The Overlooked Wonders of Nazca, Peru

Nazca invariably attracts crowds of tourists. After flying over the Nazca Lines, however, what else is there to do in this tiny desert city? If you’re planning on visiting some of the area’s archeological sites, the Antonini Archeological Museum on Avenida de la Cultura can help you get more out of these visits. There, you can admire the famed pottery of the Nazca civilization, the intricate textiles of the Paracas civilization before them, and burial tomb reproductions. The garden boasts a scale model of the Nazca Lines and working aqueduct. If you don’t understand Spanish, ask for a translated booklet at the front desk.

Just 20 minutes from downtown Nazca, you’ll find the 2000 year old city of Cahuachi (Home of the Clairvoyants), a sacred pilgrimage site and the ceremonial center of the Nazca civilization (although the city itself predated the Nazca). Although still being excavated, it is the world’s largest adobe city, where you can visit the Great Pyramid, Necropolis, Staggered Temple, and terraces. You can also visit the Cahuachi Pyramids by sand buggy as part of a daytrip which also stops near Huacachina Oasis for sandboarding.

If sandboarding interests you but the archeological site does not, you can opt for a visit to Cerro Blanco (White Hill). It’s the world’s highest permanent sand dune, exceeding the size of many mountains: 2078m above sea level and 1176m from base to summit. The name is a translation of Yuraq Orjo, as the site was originally known in pre-Columbian times, when it was considered a deity to whom offerings were rendered. Sandboarding excursions leave Nazca each day at around 4am to avoid the intense heat. After a sand buggy or jeep trip 14km east of the city, and a three hour climb, you can practice on some of the small dunes surrounding the peak before taking the big leap.

 

The same civilization which etched the Nazca Lines into the desert floor also created an entirely unique network of underground aqueducts which, a thousand years later, are still in use channeling water into fertile valleys. Over 30 of the best of these aqueducts can be found at Cantayoc.

 

The mummies of Chauchillas provide priceless insight into the Nazca Culture. A combination of the arid environment and a special resin has left these mummies so well-preserved that after a thousand years many still have soft tissue (hair and skin). In addition, you’ll find trophy heads, headless bodies with ‘head jars’ (ceramic vessels with painted faces) and skulls with signs of brain surgery and deformation.