Day 39 – Friday, March 6, 2026
I really disliked my crappy hostel. The caretakers, a couple from Venezuela, were nice, though, they made sure I get a breakfast at 6 am. It was a warm juice with a quite tasty grilled vegetables sandwich.
"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"
Nice breakfast on the street, though
The goal for the day was to reach Nazca, famous for the Nazca Lines. It was 125 km away and the profile showed a lot of climbing.
I made a quick photo of the pretty church in Yauca and marvelled at the huge olive tree plantation.
Pretty church
Who would have thought...
As I left town at 6:30 am, an ascent started. To make matters worse, the road was pretty rough - for about 50 km, it had no shoulder. If you have ridden through the Balkans, the lorry drivers shoot first, then ask questions. In other words, they honk and proceed without slowing down. If you enter a deep layer of broken rocks and come to a harsh stop, that's your problem, not theirs; "hey, I told you I was coming". This is how the majority of the trucks interacted with me. (For the nice ones that did not honk and gave me the right of way, I decided to slow down or even stop voluntarily). I must admit I did use my middle finger quite a bit, but to no avail.
Two more things made life a bit miserable (but just a bit). First, it was quite an overcast, grey begin of the day (but then luckily, it wasn't all too hot, around 24 degrees). The second, at least at first, was the landscape - it was ouright repelling.
No much love was lost for this road...
...this was not my favorite, either
The road veered more and more away from the ocean, now I was heading deep inland. The sun came up and the Atacama Desert decided to show more of its scenic faces.
A small canyon
It got gradually friendlier...
...though it was at times quite a struggle, even for the trucks
I kept seeing this mountain for about two hours...
I was pleased with my progress, probably all those endorphins that were set free at arsehole truck driver helped. A quick bite to eat at kilometer 40, then suddenly half the distance was behind me.
I keep thinking of Trump (he said "only stupid people use wind as source of energy")
Alas, yet again a technician mishap - a bolt from my saddle broke; I could still ride, but the saddle was loose. I showed the issue to some truck drivers, they made a half-hearted attempt at finding a solution, but all they wanted is to get rid of me. Then a stupid thing happened I did not tighten a strap on my bag and after a couple of kilometer realized one of my shoes fell out. In a strong headwind, uphill, I rode back two kilometers or so and was happy to have found it (that is four more, back and forth!).
To my pleasant surprise, there were nice long, downhill sections, the miles accumulated steadily. With just 20 km to go, there was a turn-off to the Chauchilla cemetery. The issue was that the cemetery was 7 km away on a dirt road - just the ride would have been two hours both ways. I noticed a large farm houseat the junction and entered the gate. After dodging their angry dogs, I convinced them to drive me to the cemetary with their battered car. They agreed. Two ladies and three children (12, 6 and one and a half) became my escorts. One dog jumped (from a still-stand) to the plateau of the truck, so her joined us, too - the other dog decided to run after us as if its life hinged on it.
Riding to the cemetary...
Looking ahead
One dog on the plateau, the other running for his life behind us
The cemetery is associated with the Nazca culture. The interments started roughly 200 AD and continued until the 9th century. The forgotten cemetery was discovered in the 1920s. It contains mummified human remains and archeological artifacts.
Grave
Adult mummy
Child mummy
The family waited for me and drove me back to my bike. I thought I would offer them about 10 dollars - and that is the exact amount they asked - so everyone was happy. They even gave me a couple of mangoes as a gift. Gracias!
Many thanks for the ride!
A few kilometers outside Nasca, I spotted a large welding workshop. I stopped and showed the issue with my saddle. One of the workers started figuring it out and after many trials, lasting close to an hour, he found a solution. At the end, while we were using sign language till then, it turned out he spoke good English (similar to the famous scene fom One Flew Over The Cockoo's Nest). He did not want to accept any money, but I left a decent amount still. Gracias, too!
Speaking perfect English!
Getting into Nasca wsd not easy - HUGE traffic jams in the darkness. I had some OK Asian food (they did not agree to my saying it was Asian, but I know it was), then found a pretty decent inn close to the center, which is bustling with life. Shops, restaurants, ice-cream places - and a pleasant central park (decorated with images of the famous lines, what else?).
A nice park in the center of Nazca
I booked a flight for the following day over the Nazca lines and a driver - supposedly - would pick ne up at 8:30 to head to the the airport. It was a bit of non-committal and I really was not sure if the whole thing would work. Let us see whether it would.