Nazca

Introduction

The Humming Bird

© bruntonal

Nazca town itself is nothing special, its main attraction are the Nazca Lines that lie on the plain just outside of the town.

Sights and Activities

Seeing the Nazca Lines

The Nazca Lines are the main reason to visit Nazca, the local airport is set up mainly for small group flyovers of the lines. The flyovers cost around $45 US per person (November 2007) for a 30-minute, stomach churning flight over the lines. You'll see all the main figures and the pilot will make sure both sides get a good view of each figure. The flights are best in the early morning before the turbulence gets too bad, be warned that it's best not to eat too much before the flight. Flights can be arranged at the airport or with one of the many local tour companies and hotels, in fact you will get mobbed by hawkers the second you get out of the bus station.

There are also several look-out towers that have been built near some of the lines. Although you can only view a few of the lines form the towers the 2 sols entrance is much nicer on the budget compared to the plane tickets. It is also a good option for people that get motion sickness easily.

Other Sights and Activities

• Chauchilla Cemetery is the other main local attraction. This a pre-incan site has been heavily looted it is now protected and has several of the graves dug out with the human remains (complete with hair and skin) displayed in them along with some burial items. The cemetery is a distance out of town, you can get a taxi there, tour companies also offer tours there for about $10 US (November 2007).
• Museum in Nazca town is also nice.

Getting There

By Plane

Domestic flights arrive at the María Reiche Neuman Airport (NZA). There are no scheduled services however.

By Bus

Nazca is well served by the major bus companies (Cruz del Sur, Ormeño) from both Lima (approximately 8 hours, $40 US, 1st class (via Pisco (3 hours) and Ica/Huacachina (2 hours)) and Arequipa (approximately 12 hours). Overnight buses from Arequipa are available and very comfortable, costing around $40 US first class.

Getting Around

By Public Transport

Should you need to travel any distance around the city taxis are easy to find driving around and cheap.

By Foot

The centre of Nazca is small and can easily be walked around.

Eat

There are a few restaurants ranging from cheap pollerias to higher class around the main plaza, some of the hotels also have restaurants.

Sleep

Don't forget you can get overnight buses out of Nazca, these may be a cheaper alternative and once you've seen the lines and cemetery there is little reason to stay in Nazca. You can easily arrive in Nazca on the overnight bus from Arequipa, join an overflight, visit the cemetery and get the afternoon bus to Lima arriving about 8pm and completely avoid staying overnight in Nazca.

Budget

Rancho Park Hostal Turistico is nice and just a little further out of town than some of the others.

Mid-Range

• Hostal Alegria, well kept hotel with swimming pool. They also offer tours.

Upscale

Keep Connected

Internet

More and more hotels, resorts, airports, cafes, and retailers are going Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), becoming "hotspots" that offer free high-speed Wi-Fi access or charge a small fee for usage. In Peru, by far the easiest way to check your e-mail and surf the Web is to drop in at the Internet cabinas (booths) that can be found in virtually every city and even small towns. Connections are usually fast, and the service is as little as S/2 per hour.
Aside from formal cybercafes, most youth hostels and many hotels nowadays have at least one computer with Internet access.

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Peru's country code is +51. Emergency numbers include 105 (Police), 117 (Ambulance) and 116 (Fire).

In all towns and villages that are not too small, it is no problem to find public telephones for national and international calls. Many public phones can be expensive, and an attractive alternative is a Locutorio, or "call-center". Typical rates include .2 Nuevo Sol/minute for calls in the country, and .5 Nuevo Sol/minute for most international calls. Phone cards are cheap and easily available from shops or vendors who hang around pay phones. You'll often see people with a bundle of mobile phones who act as pay phones, they'll be shouting 'llamadas'. Telephone booths are primarily used for making local calls. Calling to other countries from Peru is expensive.

If you have an unlocked cell phone you can buy local SIM cards. Movistar and Claro are two of the phone companies in Peru. You can buy your sim card from these companies and buy a phone card also.

Your best, cheapest bet for making international calls from Peru is to head to any Internet cafe with an international calling option. These cafes have connections to Skype, Net2Phone, or some other VoIP service. International calls made this way can range anywhere from 5¢ to $1 per minute -- much cheaper than making direct international calls or using a phone card. If you have your own Skype or similar account, you just need to find an Internet cafe that provides a computer with a headset.

Post

Check the Serpost website, the national postal service (a private company), for more information about prices and options regarding the sending of postcards, letters and parcels. The post service is relatively efficient and post offices can be found in most cities and (larger) towns. Post offices generally are open from 8:00am to 8:00pm Monday to Saturday and some are open on Sundays from 9:00am to 1:00pm. Postcards are available from street vendors and shops at any touristy area, and stamps are generally available as well, though sometimes only at the post office itself. It takes at least 10 days to send a postcard to North America and prices start at S/5.5. To Europe it is S/7.8 and it takes even a bit longer, around 2 weeks. For little extra money, you can choose 'expresso' services. For large parcels and quantities, you can use both Serpost or companies like DHL, UPS, TNT or FedEx, which are faster and offers the same prices, though it is still relatively expensive.