Nazca
Nazca is no ordinary dusty oasis town. Tucked away on the southern coast of Peru and overlooked by the enormous Cerro Blanco (2,078m/6,819ft) sand dune, this sleepy town was hastily awoken in 1939 to the discovery of mysterious drawings etched into the nearby rocky desert plains.
The otherwise barren Pampa de San José bears a vast tapestry of intricate geoglyphs spread over an area of approximately 500 sq km, depicting not only parallels but also geometric drawings and figures thought to have been constructed by the Nazca (pre-Inca) culture in 400BC.
Among the principal figures are a monkey (90m/295ft), pelican (135m/442ft), condor (135m/442ft), spider (42m/137ft), and lizard (180m/590ft). Best seen from the air, these huge, unique designs are still the subject of much speculation. Various theories have arisen as to the origin of these figures. The most accepted view is that of Dr. Maria Reiche, a German mathematician who studied the lines for more than 50 years, sustaining that the figures serve as an astronomic calendar.