Early this morning the
M.S. Caledonian Star arrived at Puerto San Juan, our first port of call in Peru. After customs and immigration cleared the vessel from Chile into Peru, we took a short Zodiac ride to a fishing pier full of Peruvian pelicans and Guanay cormorants. From there, we boarded nice, spacious and cozy air-conditioned coaches for a drive inland to the broad Nazca Plain. Once there, we set up operations at the Nazca Hostel situated across from the small airport and complete with a swimming pool, souvenir shops and cold drinks. In small groups of 3-5, we then climbed into small Aero Condor single engine Cessna aircraft and took a 45-minute flight to see the famous Nazca Lines. This area is a desert zone, crossed by narrow rivers with periodic water flowing only once every hundred years or so, and it is here where the hundreds of animal figures, triangles and other symbols are found, many of them hundreds of feet long. We had excellent views of the amazing creations, including the whale, astronaut, hands, dog, monkey, condor, hummingbird (shown here), spider, tree, parrot and alcatraz. These mysterious lines were made during the Nazca civilization that existed between about 100 B.C. and 700 A.D.
After our stunning flights, we then switched sites to the very upscale Hotel Nazca Lines where there was another beautiful swimming pool and a fabulous lunch buffet served poolside. Following lunch, we then drove through the incredibly dry and hot desert environment (all in the comfort of our cool coaches) to the larger river town of Ica where we visited some huge sand dunes and the new Regional Archeological Museum. This famous museum contains outstanding collections of ceramics, textiles, artifacts and mummies. The bizarre yet fascinating examples of skull deformities and cranial surgery were hard to believe! Another short bus ride complete with a fiery orange and red sunset and we arrived at the small picturesque fishing town of Paracas where the ship's Zodiacs were waiting to take us back home to the Caledonian Star for another wonderful dinner.
