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Nazca Lines

By Daniel Lins - 2010-01-22

Nazca Lines

Google Maps Location: -14.716667, -75.133333

I sat in the copilot’s seat, sweating with anticipation in the hot desert air. Finally, the pilot hopped into the capitan’s seat of the single propellor, 6-seater, Cessna airplane and we taxied off down the runway.

I had been looking forward to this all day, and had to climb through all sorts of hoops to get to the airport and climb aboard my first puddle-jumper airplane. I was psyched. We took it up and the pilot let me adjust some controls, to the horror of the six other passengers sitting behind me. But it worked out okay.

We looped and dived over some dunes, and then cut towards the famous NAZCA LINES. The ancients had made these huge lines in the desert, simply by clearing away the top layer of dark soil and rocks to reveal the lighter colored sand beneath. The lines are supposedly made by Pre-Incan civilizations, for religious purposes.

We spun and turned until I was dizzy, and sweating to keep my lunch in. But it was worth it. Seeing the hummingbird and condor, the great isosceles triangles and killer whale shapes was really an other-worldly experience.

The mysterious purpose of the lines is yet unknown, though the most widely accepted theory is that they correspond to lines of power and certain characteristics in the spirit world, such as agility for the hummingbird and wisdom for the serpent. That they are maps and mystical locational devices for the shamans, when they fly over the earth in spirit form. Another belief is that people walked them in meditative processions, pleading with the gods for water, wisdom, and other things. This does make sense, as the lines are just as wide as a cow path, and all continue in an unbroken loop from start to finish.

All this information simply added to the mysticism of the lines as we soared above them. But I must admit that after a short time, I was ready to be on solid ground again, as my body was behaving weirdly – sweating and breathing heavily from the unaccustomed aerial gymnastics.

Once on the ground again, I walked back across the windswept tarmac, my head filled with thoughts of sacred lines and long-lost civilizations, and my body happy to be on its own two feet.