3rd March 2015 – Nazca Lines – 2015-03-12 20:45

We are picked up at 6:10 am from our hotel this morning and taken to the airport for our flight over the Nazca Lines. We are in a 6 seater plane with Ken & Sue from red car and the rest of our group are spread over 2 other planes. Shortly after take off we circle over our hotel and we can see our little cars in the car park.ÿ It is a very calm morning so the flight is smooth and visibility is very good. We each have a window seat and a map of the area so we know what is coming up. As we fly over each of the figures, some of them up to 300 meters long, the detail of the lines are surprisingly clear. The pilot dips a wing to point out each of the figures, so identifying them is easy.ÿ He does this twice for each figure once to the right and once to the left so both sides get an excellent view.ÿ We see them all, the whale, monkey, spider, alcatraz, dog etc. however some of the photos are washed out by the light.ÿ The best photos we have are of the astronaut, the hummingbird ÿ Once we fly over the Nazca Lines we then head to the Palpa hills and fly over the Palpa lines and see the Tumi and the Paracas FamilyBack at our Hacienda Hotel we have a late breakfast and then start to try & organise our US visas. Because we have temporary passports that don’t have chips in them we can’t apply for another ESTA visa to enter the US. Michael has been emailing for several days now and hasn’t got anywhere so we try and make phone contact with the US embassy in Lima. We can’t get to speak to anyone but we do get another email address, so Michael sends another email. Meanwhile we start our visa applications which takes hours, given the quality of the Internet connection and the number of questions that need to be answered. The normal waiting period for a visa interview is 21 days, so we are starting to plan around booking into the US Consulate in Panama City, and what we’d need to do when Michael receives a reply from the US embassy in Lima to say they have made an emergency appointment for us on Thursday at 8:00 am, so that’s a good result. We finally complete our visa applications at 5:10pm just in time for a swim and to get ready for our nightly 6:30pm meeting.