Getting There
Getting to Nazca from Cusco is pretty straightforward. In the morning I hopped down to the bus terminal in Cusco (“el terminal”) and walked around to every bus company until I found one which seemed like the best quality/price ratio for me and was off that very evening. The bus left at 6:00pm and arrived just shy of 8:00am the following morning. I got the bus-cama (sleeper bus) and was out, fast. The bus did pick a few people up along the way until it was full, but that was no issue.
The Hotel
I stayed at a place called Nazca Trails Hostel. The guy who runs it, Juan, is super friendly and speaks lots of languages. He met me at the bus drop-off and brought me to the hostel where I met the rest of his family. It was nice enough, and close to the center of town (not too hard considering how small Nazca is), and the internet was good. I’d go back…
The Planetarium Show
The Nazca Lines Hotel offers visitors a planetarium show each night in a number of different languages. The planetarium is named after Maria Reiche. She was a German scientist (later a Peruvian citizen) who dedicated most of her life to the Nazca Lines and lived her last years for free at the hotel! I must admit that the show was much more interesting and informative than I would have imagined and merged Nazca Line theory with the stars. In the end, the big message that I got out of this was the importance of water to the Nazca people, ancient and current. According to the planetarium presenter, most people in Nazca only have access to water for one hour a day! Odd that the hotel hosting the planetarium would have not one, but two swimming pools!!!
Gym – Deadlift Personal Record
I was pleasantly surprised to find two gyms in Nazca. One of them was quite nice and spacious, and it was there that after 5-6 months of training I finally broke 300lbs on the deadlift! I was able to hit 140kgs, or 308lbs for one glorious, good-form, raw rep. Next goal… 150kgs, or 330lbs!
The Plaza… and a Noah’s Arc of Gummy Bears
While the town itself is not overly amazing, the plaza is nice and there are some nice restaurants with yummy food. For me, the greatest find while meandering the streets were street venders selling slim bags of gummy bears, two-by-two in matching color… Noah’s Arc style… for S/. 1.00 a bag. Gummy bears are one of my only weaknesses in life, and seeing this was a welcomed vice.
Overall Impressions
There is quite a lot to do and see in Nazca. Aside from the obligatory Nazca Line flight there are pyramids, aqueducts, ruins, museums, dunes and adventure activities abound. I could have easily spent another day or two there, but sadly time for me was as precious resource and I needed to make tracks to the next stop… Paracas, Peru.
