The Nazca Aqueducts

The Nazca people have built more than 40 underground water canals to carry the water from the Andes to the valley.. Even if it never rains in Nazca water descends underground from the Andean Cordillera towards the sea. The aqueducts are 3 to 6 meters deep. These photos are of the breathing holes that were built down in to the aqueducts. They were used as clean outs. They are very strong and have survived many earthquakes.The Nazca culture (often spelled Nasca) flourished in the Nazca region between 300 BC and 800 AD.

Nazca Lines

On Saturday afternoon, after driving for six hours down the cost and over some of the mountains to get to Nazca, we took a plane ride to see the Nazca Lines. It was difficult to take quality pictures out the window of the airplane. These photos are of the monkey and the hummingbird. The monkey has nine fingers and his tail resembles the design of the aqueducts in Nazca that route the underground water from the Andes to the valley so that they can grow food in this barren desert. This area get very little rain throughout the year. The Nazca Lines are thought to be some sort of agricultural calendar. Some of the straightlines correspond to the summer and winter solstices. There is also one design that is called the astronaut. This has contributed to some theories that the lines are runways for UFO's and their were aliens in the area. I think the agricultural/astronomical calendar is much more likely. The nine fingers of the monkey represent the nine months that there is no rain in the area, as well as the growing season. The area of these designs covers 500 square kilometers. It covers a large desert area between Palpa and Nazca.

Ballestas Islands Sanctuary

These are the Ballestas Islands just off shore from the town of Paracas south of Lima. This island is home to thousands, probably millions of birds, some Humbolt penguins and sea lions. As we pulled toward the islands in the boat they appears to be dripping with white icing. Of course, this isn't icing, it's bird guano (poop)! Over the period of seven years the guano builds up to a height of about 10 meters or roughly 30 feet. Peru brings in 300 men for 3 months to clean the islands and collect the guano which is highly prized as organic fertilizer. Chile actually tried to take the island from Peru because they wanted the guano for themselves. Who knew poop could be so valuable. We had to keep our hats on for the trip because poop was dropping all over the place. One little boy without a hat got it right on top of the head. They are just entering the spring when the sea lions will have their calves. There is a beach called maternity beach (see video) where all the mothers go to have their babies. In December their will be more than 2,000 sea lions on this small beach. It was hard to catch the names of the birds because much of the tour was in Spanish. Their are terns, boobies, gulls, etc. Many of the same birds I saw in Alaska - I think perhaps they migrate but it was difficult to ask. We also saw a starfish called the sun star fish that is only in South America.

Lima Snails

We were walking back to the hostal from dinner one night last week when we looked down and these snails were all over the side walk. A few of them had been smashed by people walking along who didn't see them. Apparently they live in the grass beside the sidewalks and come out on to the sidewalks in the evening. People eat them here too. It is better than guinea pig!