After having flown back to Lima we got ready to leave for the highlands of Peru. First we wanted to visit the famous lines of Nasca. We drove along the desert coast line South of Lima for about 500 km until we met the territory of Nasca. The lines are actually very difficult to see from the ground and therefore, despite actually driving over them when arriving in Nasca one cannot appreciate them very much.
The following day we started to make our ascent to the highlands of the Andes which we would not really leave for almost two months. The drive provided a great impression of the change of flora between the arid desert region and getting more and more green as moving inland towards the aomie mountain vegetation that just had filled up during the rainy season.
We drove over a plateau for more than an hour at 4500 m altitude seeing our first Lamas and Vicunias.
We drove over a plateau for more than an hour at 4500 m altitude seeing our first Lamas and Vicunias.
We had decided to stay for a couple of nights in order to relax after the drive and to have the time to view the lines from the top, i.e. from a small aeroplane. We found a nice hotel with camp facilities and the following morning we boarded two 4-seater planes and went for a half an hour flight.
The lines are not so easy to see even from the plane. But they are of great beauty and make the mind wander off to their until today very obscure origins. The children were obviously quite intrigued by the idea of extraterrestrians having build them, but Cléo had the clear idea that they had been made by the people who wanted their ancestors and their gods to be able to see the pictures from the sky!
The pilot that took Kate, Lili and Cléo needed to show off and took them at the level of the trucks on the road, waved with the wing tips to the drivers and went up and down a lot more than necessary. Nevertheless nobody got sick!
The lines are not so easy to see even from the plane. But they are of great beauty and make the mind wander off to their until today very obscure origins. The children were obviously quite intrigued by the idea of extraterrestrians having build them, but Cléo had the clear idea that they had been made by the people who wanted their ancestors and their gods to be able to see the pictures from the sky!
The pilot that took Kate, Lili and Cléo needed to show off and took them at the level of the trucks on the road, waved with the wing tips to the drivers and went up and down a lot more than necessary. Nevertheless nobody got sick!
The following day we started to make our ascent to the highlands of the Andes which we would not really leave for almost two months. The drive provided a great impression of the change of flora between the arid desert region and getting more and more green as moving inland towards the aomie mountain vegetation that just had filled up during the rainy season.
We drove over a plateau for more than an hour at 4500 m altitude seeing our first Lamas and Vicunias.
We drove over a plateau for more than an hour at 4500 m altitude seeing our first Lamas and Vicunias.
On our way up and down the mountains we were stopped by the police who insisted for us to take two children aged 8 and 10 for a few kilometers. When we were almost at the level of the pass in the middle of nowhere they got off and started to walk across the grass with no immediate target in sight. We were amazed how people lived in this area at 4000 m.
Market day!! All the farmers had come down from their villages - often several hours away - and had "parked" their horses in the roadside "horse park" to take the bus to the market in town.
