Nazca lines...

Yesterday we caught a bus at 2pm from Lima to Nazca which took 7 1/2 hours - the bus was amazing, it was a double decker and we were sat in the VIP bit downstairs which was brilliant. The seats were fully reclining and leather, complete with a blanket and pillow and films. When we got on the bus Sam started doing his science, 'This is amazing' he said, 'this is the best schooling ever.'

We arrived in Nazca at 9:30 and were picked up by the woman from the hotel - she showed us to our room which is a big chalet type building with three beds and a huge bathroom with a BATH. The hotel is new only three months old and a beautiful building run by a mother and daughter from Nazca. Once again we have a beautiful view of the mountains, the desert and there is a huge pool complete with waterfall. After an amazing nights sleep we had a breakfast of bread, ham, cheese, orange juice, scrambled eggs, coffee and cake (all included in the price). Then we tried to decide what to see first. Many planes are not flying over Nazca at the moment due to safety issues and we asked Cecelia who owns the hotel what she would reccomend - we heard there was a viewing platform and she said that she was happy to drive us to the platform. We jumped into her car and she drove us there. We had to walk up three flights of stairs and from here we could see the hand and the tree lines... it was quite a spectacular site. From here Cecelia drove us to a museum which showed us more of the Nazcan history and Sam was most excited to see the mummies!! Much of the finding in Peru are really well preserved due to the arid climate and you can see the colours in the ceramics really clearly. There is still a lot of archaeology in Peru still to be discovered and they have only recently found more lines near Nazca. They do have a problem with grave robbers though who get drunk so that they are not afraid of the spirits and then wait until a full moon, when the spirits are supposed to be more patient. They then take metal rods and poke them into the dirt to find buried ceramics, you can tell which pots have been found this way as they have little holes in them from the metal rods... The grave robbers mean that the archaeologists are not getting a complete picture as the graves are now incomplete.

After we saw the museum we booked a tour for the morning to go to San Fernando where we can see penguins, seals and Condors and then we go sandboarding in the dunes! The other brilliant thing was that they have an eagle here and Sam got to hold it on his hand and stroke it's back, it had amazing eyes and loved it when Sam spoke to it - Sam wasn't afraid at all!!

Sam and Will are now in the hotel pool and I am about to sit out in the sunshine - the desert is fun. I have uploaded another Machu Picchu photo, Nazca photos to follow.