Two Backpacks One Couple

We weren’t done spending time in the desert, but made our way to a new location. Our bus journey was only about 3 hours long, which was something we knew we couldn’t get used to. Most of our busses in Peru after this one would be 10+ hours each. Once we arrived to our new destination of Nazca we checked in to our hotel (where we would enjoy rooftop breakfasts), then headed straight for dinner. We ate at the aptly named Pollería Rico Pollo, where we split the chicken saltado with plantain, a pitcher of passion fruit juice, and a tres leches cake. That meal was insanely good. I didn’t think it was possible for lomo saltado to get any better.

Before our flight, our expectations were lowered drastically by the promotional video they had playing in the lobby. The quality was so bad it made it look like we would be lucky to even see the lines. The video would pause and put an overlay around the lines to indicate where they were, and without that they were invisible. Eventually it was our turn to board our tiny plane with a total of 5 passengers. Take off was a bit bumpy and the entire flight was bumpy, too, I definitely got lots of butterflies from that. The views were immediately spectacular, overlooking Nazca town and the surrounding farms.

The promotional video did not do the Nazca lines justice. We could see them perfectly! The pilot would fly sideways so that people on each side of the plane could see straight down out the window. I can tell you, I was not a fan of the feeling of doing that, or when we switched sides, but it was worth it. It felt like a rollercoaster. We saw so many of the classics and then even more we didn’t know about. The highlights were the whale, trapezoids, astronaut, monkey, dog, condor, spider, hummingbird, parrot, spiral, hummingbird, the hands, and the tree. However, there were several that we could see in addition to those. Some extra ones were more faint, had roads put through them, or were partially washed away from water.

After our flight, we discovered that rather than wait 30 minutes for us our tour van left back to the city with the people from our group that went first. That meant we had to wait an hour for them to come back and get us. Once back at our hotel we had a short amount of time before being picked up for our next tour. Our next tour was to the Chauchilla Cemetery a short drive outside of town. We learned about the traditional burials of the Nazca people, where the dead were put in the fetal position upright, facing east to see the sunrise. The graves had been robbed of most of the pottery and textiles, with what was remaining rearranged by archeologists. The area was very large and there were hundreds of graves there. A dozen or so were re-excavated for the tourists.

In the evening we took advantage of the happy hour at a restaurant down the street. I love pisco sours, so I tried the passion fruit version and loved it. Nick drank a 1 liter pitcher of limeade. It was a perfect way to kill some time before dinner. For dinner we made it back to Pollería Rico Pollo, this time sharing a 1/4 chicken with fries, plantain, and salad. Everything we ate at that place was so unbelievably good and affordable. A great combo for our budget! Every night had a fabulous sunset, but that night was extra amazing in my opinion.

The next day was our night bus departure day. The hotel was kind enough to let us leave our bags in a closet while we explored Nazca town some more. The town was very heavily Nazca lines themed, with bus stops and sidewalks featuring images of the lines. We walked random streets, around the square, and ate some lunch. The rest of the afternoon we spent back at the hotel working on some logistics and reading. For dinner we went back to our favorite spot in town for the chicken saltado yet again. No regrets!