Nazca

We could not miss a chance to see the Nazca Lines from the air.  These huge geoglyphs, made by digging shallow trenches in the desert to remove the red topsoil were created about 1500 years ago.  How these geoglyphs were created is a mystery as some are are over 100m long and can only be properly viewed from the air.  It is however known that the Nazca, a pre-Incan civilisation, made use of complex surveying techniques.

These giant decorations of the desert landscape consist of representations of animals, plants and people ... as well as a large person like being that many think is an alien race that visited earth millennia ago!

Look carefully ... there is a monkey!

The Whale ....

The Alien!

The Hummingbird ...

The Condor ...

The hands of a crazy looking creature ...

The Tree and the Dog ...

Just outside of the town of Nazca lies a huge burial complex which is now in a very degraded condition due to tomb raiders.  As a result of the damage done the remaining mummies and other artifacts have been left to remain in-situ in the windy dusty conditions of the desert.  This does however make for an amazing and disturbing tourist experience!

Santa Cruz Treck, Huaraz

After a taste of high altitude hiking, and a little altitude sickness, Kate decided not to torture herself with any more mountain climbing.  However, as you all know I like a bit of self mutilation.

After putting together a skilled team of mountaineers (I was the only one of the crew that had done any multiple day treks before), Ian, Job, Erik, Stephan and Benjamin set out on a four day high altitude trek without any local assistance - just a photocopied hand-drawn map and a lot of enthusiasm....

After two days of uphill hiking, we still manage to have a smile on our faces while ascending the mountain pass know as Punta Union (4750m altitude).

The scale of the landscape in these mountains is difficult to describe ... with the tall peaks, massive glaciers and huge landslides I was feeling pretty small to say the least!

As we climbed the last few hundred meters to cross the pass the snow started falling an the wind howling ... this picture perfectly sums up the mood ... still wearing a t-shirt though!

The crew at a lookout of Mt Alpamaya.  Maybe I will be back to summit this one day?!?

This landslide was caused by the collapse of a large glacial lake ... the wall of the lake was obliterated and the landslide shifting the landscape for more than 5 kms down the valley.  Would have loved to have seen this happen from a safe distance!

Back in the comforts of Huaraz....