Agrandir
“The hummingbird.”
Agrandir
“The Astronaut.”
Agrandir
“The Astronaut.”

Unfathomable and enthralling, the lines over the Nazca desert —declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO— remain a “secret message” written by former civilizations

According to the theory of the person who delved into them like no other, the late mathematician Maria Reiche, the Nazca lines form the “world’s largest astronomical calendar” with a series of cryptic messages that make up a colossal outdoor temple. They were made some 2,000 years ago over the deserted plains in such large scale that they can only be made out neatly from the air. But if indigenous people had no flying devices, how in the world could they draw those lines? Indiana Jones looks for El Dorado in the latest movie of the saga, however the key to unravel the mystery is in the Nazca lines. He goes there to figure out the puzzle and he says, “Only the gods can read them because only the gods live there.” Come with us to kick off this adventure into the mystery of the Nazca lines and figures. We’re lifting off. Flying over the Lines A small plane awaits in a private airfield of ICA (www.aerocondor.com.pe) because even though Nazca also offers airborne tours, the advantage of Ica lies in its location right on the edge of the desert, so we can paint a better picture of the surroundings during the 20-minute flight to the spot where the famous hieroglyphics are, in a area that UNESCO declared World Heritage Site back in 1994. The air ride allows us to take a look at one of the world’s aridest deserts, though today’s high-tech breakthroughs have put a few green patches on it. They are fields of onion, a crop that grows thanks to the possibility of pumping water out of the subsoil. And in this sandy soil, onions blossom as round as balls. We fly over past a mountain range in the desert when a huge dry, yellowish plain shows up. The pilot points down to the first lines, then to the geometrical shapes, like triangles and trapezes, and finally to the figures. “I’m going to fly over them, drawing the shape of an ‘8’ in the air so you could see both sides of the drawings,” the pilot says. He keeps pointing. First the Hummingbird as he swoops over it like a World War II fighter pilot. Now the Spider, and then the Whale, and the Monkey. A total of 32 animals and 227 geometrical figures —only the main ones are shown to tourists— can emerge before the eyes of the flying traveler who starts feeling as if he were Indiana Jones while the small plane keeps circling the figures. The difference, though, is that Indiana never gets airsick and I do. However, there are larger aircraft that fly more smoothly over the rugged terrain. All figures are carved in furrows over the deserted plains whose surface is carpeted by a variety of dark-red rocks —caused by oxidation— and others of light yellow hues. Nazca Indians simply removed the rocks based on a small-scale model. The width of the furrow sways between half a yard and a full yard, with a foot deep each and a length of up to 328 yards. However, the lines can stretch out for miles. Leaning on a mountainside stands the only anthropomorphic figure we can find there: the Astronaut, a helmet-wearing humanoid. Thus, the mystery that abounds in this place, coupled with the geometrical figures that resemble airfields and now an astronaut in the middle of nowhere, send quite a number of minds reeling about a message from above for someone down on the earth, or vice versa. Divine mysteries from lost civilizations that probably welcomed visitors from outer space. Zodiac Signs? How the drawings were made is more or less unraveled because archeological diggings in the surroundings have come up with stakes, cords and figure sketches. The amazing thing about them, though, is that scholars have unearthed no evidence of any construction whatsoever, what means that thousands of tons of pebbles and sand were removed during God knows how many years. There are theories for all conspiracy buffs and it’s really hard to imagine why. Some people talk about totems; others speak of an astronomical observatory, a plea for water and even some parallelism with the world-known zodiac signs. Thus, during the explanation prior to the visit, the guide doles out sheets of paper in which the Hummingbird matches Sagittarius, the Hands go with Taurus and the Tree with Gemini. We continue checking out the “scribbled surface” from the air until our eyesight wanes. And the question comes up in everybody’s mind: how have these figures been preserved out in the open for thousands of years? The answer is that due to the dark color of the surface and the amount of heat it absorbs, a sort of hot air cushion protects the hieroglyphics from wind erosion, thus killing the effects of air currents. In addition, the soil contains gypsum that when combined with the morning dew it glues the rocks to the land. A hidden message from the stars that could unfold profound secrets about the universe? A simple case of human intelligence applied to the geometry of the unexpected? We could wield any version we see fit because the Nazca lines are the keepers of mystery. Truth is there’s nothing like it anywhere on the face of the earth. Now that the small plane has finally touched down, what about sipping a delicious pisco sour*? I’ve always thought of the pillar of happiness.