Machu Picchu and the Nazca Lines are the two main tourist destinations. The Nazca Lines are large drawings made in the desert by removing he soil, exposing the white chalk underneath. They can really be appreciated by viewing them from the air, looking down.

But here lies the cautionary tale. When you are sitting in a small plane and looking out, you see the horizon. In order for you to see the Nazca drawings, the plane has to tilt to the right. Your body is then parallel to the ground. You are then able to look out the window straight down as the plane flies over.

However, the people on the left side now have a turn so the plane tilts left. On the tour we had 10 drawings to view. The plane was tilting right, then left, right, then left. This can lead to motion sickness and you grabbing the barf bag in front of you.

Our bus took us from the hotel to Pisco International Airport. I took less pictures of the drawings because I wanted to see each one. After the plane ride we headed into the tourist town of Paracas for lunch and some sight seeing. I had planned to take a kayak out when we got back to the hotel but there were none available. Being the weekend, lots of people vacationing at the hotel

Breakfast was buffet style with the usual amount of a variety of fruits. Being an early riser I was the only one in the room. Dining room for breakfast. It’s advised to eat lightly. People can get air sickness on the plane because of the tilting it does from left to right, then right to left. I had a plate of fruit, nothing heavy.

After breakfast, I took a morning walk along the beach.

Tomorrow we take a boat to the Paracas National Reserve. A sign at the hotel describes the various birds that call it home.

Lounging by the pool, waiting for my group. This little one dropped by to see if I had any breakfast for her.

The airport is designated International. It was a military airfield but converted to commercial in the 70s. The towns of Pisco and Paracas began to prosper from this. There is only 1 flight per week. The rest of the time it is used by the local outfits for flying the Nazca lines.

Had to pass through security with my passport, removing all metal. Didn’t have to empty my water bottle, though. There were 3 different groups leaving at the same time.

I had seat 02. They weigh everyone first and then assign seats to distribute the weight evenly. Nick was beside me and we are both big guys. I guess we were providing the front ballast.

The plane seats 12 – which was the exact size of our group. When the group is larger, they have to go at different times.

Our tour guide Natalia got up front before the plane took off the take a group selfie. She had reminded everyone to have a light breakfast. She asked each of us how we were feeling. However, later, it was she who felt the motion sickness from the plane.

An aerial shot of the condominium coastline.

This is the astronaut – although I call him the alien. I just took a couple of pictures on my phone. The images were not that distinct because of the height I was at. This is one a got from the Internet. It has been enhanced to show the features.

I took this one. The Spiral – the cars and trucks give perspective. There was an area with a tower at one of the sites. People were parked, climbed the tower to view the drawing.

After landing, we headed to Paracas for lunch. It was a mining town at one point. The government kicked out the mining companies and went with fishing and tourism. You can still see “No Mining” signs along the boardwalk. This was a view from our restaurant.

The boardwalk is one long offering of local restaurants. They stand out in the road and try to draw you in. We stopped at this little one for drinks before heading to our restaurant. I’m holding a bottle of coca leaves.

A bottle of coca leaves preserved in pisco. No, I didn’t order this. Our tour guide brought it out to show us. I think he thought I was going to take it with me.

They offered about 10 different variations of pisco sours. I choose the blue one. The golden berry is a South American fruit.

Our restaurant was a Chinese-Peruvian fusion. I got the seafood on rice. Rather bland. As I mentioned, I filled out our order form the day before. The form only has the item listed. It does describe or show a picture but it sounded good.

Back at the hotel, Natalia, our tour manger, presented me with an “I survived the Nazca Line flight without puking” certificate.