Nazca lines, an unsolved mystery

Along with Machu Picchu, I was always intrigued by the Nazca lines. These were not lines but “drawings” created on ground by Nazca people covering nearly 450 Sq km. The drawings are in the form of lines and geometric shapes, animals, birds and trees. The reason for creating such huge structures with some measuring 370 meters is unknown even today though several theories does exist.

Lines are formed on the ground by shallow trench measuring between 10 and 15 cm in depth. This would have been easily destroyed by rains and other natural causes in any other place. But Nazca receives very little rain and hence the drawings are preserved even after thousands of years.

There are two options to see the Nazca lines. One is a 30 minutes flight where we can see these figures in full. That costs about 80$. The second option is to see from a watching tower which provides a limited view of 3 figures. I decided to see it from the watching tower. It would only provide a glimpse of the figures.

The watch tower was just next to the Pan American highway (that runs from Alaska to the tip of South America). We could see the figures of hand, tree and lizard. When the Pan American highway was built, the lizard’s tail was cut!! It sounds crazy but it has indeed happened.

There is another bigger tower opposite to the existing one. It is fully ready but not opened as various departments are fighting for the share of the ticket price!!

Why did Nazca people built such drawings which could only be seen from the sky or from the top of nearby mountains? How did they verify the figures during those days? I left the place thinking about it. This is something I saw at many places in my South America trip. The European conquest of South America eliminated all the knowledge and information that the locals had and people are now struggling to resolve the mysteries.