Nasca
Originally uploaded by Timboc H
We’ve moved on again. 16 hours in a bus. 16 long sweaty overnight hours. We got about 4 hours sleep each. We arrived in the desert town of Nasca at about 0930 in the morning. Nasca has two very good things going for it. It is very famous for the Nasca lines and it has a bus which leaves for somewhere else every half an hour. Other than that nothing much. The heat difference in fours a couple of thousand metres is amazing. We left a spring like English day in Cusco and arrived in a Mediterranean desert town. It is hot.
The only way to see the lines is by plane. $50 each for 35 minutes (each). As we sat in the mini airport with Cessna’s leaving every 5 minutes or so we watched a quick documentary on the lines. They are over 1000 years old. They are produced by removing igneous rocks from a barren landscape. The rock, being igneous retain moisture overnight which increases cohesion and thus long term movement. In addition heat given out during the day produces a mini wind shield which again slows erosion. Tyre tracks in the desert made in 1920 are still visible from the air! There are hundreds of figures made in the desert. I first came across them watching Arthur C Clark’s Mysterious World. What Arthur didn’t say was that a team of 6 or so could produce a geolith in about 48 hours. A communication with the Gods? Space aliens? Just a bit of a laugh with the lads? From my surveying days I know how satisfying setting things out can be. Once a civilization has enough time on it’s hands it can get up to all sorts of fanciful stuff. Who knows?
Originally uploaded by Timboc H
We’ve moved on again. 16 hours in a bus. 16 long sweaty overnight hours. We got about 4 hours sleep each. We arrived in the desert town of Nasca at about 0930 in the morning. Nasca has two very good things going for it. It is very famous for the Nasca lines and it has a bus which leaves for somewhere else every half an hour. Other than that nothing much. The heat difference in fours a couple of thousand metres is amazing. We left a spring like English day in Cusco and arrived in a Mediterranean desert town. It is hot.
The only way to see the lines is by plane. $50 each for 35 minutes (each). As we sat in the mini airport with Cessna’s leaving every 5 minutes or so we watched a quick documentary on the lines. They are over 1000 years old. They are produced by removing igneous rocks from a barren landscape. The rock, being igneous retain moisture overnight which increases cohesion and thus long term movement. In addition heat given out during the day produces a mini wind shield which again slows erosion. Tyre tracks in the desert made in 1920 are still visible from the air! There are hundreds of figures made in the desert. I first came across them watching Arthur C Clark’s Mysterious World. What Arthur didn’t say was that a team of 6 or so could produce a geolith in about 48 hours. A communication with the Gods? Space aliens? Just a bit of a laugh with the lads? From my surveying days I know how satisfying setting things out can be. Once a civilization has enough time on it’s hands it can get up to all sorts of fanciful stuff. Who knows?
