The Nasca Lines are a collection of glyphs etched into the plains at Nasca. They are quite large. The best–only–way to see them is from the air. It is for this reason that Erich Von Däniken the well-know author, “scientist” and crackpot, claimed these lines were prepared to guide alien visitors arriving at this planet some several thousand years ago.
The flight lasts between 30-40 minutes. It was in a small six-seater airplane.
The route is well mapped out and for the most part the pilot flew around each glyph twice so they were viewable from both sides of the plane. To see the glyphs the pilot will take sharp turns or roll the plan so the passengers can get a square-on, straight-down view of the sights. (see advice #2 below)
I took all my shots with my 28-90mm equivalent lens (Lumix 14-45 f3.5) That worked well. A little longer might have helped in a few cases however with the bouncing around in the plane getting in tight is hard. I used a polarizing filter; this is a must. Many of the glyphs were hard to see. But with the filter they stood out more clearly. Autofocus is required as well; there is no time manually focus. Most shots were mid aperture settings of 5.6-6.3.
We got two pieces of advice. The first: best flying times are 8:00 to noon. Our flight was 10:00. Earlier might have been better.
The second: don’t have a heavy breakfast. The plane rolls alot. I have flown a lot in my life and I’ll confess to feeling momentarily quizzy during the flight. This is the first time that has ever happened. It’s like swimming: don’t swim for an hour after eating.
After the flight we rested for a couple hours to let our stomacs settle and recharge our batteries.
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