The Nazca Lines - One Of The World's Great Unsolved Mysteries

We arrived in the desert city of Nazca with one intention - to see the famous Nazca Lines. These are a complex series of ancient lines, geometric shapes and stylised motifs, all drawn in the desert and encompassing a huge area. The figures include several designs based on animals and plants, including for example a monkey, a hummingbird and a spider. They are on such a large scale that they can only really be appreciated from the air  - most of the animals are 50-100m long, while the lines are often several km long and 1-3m wide.

The hummingbird figure

The Nazca Lines were created by the Nazca culture and its predecessor, the Paracas culture, between around 500 BC and 500 AD. It would have been a huge undertaking. All the figures and lines were made by clearing away the top layer of dark pebbles and revealing the whiter ground underneath. The lines are so straight that they must have been painstakingly planned and measured - some even theorise that the Nazca must have had hot air balloons to be able to create such precise designs that only become clear from the air. Despite being so old, the geoglyphs have remained in good condition due to the extreme aridity of the desert environment.

Our tiny plane for the Nazca Lines flight

Kev had always wanted to take the flight over the lines, but I was less sure and was very nearly put off by the horror stories of poor safety, horrific air sickness and general very bad organisation! At the last minute I decided to go for it, and was very glad I did. The flight was simply incredible: one of the top experiences of the trip so far. We were in a 6 seater plane with another couple plus pilot and co-pilot. The pilot flew round 12 of the most famous figures, banking first left and then right so that people on both sides of the plane could see. We had amazingly clear views of every figure and could better understand their layout and the sheer immensity of the lines. And no air sickness!

A pair of hands - also sometimes known as the frog

While various theories have been propounded, the purpose of the lines remains unknown. Most experts agree that they probably had some religious significance, perhaps intended as symbols to be seen by the gods above: archaeological evidence shows that ceremonies and festivals may have taken place along them. Other theories link the lines to astronomy and some suggest that they were used as some sort of huge celestial calendar. They could also have been paths leading to water sources - vital when living in such a dry environment. One of the world's enduring mysteries.

In the Cantalloc aqueducts

While in Nazca we explored some ruins from the Nazca civilisation. Firstly the Cantalloc aqueducts, a sophisticated system of subterranean water channels that the Nazca designed for irrigating their crops. They look like interconnected terraces, spiralling down to wells at the bottom, and are still used today. Next the slightly gruesome Chauchilla Cemetery, a burial site from the later Nazca period, still containing mummified human remains in open graves. Interestingly, many of the mummies had headdresses or very long hair styled like dreadlocks. We also visited Cahuachi, the remains of an important ceremonial centre and pilgrimage destination for the Nazca. The ruins here were in excellent condition despite being built of mud bricks, again thanks to the extreme conditions here.

Nazca mummies in the Chauchilla Cemetery 

From Nazca we moved on to the small coastal town of Paracas. We had a long walk around the desert peninsula, admiring the beautiful marine scenery and seeing more flamingoes than anywhere else we've been. The next day we took a boat trip out to the nearby Islas Ballestas, 'the poor man's Galapagos', as many descriptions put it. The wildlife here was stunning - the sky became thick with birds as we approached, and the islands themselves are simply covered in colonies of cormorants, Peruvian boobies and Inca terns, among others. They're also home to Humboldt penguins, sea lions and pelicans and we saw all of these at close proximity. Not the Galapagos, but a pretty good alternative for now!

Playa Roja (Red Beach) - part of the Paracas peninsula 

While in Paracas we happened to be discussing what would happen if a tsunami hit .. and lo and behold the next day after the earthquake in Chile there were tsunami warnings throughout coastal Peru. Fortunately we'd moved on by then 60 km inland to the desert town of Ica, where we enjoyed some wine tasting. Yes, Peru's major wine region is in the desert! There's no comparison with Chilean wine, but the 2012 Petit Verdot was surprisingly good actually. We also visited Ica's excellent museum, and will leave here tonight heading for Ayacucho, up in the central highlands.

So many birds! Peruvian boobies at the Islas Ballestas

From Bolivia Into Peru - Lake Titicaca From Both Sides of the Border

We left La Paz wishing we'd had a bit more time there, but also excited about the thought of a new country before too long. First, we wanted to stop in Copacabana, 7km from the Peruvian border, to see Lake Titicaca and Isla del Sol.

Our bus to Copacabana - it got on its own little boat for some of the way!

We decided to treat ourselves again in Copacabana as we'd heard great things about a rather unusual hotel there, Las Olas. The hotel is made up of several 'suites' that are in fact little freestanding houses, all with very quirky designs. Our suite was the Sea Tower, three floors high and with a fantastic view of the lake from our top tower room. All the floors were circular and we even had a specially designed circular bed! We also had a little fireplace, which kept the place cosy during the freezing Copacabana evenings.

Our Sea Tower home in Copacabana

Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world at 3800m, and even before arriving in South America we'd intended to stay a night on its largest island, Isla del Sol (the Sun Island). However, it turned out this was not meant to be. Having been talking in La Paz about how we always have good luck with the weather, we appeared to have jinxed it... Storms, heavy rain and snow put paid to any plan to head across the lake by boat. The first time either of us have seen snow in August!

The Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabanca, in a very grey Copacabana

Despite the weather, we still enjoyed our time in Copacabana. We visited the town's basilica, which is very grand - completely out of proportion to the size of the town! The church contains a famous 16th century icon of the Virgin of Copacabana, the patron saint of Bolivia, who is traditionally worshipped on the 5th August. Although we were there a week later there were still queues and queues of vans and buses arriving from across Peru and Bolivia to see the icon. We also managed between snow showers to climb the steep hill behind our hotel, for a wonderful vista of Lake Titicaca and the town spread out below. This hill was another pilgrimage site, with stone crosses marking the stations of the cross and another icon at the top. Sadly though, everywhere was completely strewn with litter after a lot of people came up here for the festival on the 5th.

Looking down on Copacabana and Lake Titicaca

We decided not to waste any time waiting for the weather to improve and after two nights in Copacabana took a bus over to Puno, in Peru. Puno is also on Lake Titicaca and is the main entry town from the Peruvian side, so there are a LOT of tourists here! Quite a shock for us. On the plus side however, we have already noticed a dramatic improvement in the food here compared with any of the previous countries. It's great seeing dishes with sauces, spices, herbs... we are feeling quite positive about Peruvian cuisine!

The beautiful Lake Umayo, at Sillustani

Near Puno there is an interesting archaeological site at Sillustani; it is a hillside scattered with 'chullpas' - huge funerary towers or urns varying from around 4 to 12 metres in height. These stone, cylindrical structures were used as tombs by pre-Inca cultures from this region and then by the Inca themselves, dating from around the 12th to the 15th centuries. They are now in varying conditions, with some remaining almost perfect and others reduced to piles of rubble. There were other remains to see, including stone circles used by the Inca for sacrifices. The complex is in a beautiful location, on the shores of Lake Umayo where we even saw a couple of flamingoes.

Local ladies sitting outside one of the Inca chullpas

While in Puno we also paid the mandatory visit to the Uros Islands, which are artificial islands built entirely of reeds. Despite taking a ferry rather than taking a tour, the experience was still massively touristy - think floating souvenir shops. However, it was still worth doing to learn how the islands were built and to see what life is like for people living in such an unusual place. The islands are tethered but still move slightly with the wind and with the movement of people walking around; it felt a little like being on a boat.

Uros islands - reed islands in Lake Titicaca, near Puno

We are leaving Puno tomorrow for Arequipa, Peru's second largest city, and renowned for its cuisine.

Leaving Chile for the Salt Flats of Bolivia

After re-arriving in San Pedro de Atacama, we booked a tour to take us into Bolivia, taking in scenery from deserts and lakes to the famous salt flats. We'd spent almost 3 months in Chile, so it was exciting to be moving on to a new, and very different country.

You can just see Jo in the background exploring the Quebrada del Diablo by bike

We had a day to fill in San Pedro, a place that we hadn't particularly enjoyed before. This time, instead of going on any crowded and hectic tours, we hired bikes for a day to explore a bit more independently and visit the nearby Quebrada del Diablo (Devil's Canyon). In appearance, it is very similar to the Valle de la Muerte, with red, Mars-like rocks. The huge draw was that we were almost the only people there to admire the otherworldly landscape.

The border crossing into Bolivia

The first thing we noticed on crossing into Bolivia is the difference in language. Chilenos speak Spanish very quickly with their own unique dialect and it can be very difficult to understand at times. Bolivians, however, speak a lot more slowly and we already feel more confident about our language skills.

The fantastic group for the salt flat tour

Our three day tour of the southern altiplano was fantastic. We had a great group of people in our jeep, with the two of us, our Swiss friends and another English couple. Plus our Bolivian driver, Pedro, who was good fun as well as knowledgeable about everywhere we went. Each day brought new, spectacular scenery and Pedro did a good job of avoiding the other tour groups. We were lucky that we'd spent the last couple of weeks at altitude, as the whole tour took place at over 3000m. Some others weren't so lucky and definitely didn't have a good time.

Us in front of the Laguna Colorada

The first day took in a number of coloured lakes, geysers and mud pools and windswept rock formations, all set in barren but colourful desert. We stayed that night in a hostel next to Laguna Colorada - coloured red from the brine shrimp in it that give flamingoes their distinctive colour. There was no heating in the hostel and the temperature dropped below -10°C, which made for a chilly night.

Strange rock formations in the Valle de las Rocas

On the next day we visited more lakes surrounded by snow-capped mountains, with their shores grazed by vicuñas. There were more impressive rock formations, created by volcanic lava that had been eroded into strange shapes by the wind over the millennia. We finished the day by crossing a small salt flat, then stayed in a hotel constructed from salt on the edge of the Uyuni salt flat - the largest in the world.

Sunrise over the salt flat from Isla Incahuasi

The final day of the tour was spent crossing the Uyuni salt flat. First stop was sunrise at the 'island' Isla Incahuasi, a salt island rising out of the flat. The drive was a strange experience, moving along in the dark with no landmarks - it felt like being in an aeroplane when the headlights were turned off. The lack of any landmarks allowed us to have fun later in the morning taking the classic perspective-altering photos. We finished the day, and the tour, in Uyuni at the train cemetery. I felt this was similar to Humberstone and Santa Laura, with trains that used to carry the mined salt around left to rust in the desert.

Blown away by the salt flats

Now we are in Bolivia, it is time to explore a new country. We're heading off tomorrow north from here towards Potosí, the highest city in the world.

Touring the Atacama Desert

We were in for a shock arriving in San Pedro de Atacama after our 16 hour night bus. For the majority of our time in Chile, we've been in low season. That was still the case in San Pedro, but the only people in the town are tourists and people selling things to tourists. It's in the middle of the Atacama Desert - the highest (San Pedro is 2,400m above sea level) and driest (some weather stations have never received rain) desert in the world. This makes it an uncomfortable place to be. The temperature fluctuates between scorching hot in the sun, to chilly in the shade, to below 0°C at night. Not great when none of the hostels have heating in the rooms. The extreme aridity painfully dries out your nose, throat and skin.

The tourist-heavy main drag in San Pedro

The main attraction is the surrounding scenery - volcanoes, salt flats, lakes, valleys and the night sky. Despite having learnt the lesson that tours are bad many times before, we decided to go with a tour company in order to see as much as possible. Although the tours were good, we're left feeling a bit flat - there's no effort, and therefore less reward, in being taken to see spectacular scenery in a convoy of minibuses with 10-100 other people. That said, the scenery is spectacular.

The valleys of Valle de la Muerte and Valle de la Luna, both near to the town, have completely different characters. Valle de la Muerte consists of red rocks and dusts in strange formations. Because of the colour, it was originally called the Valley of Mars, Valle del Marte in Spanish. This was mistranslated to Valle de la Muerte, or Valley of Death, and the name stuck. Valle de la Luna, Valley of the Moon, similarly appears like the moon. Much of the rock is formed from salt crystals and gives the valley an otherworldly moon-like appearance.

The Valle de la Muerte

The 3 Marias rock formation in the Valle de la Luna

The Tatio geyser field

Another of the big draws around here is the Tatio Geysers, the highest geyser field in the world at 4,320m. This is now Jo's new highest place record. We set off before dawn to be there for sunrise, and to 'enjoy' breakfast at -10°C. The geysers were stunning against a backdrop of even higher mountains in the early morning light. We also visited some nearby hot springs to relax later that afternoon, although stepping out of the warm water into the frigid shade was painful.





Our final tour was to see the Miscanti and Miñiques altiplano lakes at 4,220m above sea level. These were again beautiful set against the 6,000m volcanoes behind them. We continued on to the Atacama salt flat, surrounded by mountains reflected in the shallow pools of water. This made for perfect photographs of flamingoes ignoring the flocks of tourists.

Flamingoes in the Atacama salt plain

Us, the Milky Way, and the Southern Cross

The highlight of our stay was a stargazing trip. The Atacama desert has perfect conditions to view the stars - it is so high and dry that there is little atmospheric interference. As well as being able to see the Milky Way and other galaxies (the Magellanic clouds) with the naked eye, there were several telescopes set up for us. We were taken around various amazing views - Saturn, star forming nebula, binary stars and other galaxies amongst them.






We've met up with a Swiss couple that we'd met in Pucón, and we're now hoping to travel with them for a bit around the remaining parts of northern Chile, starting in Iquique.