Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There & Away
The only way to get to Huacachina from Ica is by taxi (S5 to S7 one-way).
Palpa
056 / POP 7200 / ELEV 300M
From Ica, Carr Panamericana Sur heads southeast through the small oasis of Palpa, fam-
ous for its orange groves. Like Nazca, Palpa is surrounded by perplexing geoglyphs, the
so-called
Palpa Lines
that are serially overshadowed by the more famous, but less abund-
ant, Nazca Lines to the south. The Palpa Lines display a greater profusion of human forms
including the
Familia Real de Paracas
, a group of eight figures on a hillside. Due to
their elevated position, the figures are easier to view from terra firma at a
mirador
8km
south of the town. A small museum hut onsite offers further explanations in English and
Spanish. The best way to see more of these lines is on a combined overflight from Nazca (
Click here
)
.
THE NAZCA LINES: ANCIENT MYSTERIES IN THE
SAND
Spread across an incredible 500 sq km of arid, rock-strewn plain in the Pampa Colorada (Red Plain), the Nazca
Lines remain one of the world's great archaeological mysteries. Consisting of more than 800 straight lines, 300
geometric figures (geoglyphs) and, concentrated in a relatively small area, some 70 spectacular animal and plant
drawings (biomorphs), the Lines are almost imperceptible at ground level. It's only when viewed from above that
they form their striking network of enormous stylized figures and channels, many of which radiate from a central
axis. The figures are mostly etched out in single continuous lines, while the encompassing geoglyphs form perfect
triangles, rectangles or straight lines running for several kilometers across the desert.
The Lines were made by the simple process of removing the dark sun-baked stones from the surface of the
desert and piling them up on either side of the lines, thus exposing the lighter, powdery gypsum-laden soil below.
The most elaborate designs represent animals, including a 180m-long lizard, a monkey with an extravagantly
curled tail, and a condor with a 130m wingspan. There's also a hummingbird, a spider and an intriguing owl-
headed person on a hillside, popularly referred to as an astronaut because of its goldfish-bowl-shaped head,
though some are of the opinion that it's a priest with a mystical owl's head.
Endless questions remain. Who constructed the Lines and why? And how did they know what they were doing
when the Lines can only be properly appreciated from the air? Maria Reiche (1903-98), a German mathematician
