Awesome Old Stuff

I had a doctor's appointment this morning (No, not the Doctor. I wish. though. That would be sooo much better than a trip to the endocrine specialist.) While I was in the waiting room I saw a copy of my absolute favorite magazine -- National Geographic. (In case you didn't know, I kind of want to work as a photojournalist for them someday) In this particular issue was an article about something that is AMAZING but that I had never heard about before: the Nazca (Nasca?) lines in Peru.

Basically they are these...drawings? I don't really know the right word.... Aha! They are geoglyphs (ancient geoglyphs) located in the Nazca desert in Peru. On the ground level they just look like lines of rock and dirt but from the air (like in a helicopter) they form pictures. like a monkey or a hummingbird or a tree. Apparently there are hundreds+ in shapes ranging from a simple spiral to more complex pictures of orcas or llamas -- all with one line, there aren't any breaks.

The really weird thing, though, is the fact (like I mentioned before) that they could only be seen from the air. When they were constructed there were no helicopters or airplanes or even (I'm pretty darn sure) hot air balloons. So why bother?
Some people think it was some kind of offering to their gods, other theories say that they were an attempt to contact aliens. (I also read a theory that they were roads, but seriously? Does taking 10 times as long to make a journey on foot, just so you can say "Oh yeah? Well I walked the monkey. Beat that." seem even remotely realistic? Didn't think so.)
Whatever reason it was, they are still AWESOME and seeing them in person (both from the air and on a ground level) is now officially on my bucket list.

As always, thanks for reading.

PS Here's the link to the online article. Not as descriptive, but still interesting. http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2009/08/visiting-perus-mysterious-nazc.html