Seeing the Nazca lines ...?

[2serendip]

Has anyone done a flightseeing tour to see the Nazca lines in Peru? Do you have any advice about whether it's worth the time and money? Thanks.

[navgal]

It all depends on your interests. I did not do it with a cruise company. I booked through Tucan Tours as part of a longer land tour. It cost me $50 and we were up about 45 minutes. It is a startling sight - the smooth undulating landscape cut by all these sharp lines. The picture ones are here and there but the "runways" cross the landscape violently everywhere. It seemed almost arrogant.

I learned their shamans used to use cactus for their trances. I thought of Don Juan in the Castanedos books and his "flights", and the why if not the how of the lines came a little clearer. The odd thing is you can be standing next ot one on the ground and you can't really see it.

I wouldn't pay the couple hundred I've seen some tours charge to do it, but I felt my $50 was well spent. If you get motion sick don't do it. The planes are very small and bouncy.

Andrea

[2serendip]

Thanks so much for your response, Andrea. The land tour extension we're contemplating will cost $525 pp for the day! It's also involving a flight from Lima. I thought there must be a less expensive way to see the plateau, but I'm having trouble getting this to work out.

[navgal]

Yikes! $525 - no way! I'd book a flight to Cusco and see Macha Pichu for that, but not Nazca. Anyway, Peru, with the exception of Lima (which is an armpit) is far too rich and wonderful to do as a one day port stop. In fact, while I loved the Islas Belestas (Peru's Gallapagos) the whole coast is not very interesting, you must get high into Inca country and it deserves its own trip.

Whatever you decide, enjoy!

Andrea

[mikkigar]

I have done that trip but not from a cruise ship. We flew into Lima, were picked up, drove around 5 hours, took a flight and then drove 5-6 hours back to a hotel in Lima.

 

It was a very long trip but well worth it. The flight was a little scary. The plane was a tin can with propellers :) that only fit 4 people. We were able to see all the lines and it was pretty spectacular. Not for anyone who suffers with motion sickness.

 

I can't remember exactly what we paid but it was not $525 per person. It was probably more like $225 per person--there were three of us--and that included lunch.

 

Our guide was very knowledgeable.

 

Anyway, hope that information helps.

[Bodger]

I can't comment on the cost as we did it as part of a tour. It was interesting, we flew in a 12 seater Cessna. It was in late morning and I was feeling the heat. Viewing the images from the air was interesting, but it was kind of like being on a roller coaster as the plane tilted one way for one side to see and then quickly tilted to the other side for the rest to see. By the end I was feeling a little queasy. The whole trip was about an hour by air. The landscape was beautiful.

 

If you can manage the Ballestas Islands boat tour that was very worthwhile. It was about two hours long.

 

Aircraft

 

Bodger

[Randy H]

We spent two weeks in Peru a couple of years ago... our last morning we flew from Lima to Ica, then flew over the lines, then back to Lima for our flight home...

 

Ica is a somewhat spartan desert town. Their economy is based on growing produce, particularly asparagus for shipment to the US, as well as grapes for the Peruvian Brandy, Pisco.

 

Our flight south was uneventful. The local airport is small, with thatched roofs and well maintained lawns... and a hanger to maintain the small 4-12 passenger Cessinas used for the flights over the lines... I checked out the maintenance hanger... you could eat off the floor. I felt very comfortable with the abilities of the maintenance and flight crews....

 

Our tour guide arraigned a side trip to the oasis outside town at Huacachina. It is just out of town, surrounded by sand dunes... It feels like a 1920's Italian resort in North Africa... It was special, kind of like a set for a Fellini film. They offer various sand dune rides, but the day we were there all was quiet and deserted.

 

Back to town to the local museum... It was a sad place. Several of their best textiles had been stolen...

 

Back to the airport for our flight over the lines... Our plane had a mechanical, so they offered to take us to visit a "winery" - Bodega El Catado. Just us two gingos, in a local "traditional" pisco bodega... they stomp the grapes with their feet, place the juice in clay jars to ferment, then distill it in a traditional still, a clay pot buried in the soil... a fire underneath. We climbed though the works, into the fire pit (they were distilling pisco) then tasted if fresh from the still... before tasting in the tasting room... Our Spanish was better than their English, but they were warm and welcoming…

 

Back to the airport for our flight... we were in a 8 seat Cessina... the flight is big on banking and diving to see the various animals and figures. They were great but for us not spiritual. The wife got airsick… but she was the only one who did.

Back to the airport, off to a local resort hotel… (a lot like Palm Springs in the 1960’s) for lunch and a chance to swim in the pool, then back to the airport for a flight back to Lima, where we claimed our luggage from our guide service and flew home…