Geoglyphomania!

Geoglyphs in the Azapa valley, near Arica, made by grouping stones together on a hillside

July 1st. New month, new country, new food, new culture. And a new spanish accent to deal with (grrrr). The last week or so (four days in Iquique, Chile, two day in Arica, Chile, and then two days in Nasca, Peru) has been focused around ancient art forms - not intentionally really, it just happens that there are lot in this area. Indeed, you could call it Geoglyphomania!

So what´s a geoglyph? Well, you´ve probably seen one, and not known the name for it. Imagine a sandy hillside covered in rocks - if you remove a rock or two, the yellow sand underneath will be visible. Remove sufficient rocks, and you can make a pattern, or draw a shape. Alternatively, you can clear a large area of rocks, and then group them all together in one place, and you have another way to form a shape. A third way, and the most common in the west, is to simply spell something out on a dark hillside with a series of light coloured rocks. All these are forms of Geoglyphs. From up close, they don´t look like much more than a pile of rock, but stand several hundred metres back, and you have yourself a llama, or an eagle, or a message to the gods.

It seems that this form of art was very popular amongst the early peoples of this region. Why, no one knows. Around both Iquique and Arica, there are numerous hillsides covered in large and beautiful geoglyphs, and we visited many of them over the last week. In some places, such as Pintados near Iquique, the entire hillside is covered in hundreds of shapes, ranging from Llamas to arrows to people to Andean crosses, and everything in between. In other places, such as Cerro Unita, there is a single single 100m high depiction of Viracocha, the sun god of Tiahuanaco. Further north near Arica, we saw depictions of vast Llama trains, complete with shepards, covering four hillsides, echoing the trade routes that passed through that area. All of these were very unique, and unlike anything we had seen before - we both enjoyed pottering around in the desert, trying our luck with the somewhat unreliable and infrequent public transport, and looking at these ancient art works.

But the mother of all geoglyphs is to be found further north, at Nasca, Peru. Here, instead of hundreds of metres in size, some of the geoglyphs are measured in kilometres. And the only way to see them is from the air. I remember reading about these as a kid, and I have always wanted to go there ever since. In all of Peru, it was the one thing that we HAD to do. And we were both very glad we did - massive, beautiful designs spread out on the desert floor far below: spiders, parrots, lizards, vast trapezoids and triangles, a killer whale, a tree, a monkey, a condor, a man who kind of looks like an astronaut, and my favourite, a beautiful 200m long hummingbird. How and why these lines exist is really not known - during our time there, we were exposed to several different theories, from UFO landing sites, to astronomical calendars, to pleas to the gods for more water. But without a doubt, flying over these dramatic forms was both a highlight and a childhood dream fulfilled in one experience.

Random story of the day: For some reason, second hand clothes are very cheap in Arica, Chile - indeed, you can sell them for a much higher price across the border in Peru. Thus, all the local women have taken to smuggling clothes across the border - there are of course, restrictions on what they can bring in - one bag and what you´re wearing. And so on the bus, on the way to the border crossing, all these little aymaran women literally doubled in size as they put on all the clothes that they had brought that they couldn´t quite stuff into their bulging bags - typically about two jackets, ten sweaters, half a dozen pairs of trousers and shirts tied around their waists. Dorthe and I were utterly flumoxed trying to figure out what was going on. But somehow these little "Michelin-men" managed to get down the bus aisle, and across the border without too much attention from the customs officals - although the one lady that tried to hide in the back of the bus was chased down the aisle and out of the bus by officers. It was certaintly one of the more interesting and amusing border crossings that we have had!