The tracks of my tears

I'm currently in Nazca, home of the famous lines. Petroglyphs created on a high desert plateau called the pampa by a pre-incan civilisation. Many theories have been put forward to explain them, from god worship through astromical calendar to extra-terrestial landing pads. Whatever the reason for their existence they are fascinating and remarkable especially when viewed from the co-pilot seat of a four seater airplane. Which is what I did this morning. I even managed to get some photos (not that I've been able to upload them, but that's a different matter).

It is a very different experience being in a small plane and one I'm not sure I want to repeat. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't more bumpy than some of the commercial flights I've been on and there was plenty of legroom. It was just so immediate. There was you, a thin metal partition and, a long way down, the earth. The fact that we were banking left and right in order to get good views of the petroglyphs probably didn't help. None of us were sick but I was glad I hadn't had any breakfast. Tonight I hope to see it all again but from the comfort of a seat in the local Planetarium.

In the meantime Nazca, the city which see about as much rainfall as Cairo has been flooded. Not only was there a huge rainstorm last night (I slept through it) but one of the local rivers (the clean one) burst it's banks due to excess water coming down from the mountain. Nazca town is more like Venice at the moment (except with sandbags). The locals are moving around without shoes and the coach companies are unable to sell tickets as their computer isn't working!

Me, I'm sticking to the safe routes and staying indoors.