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After my flight over Nasca I spent a few days in Huacachina - a small pueblo (2 hours north of Nasca) formed upon a natural desert oasis and lake?and surrounded by massive sand dunes on all sides (>300 ft. tall). The picture setting of a medium size lake (maybe 250 feet long), ringed by massive palms and tropical brush, all surrounded by giant waves of dunes quickly brings to mind a scene from 1001 Arabian Nights.

The lake is said to have healing or powerful properties, but the water looked a bit murky and I felt the sewage system of this pueblo (as in much of Peru) was probably quite suspect, so I refrained from swimming, though I did lounge pleasantly a bit at the beach on the first afternoon (there were plenty of locals and Peruvian vacationers there swimming).

On Monday I took a flight in a delapidated single prop plane over the Nasca desert of central Peru to view the famous Nasca Lines - one of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World. For those that might be a bit rusty on their archeology, the Nascans were a pre-Incan civilization that flourished? from 200 BC to about 700AD and who built giant 800 foot glyphs (iconic pictures) of various animals and items of importance (man, geometric or celestial symbols, etc.).