I had lowered my expectations about cities in Peru considerably after my visit to Pisco. It’s not fair but it’s what I tend to do when I visit a continent or even a country for the first time. I’m happy to report that the Nazca took me by surprise because I hadn’t expected the city to be more than its famous geometric lines. However, I found sights which were very special in their own right. Even if you’re planning to skip the lines, don’t skip the other sights!

Day 1

Chauchilla Cemetery
Chauchilla is a cemetery 30km south of Nazca. I can hear everyone sighing when I mention a cemetery. It’s true that I love visiting them (for example in Paris, Clonmacnoise – Ireland & Nicosia – Cyprus). However, even if you’re not a fan of cemeteries, I promise you this one is pretty spectacular.

Especially if you like coming face-to-face with ancient bones, skulls and mummies, which coincidentally I also really like (case and point the ossuaries in for example: Saint Catherine’s Monastery – Egypt & Meteora – Greece)

Tomb robbers found this sight first, and they scattered the remains haphazardly across the desert. As you can see, the sight is in the middle of the desert so they had plenty of opportunity and freedom to do so.

The remains have now been carefully rearranged inside open air tombs.

Don’t be surprised when you step on pieces of bone or pottery when you’re walking around though, they didn’t manage to clean up everything.

I have seen mummies before, but never like this. This is truly a sight worth exploring. You can visit by organized tour or by taxi.

Nearby Local Cemetery
When you go by taxi you can urge the taxi driver to stop at a nearby local cemetery. This cemetery is still used by people living nearby, even though it seems to be pretty far away from civilization.

There’s nothing special to see here, in this case I just have to admit I love visiting and photographing cemeteries.

Cantelloq Aquaducts
At first I sighed when I saw the Cantelloq Aquaducts on the itinerary of the day. I mean, in my experience I’m never wowed by seeing an aquaduct. It’s usually just a waterway which looks like a bridge and which is built over roads.

Not in Peru!

The Cantelloq Aquaducts in Nazca are underground. If you walk down the spiralling ventanas (windows), you can see a small stream of clean water running through it.

There are around 30 of these aquaducts and they are still being used today for irrigating the fields.

This sight is 4km southeast of Nazca and is again best reached by taxi or organized tour.

Los Paredones
The ruins of Los Paredones are just plain ruins. They are not very well preserved, so there’s not much to see here.

Apart from the view. Incas liked to have their administrative control centres overlooking the land. You can enjoy that same view by climbing up the hill to where the former administrative office stood. It’s not more than a ten minute walk.

Day 2

Nazca Lines: Viewing Point
As you can see, I actually saved the best for last. The aforementioned sights are all pretty spectacular in their own way but nothing can beat the mysterious Nazca lines. It’s still not clear who made the lines, why and more importantly how they made it. There are many geometric lines among the shapes which have puzzled scientists for years.

There are two ways to see the lines: by plane or by climbing up a viewing point. Do yourself a favour, even if you have booked the flight, still climb up the tower to see a few of the lines. It’s also good for travelers who are on a strict budget but don’t want to miss seeing the Nazca lines, and it’s good in case the flight gets cancelled (true story…). The tower is a simple metal structure consisting of four staircases that will get you 13 metres off the ground. It’s wobbly and it’s scary, but it’s worth it.

This height allows you to see the three of the Nazca figures. The view is good, however you won’t get to see the full extent of the site from this location.

Nazca Lines: Flight
If you want to see the Nazca lines in their full glory, you should buy plane tickets. I did, but with new security measures, they are a bit stricter about when they fly.

That’s generally a good thing, because before there were quite a few accidents. Flying means money, so they usually just took the risk. They stopped doing that which means that my little group of four got as far as the inside of the plane and right before take off the flight was cancelled.

We took a few photos of the plane, and waited in the departure hall the whole afternoon.

Unfortunately, there was a sandstorm which lasted until the end of the next morning. We persisted and stayed at the airport in the hopes that we would suddenly get a go-ahead, but to no avail. The cost of the flight will generally be from $80-100. If the plane can’t take off, you get your money back.

Conclusion

Nazca is a really nice city to visit. I consider it one of my favourite cities on the road to Arequipa. Not only are there many fun sights to explore – I mean how often can you see mummies sitting around like that? – it’s also a city shrouded in mystery due to its lines. I’m sure I’ll be back one day to try to fly over the lines again, but for now I had a wonderful visit here! I can highly recommend it.