but it still amazes me that they were able to construct what appears to be intricate figures from the sky, but are just indented paths from the ground.

Sunday we woke up at the crack of dawn to have the chance to see the lines by air, which was awesome. I was in the front with the pilot n a tiny six-seater plane, and we saw all the famous figures such as the monkey, spider, whale, and hummingbird (to give you an idea of the size, the hummingbird is 217 by 315 ft). I was also surprised to see how many random lines just criss crossed the landscape. Definitely a cool experience. On our long bus ride back to Lima, we stopped for lunch at a place that makes pisco, the famous Peruvian liquor, and we got to see both the traditional and modern production techniques on a bodega tour.

Yay for ISA excursions! Coli