The considerable ruins of Cahuachi (free) – the most important known center of Nazca culture – are reached via a dirt road bumping 25km west of Nazca. A ceremonial site dating to the first five centuries of the Christian era, it consists of several stepped pyramids, a graveyard and an enigmatic site known as Estaquería, which might have been used as a place of mummification.
Cahuachi was at one time thought to have been the ancient capital of the Nazca people, but it's now believed the site was primarily a place of pilgrimage, where many pre-Inca cultures gathered for rituals. A marked circuit skirts the site's edge; the ruins inside are still undergoing excavation.
Tours from Nazca take four hours, cost about S90 and and may include a side trip to Pueblo Viejo, a nearby pre-Nazca residential settlement, or sandboarding on nearby dunes. Making advance reservations through a tour agency is recommended, as access is complicated.
