Preserved
Incredible
Chauchilla Cemetery
Chauchilla Cemetery dates from about 9th century AD, is just outside Nazca and contains prehispanic mummified human remains. Unfortunately the cemetery has been extensively plundered by grave robbers who have left human bones and pottery scattered around the area. In 1997, the majority of the bones and plundered pottery were restored to the tombs. While looking around the tombs I had a morbid fascination with the mummies. On one hand I was horrified to think that these people were on display for the world to see, rather than being safely buried underground. On the other hand it was amazing to see how well preserved the bodies were, most sported huge amounts of dreadlocked hair. It felt very creepy photographing the bodies, as the skulls seemed to leer up at me from the ghastly pose in which they have been frozen for thousands of years. I definitely felt a few shivers down my back while visiting this place. Plus don't even get me started on the terrifying skull that reminded me of the cartoon character Megamind.
Leaving the mummies behind, we headed off in a small 12-seater plane to see the Nazca Lines, a series of ancient geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert. There are lots of figures which range in complexity from simple lines to beautiful graphics of a hummingbird, spider and monkey. Scientists have yet to agree on their actual purpose, but whatever the reason, they are simply stunning. Their scale and precision is incredible, and the view you get from the air is breath-taking. Any trip that involves small planes banking left, right and all over the shop gets my seal of approval!
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