There was never any doubt that we would take a scenic flight to look at those famous Nazca lines and figures, so that was the first item on the days "to do" list. I must admit that they are less impressive than I expected. The photos I have seen in places like National Geographic make them look bigger than they are in real life. Also there are lots of marks made by modern man that cut across the ancient lines and figures. But I am still pleased we took the flight, and the lines and figures are worth seeing. Even if smaller than expected you still can't help but ask yourself - why; why would a group of people make these figures ??
From Nazca the road climbs steeply from 1500 ft to 13,000 in about 80 km abruptly ending our respite from high altitudes. The countryside was generally dry and rocky, lightly inhabited, and spectacular. One of the more interesting items and activities for tourists in the Nazca area is sand boarding on the local sand dunes. The area boast a 2000m (thats 6,500 ft) high sand dune that you can, if adventurous enough, ride down on an old snow board. Imagine a sand dune almost as high as Australia's highest mountain.
Camping
We camped in a patch of ground beside the road (Hwy 26) at about km post 100. During the evening some shepherds and sheep walked past and gave us a look-over, and during the night there was infrequent but steady traffic of trucks and buses. This was not an ideal spot but because of our late start and approaching darkness we did not have much choice.
Generally there are many opportunities for road side camping along hwy 26 but one needs time to wait for a good one to show up; not to be running out of light like we were. We particularly noticed some nice big and somewhat secluded places along the climb going east from Puquio and again going east from Chalhuanca.
