While traveling with my host family over the holidays, I was able to play tourist in Nazca—something that I don’t get to do very often. The province of Nazca is rich in history and culture. The Pre-Incan people left behind many artifacts from their way of life- including pottery, textiles, aqueducts, gravesites, and the famous Nazca lines.
On Christmas day, I went with my host family to see the Nazca lines. We climbed a tower first, where we were able to parts of 3 designs. Then, we climbed a hill to see more; however, we were with small children so we didn’t really climb enough to see the designs. The lines are most commonly seen from private airplane, and I hope to go back sometime to see them.
A few days later, I went with an RPCV, PCV, and Peruvian friend to explore the actual town of Nazca, the aqueducts and an old grave site.
Recently, Nazca updated its Plaza de Armas—and the area now includes WiFi. From roofs in the area, you can also see Cerro Blanco- the largest sand dune in Peru and the second highest in the world.
After exploring Nazca a bit, we negotiated with a taxi driver to take us to the famed aqueducts and the Chauchilla Cemetery.
Much of the Nazca district still gets its water from the ancient aqueducts.
The Chauchilla Cemetery is located in a very remote area, and visitors are treated to shallow, open graves with skeletons and offerings inside. It looked like they were excavating another section of the gravesite while we were there. The arid climate has kept these graves well preserved.
While I saw a lot, I still feel like there’s so much more to see and learn!
Brittany McGee 