Nazca

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Introducing Nazca

As the Panamericana rises through coastal mountains and stretches across the arid flats to Nazca, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this desolate pampa holds little of interest. And indeed this sun-bleached expanse was largely ignored by the outside world until 1939, when North American scientist Paul Kosok flew across the desert and noticed a series of extensive lines and figures etched below, which he initially took to be an elaborate pre-Inca irrigation system. In fact, what he had stumbled across was one of ancient Peru’s most impressive and enigmatic achievements: the world-famous Nazca Lines. Today the small town of Nazca is continually inundated by travelers who show up to marvel and scratch their heads over the purpose of these mysterious lines, which were declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1994.

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Last updated: Mar 2, 2009

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Thorn Tree forum discussion

Recent posts

  1. IncaKola avatar
    RE: Lima to Cusco by Bus

    by IncaKola 14 September 2011

    The trip from Lima to Cusco takes around 21 hours and costs from 30 $ with Expreso Wari/Internacional Palomino (no bus cama), 36 $ with…
  2. jorgemorel avatar
    Re: Lima to Cusco by Bus

    by jorgemorel 13 September 2011

    All buses going from Lima to Cusco go through Ica region. Ica has nice places to visit: Paracas (where you can find a maritime natural…
  3. jobro79 avatar
    RE: chan chan (trujillo) or nazca

    by jobro79 05 September 2011

    hi there - there's lots to see around Lima - if you only have one day I'd stay there. I thought the Nazca lines were the worst part of…

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