Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [108]
MUSEO DIDÁCTICO ANTONINI
On the east side of town, this excellent archaeological museum (52-3444; http://digilander.libero.it/MDAntonini; Av de la Cultura 600; admission S15, cameras S5; 9am-7pm) boasts an aqueduct running through the back garden, as well as interesting reproductions of burial tombs, a valuable collection of ceramic pan flutes and a scale model of the Lines. You can get an overview of both the Nazca culture and a glimpse of most of Nazca’s outlying sites here. Though the exhibit labels are in Spanish, the front desk lends foreign-language translation booklets for you to carry around. To get to the museum follow Bolognesi to the east out of town for 1km, or take a taxi (S2).
PLANETARIUM MARIA REICHE
This small planetarium (52-2293; www.concytec.gob.pe/ipa/inicio_ingles.htm; Nazca Lines Hotel, Bolognesi s/n; admission S20) is in the Nazca Lines Hotel and offers scripted evening lectures on the Lines with graphical displays on a domed projection screen that last approximately 45 minutes. Call ahead or check the posted schedules for show times in Spanish or English (French and Italian by reservation only).
OUTLYING SIGHTS
All of the sights listed below can be visited on tours from Nazca (see opposite), although individual travelers or pairs may have to wait a day or two before the agency finds enough people who are also interested in going.
Chauchilla Cemetery
The most popular excursion from Nazca, this cemetery (admission S5), 30km south of Nazca, will satisfy any urges you have to see ancient bones, skulls and mummies. Dating back to the Ica-Chinca culture around AD 1000, the mummies were, until recently, scattered haphazardly across the desert, left by ransacking tomb-robbers. Now they are seen carefully rearranged inside a dozen or so tombs, though cloth fragments and pottery and bone shards still litter the ground outside the demarcated trail. Organized tours last three hours and cost US$10 to US$35 per person.
Pardeones Ruins & Cantallo Aqueducts
The Pardeones ruins, 2km southeast of town via Arica over the river, are not very well preserved. About 5km further are the underground Cantallo aqueducts (admission S10), which are still in working order and essential in irrigating the surrounding fields. Though once possible to enter the aqueducts through the spiraling ventanas (windows), which local people use to clean the aqueducts each year, entry is now prohibited; instead, you can take note of the Nazca’s exceptional stonework from outside. It’s possible, but not necessarily safe, to walk to the aqueducts; at least, don’t carry any valuables. It’s better to catch a minibus leaving from the first block of Arica (S0.80, 20 minutes), which will leave you at Cantallo, from where it is a 15-minute walk. Alternatively, take a taxi (around S40 round-trip).Tours from Nazca that take 2½ hours cost from US$5 per person and may be combined with a visit to see El Telar, a geoglyph found in the town of Buena Fe, and visits to touristy gold and ceramics workshops.
Cahuachi
A dirt road travels 25km west from Nazca to Cahuachi, the most important known Nazca center, which is still undergoing excavation. It consists of several pyramids, a graveyard and an enigmatic site called Estaquería, which may have been used as a place of mummification. Tours from Nazca take three hours, cost US$15 to US$50 per person, and may include a side trip to Pueblo Viejo, a nearby pre-Nazca residential settlement.
Reserva Nacional Pampas Galeras
This national reserve is a vicuña (threatened wild relatives of alpacas) sanctuary high in the mountains 90km east of Nazca on the road to Cuzco. It is the best place to see these shy animals in Peru, though tourist services are virtually nonexistent.