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: Where to spend 16 days before/after Inca trail?

    by IncaKola 30 May 2012

    You could travel down to Cusco with several stops en route like Lunahuaná (adventures sports, wine & pisco bodegas, crayfish tasting,…
  2. chickenstrips avatar
    RE: Travelling overland from Lima to Cusco

    by chickenstrips 28 May 2012

    Thanks for the tips and advice guys, I like the sound of adding time in Lunahuaná or Pisco. I have noticed that I made a mistake in my…
  3. chickenstrips avatar
    Travelling overland from Lima to Cusco

    by chickenstrips 27 May 2012

    Hi all, I will be travelling to Peru in mid June with a mate and for the first leg of our journey we plan to travel overland from Lima…

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