Today we headed out around 7am to go to Nazca and see the famous Nazca lines. We didn't book our tickets far enough in advance to see everything (nor did we go up in a plane), but we walked up a watch tower to see las manos y el árbol.
I bought some rocks with the Nazca line designs and we only stayed long enough to take pictures and hear a short description of the lines. Nobody knows how they appeared; they say that a UFO created them, and even though it's very windy in Nazca, the lines remain. The surrounding landscape was breathtaking: huge cliffs and mountains and randomly dispersed trees.
Afterwards, we drove a short distance to a different part of Nazca to learn how gold is mined. One of the workers gave a demonstration, and it was really interesting. The workers are paid very well but have to work extreme hours in very dangerous conditions, including mixing mercury with the gold. Each worker averages only one gram of gold per day.
We then went to a local pottery where we saw another short demonstration of how ceramics are made. The woman there works only with her hands, no tools, just as the gold miners use tools but no machines. The pottery was beautiful, and it was surprisingly very light and hollow.
We drove to another beautiful area of Nazca and saw the aqueducts where they collect fresh water. The aqueducts are 1500 years old and there are 30-40 of them there.
After, we stopped very briefly to see pre-Incan ruins and the Plaza de Armas, the main plaza in Nazca.
We drove two hours back to Ica for just enough time to grab dinner. I bought another hamburguesa royal at the same place as the karaoke night. Then we had another four hour drive to Lima. We arrived at our hostel at 10pm and headed out around 12 or 12:30 to celebrate Andrew's birthday in a big club. I stayed out til around 2:30 and went straight to bed afterwards.
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