We are staying 2 nights in Nazca at the Don Agucho Hostel. We are 2 blocks from the main square. The hotel is super cute, very clean, and has a pool. We thought we were going to have the day free until 3 pm but Martin took us out to breakfast at 10 am. Our hotel’s restaurant is closed this week for renovations. The restaurant has hot water for tea and coffee for us this morning. The place Martin took us serves the typical Peruvian weekend breakfast. Larry was treated to some chicharrones and blood sausage. I had juice.
We took a short walk away from town to the foothills. We wanted to get a better look at the tallest sand dune in Peru- Cerro Blanco. It’s 2078 meters above sea level (6,817.59 feet) and the 2nd tallest in the world. The 9th is Star Dune in Colorado at the Great sand dunes. We visited there on 7/2020.
We received a tour of Martin’s purified water business. We even delivered some water to some of his clients. Water is a good business around here.
We walked around the square and noticed they didn’t have a gazebo. I think that’s more typical of Mexican plazas. I did notice a bunch of similarities. They have fountains in Peru. There were benches and most were filled. We saw tiles with the Nazca lines figures on the main pathway.
Martin’s friend, Vito Flores arrived at 3 pm to take us to a Nazca village 45 minutes away. We saw some large pyramids but many are still under the earth. They don’t have funding to unearth the ruins currently. They have had many grave robbers take away the mummies, treasures, and clay pots. Our guide had worked 30 years ago to unearth the site while going to the university. They mapped and measured them and covered them back up. The drive was down a long bumpy dry riverbed. The pyramids were for the kings and priests while the common folk lived and worked near the riverbed.
While we were gone a few short hours, Martin was asked to sing on Nazca Live TV. We were to meet him at the main church on the square at 8 pm. Nazca was having a month-long celebration for the Virgin de Guadalupe. We went to eat first at the La Encantada restaurant.
After dinner, we walked back to the church, and it was after 8 pm. It looked like they were packing things up. We didn’t see Martin, so we walked back to our hotel. We didn’t have the internet and my phone didn’t work. We tried to find it on TV but failed. Martin sent it to us later. The tour guide, major candidate, and singer!
Nazca, Peru Sunday, September 5
I woke up at 7am. I did some stretching. I noticed we had no power or internet. Larry and I walked to find coffee and Wi-Fi. That’s how we communicate with Martin. We wanted to make sure Martin was coming at 9:30am. Sometimes plans change at the last minute.
We were picked up at 9:30 for a 10am flight in a Cessna 207. Martin knows the pilot Bruno. He’s 24 years old. It was an 8-seat plane with a pilot and first officer. The flight was only 30 minutes, but we got to see many of the Nazca animals, figures, and aqueducts from the air. I was happy with some of our pictures, but the experience was amazing. Martin’s wife Veronica was with him this day. After the flight, we had lots of breakfast snacks at the airport.
We continued our day tour of Nazca by visiting some ruins (Los Paradones) close to our hotel. It was an old Nazca village until the Incas built over it. The ruins are still covered in soil, but much is uncovered.
Next we drove to another Nazca line that points to where the water is. Mirador de geoglifos de santo Cristo. The Aqueducts were built by the Nazca people 200 BC. They were used by the Incas and now by the people of Nazca. We found a piece of pottery that Martin says is 1500 years old.
We then went to the Aqueducts (Cantalloc) to see how they work. We walked all the way down to the end of the 40 aqueducts. Veronica, Martin’s wife, scraped some white powdery stuff from the cactus that lined our path. They told us this power was actually small animals and when rubbed into a paste turned blood red. It is a natural cloth dye and very expensive. Super interesting!
We came back to the hotel around 2:30pm. I swam in the cold pool and tanned. The power, water and internet were all back on. Martin and Veronica were coming back at 5pm to take us to a sacred area close by to do a spiritual energy ritual. We enjoyed our time relaxing at the pool.
Martin was late coming to pick us up. As we waited, I noticed him down the street pushing his car. We walked down to help. His car had died, and he couldn’t get it started again. They lifted the hood to check the battery cables. The cables were loose. After several minutes of tightening and trying to start the car, it finally worked! They borrowed some players from a shop owner to tighten it up good before we left. We drove to the other side of the valley down a rocky dirt road…..and it kept getting worse. We ended up at a dead end. They were still repairing this road. Martin said that we would try again another day and take a different road. We drove back into town, and he dropped us in town so we could grab dinner. He suggested a restaurant called Gula. The menu had a lot of pasta and pizza. Larry got the lasagna, and I had a nice green salad and veggie soup. Mine was good and not too filling.
We had a good walk back to our hotel. We passed the square with many people enjoying the warm evening. Much like the Mexican culture, the People of Peru come out at night. All the stores, shops, restaurants, and vendors were open for business. Back at the hotel, we looked at our pictures from the past few days. We have seen a lot in the short time we have been in Peru.
