Nazca, Peru – July 18th, 2017

Although the original plan was to stay in Nazca for a night to take the flight tour to see the Nazca Lines the next morning, when we got on the bus, we were informed that there had been a major earthquake the night before and the road to Arequipa was closed for the foreseeable future. Therefore, we had 2 options: 1) stay in Nazca and hope the road opens in time for us to make it to Lake Titicaca for Matt’s flight in a few days or 2) drive all the way to Cusco (about 15 hours) and take an overnight bus the next night to Arequipa (about 9 hours) – essentially tacking on an extra 13 hours of bus time. Not seeing another alternative, we decided to take the long-cut to Cusco. Although this undoubtedly sucked, at least we weren’t the tourists on the bus that left the day before – they were stranded between landslides and were stuck on the bus until rescuers could clear the road.

Before getting underway on the overnight journey to Cusco, we stopped at a viewing platform to see a few of the Nazca Lines. The Nazca Lines are a series of massive ancient geoglyphs thought to have been created sometime between 500 BC and 500 AD. The designs, which are simply shallow lines made in the ground, mostly represent animals and human figures. From the viewing platform we were able to see the lizard (which was cut in half by the road, thanks humanity), the hands, and the tree. Thanks to the isolation and dry, windless climate of the plateau, the geoglyphs have remained mostly intact for our viewing pleasure (would have been better from an airplane, but still glad we got to see them).

Views on the way to, and at, the Nazca Lines.

The Nazca Lines!

So, I’ve got to be honest, the trip to Cusco was, without a doubt the worst bus ride of the entire trip – if you have been reading our blog since the beginning, you know we have had some epically terrible bus rides. Around the time we stopped at the Nazca Lines my stomach started grumbling and producing massive amounts of gas and other non-solid products (sorry for the overshare). The cramping was absolutely unbearable. After spending over half the time at the Nazca Lines in the porta-potty and ¾ of the time at “dinner” in the bathroom, it was clear that the next 13 hours were not going to be fun. Indeed, they were not. At about midnight I forced Andy to go make the bus pullover, where I was sick on the side of the road, then around 2am, Andy had to go ask the driver if he could drop us off at the next hospital. Since we were in the middle of nowhere and the health care was considered sub-par (even by the locals), they refused to let us off the bus and instead compromised by saying that I alone could use the bus toilet for solid waste – well it wasn’t solid so that wasn’t a problem… After overdosing on Dramamine, I eventually fell into a drug-induced stupor and when I woke my stomach felt bearable, even non-emergent. Unfortunately, I also woke to Andy hunched over in pain – I guess we were playing tag because now he was “it.”