The Nazca lines are harder to see than I had anticipated. The desert is awash with lines: some are actual Nazca lines and some lines just made by cars, which adds confusion to what you are trying to see.
To assist with this, the pilot of the plane spent much of the flight gesticulating wildly at the desert whilst shouting in Spanish for me to understand what we were seeing. I saw all of the main lines listed on my sheet but was too slow on the uptake to take photos of every one. I also felt slightly sick- the plane was a tiny 4 seater and the pilot (bless him) really wanted me to see the lines, so kept flying round and round and round in a circular motion until I said, ´Si, si, aqui´ and nodded to make him fly straight!
My favourite design was the monkey, although my photo is quite faint. I also liked the spider, which was easier to see. The video I watched before the flight did not really explain why the lines are there although some theories suggest alignment with the stars, alignment to sources of water or just images of the animals in the surrounding area (although where the monkey fits in I don´t know, as the nearest monkeys are the other side of the Andes!). Whatever the lines are for, I can confirm that they are very mysterious and impressive indeed!
Seeing as this will be my last South American blog entry, here is the continent in numbers:
Decent chocolate bars eaten: 0
Bears: 1
Guinea pigs eaten: 1
Attempted muggings: 2
Overnight buses: 2
Countries visited: 2
Flights: 3
Favourite day: First seeing Machu Picchu over the sun gate, or dancing at Gran Poder carnival
Favourite meal: Grilled trout with papas fritas on Taquille Island
