Friday, 29 August 2014
Next, I went to the Regional Museum. Here I saw many artefacts of the ancient people of Peru. Artefacts discovered in Nasca had similar motifs to the motifs in the Nasca lines. Of all these motifs, the monkey is the most puzzling because there are no monkeys in Peru, so they do not know why the ancient people drew motifs of monkeys, or where they had seen monkeys before.
There were also mummies which are still in very good condition. There was also a practice to elongate the head, and I saw elongated skulls, according to the guide the elongated skull weighed 42% more than a normal skull and nobody knows why, they guess that the tissue mass grew to fill the elongated skull. It looked alien to me. They also practiced lobotomy or something like that, making a hole in one's skull, taking out whatever is bad and covering up the hole with pumpkin (of all things!) and other material. Imagine someone drilling your skull, most probably without proper anaesthetic!
An interesting thing the guide told me was that the ancient people used pumpkin skin which they dried, as bowls or plates. It was 300 years later that they learned how to make ceramic bowls and plates, because they had to first discover fire, learn how to use it, create an oven, and then shape the clay. When I think about the technology we have today, it occurred to me that the human race will never stop developing, and who knows what will be discovered or invented or created tomorrow. Exciting times.
After this there was nothing for me to do. The next activity was sand boarding at the sand dunes, there were plenty of sand dunes for miles around; it is after all a desert. Sand boarding did not interest me so I had something to eat. There I met an old lady from Ecuador, who was actually on the same boat as me to the Ballestas Islands. I sat with her for some time, she is from Ecuador, she is 66 years old (Amma's age!) and she has 2 daughters, and she is travelling alone. I told her she was very brave, and she said that I was even more brave, because at least she was in the same continent and she speaks Spanish. I told her what I told everyone, which is that everyone says I'm brave but the truth is, before embarking on this journey I was scared to death, and then even now, sometimes I panic or get worried so I don't feel brave at all. And she said, notwithstanding feeling all that I am still doing it, and that is courage.
When I meet all these nice people, I can't help but think that God put them there for me to meet, it is His way of telling me that I'm doing alright, and He is watching over me. Because being all alone so far away from home, all I have is God and myself to rely on.
After that I took the 6.50 pm bus (which arrived late) to Nasca.
Next, I went to the Regional Museum. Here I saw many artefacts of the ancient people of Peru. Artefacts discovered in Nasca had similar motifs to the motifs in the Nasca lines. Of all these motifs, the monkey is the most puzzling because there are no monkeys in Peru, so they do not know why the ancient people drew motifs of monkeys, or where they had seen monkeys before.
There were also mummies which are still in very good condition. There was also a practice to elongate the head, and I saw elongated skulls, according to the guide the elongated skull weighed 42% more than a normal skull and nobody knows why, they guess that the tissue mass grew to fill the elongated skull. It looked alien to me. They also practiced lobotomy or something like that, making a hole in one's skull, taking out whatever is bad and covering up the hole with pumpkin (of all things!) and other material. Imagine someone drilling your skull, most probably without proper anaesthetic!
An interesting thing the guide told me was that the ancient people used pumpkin skin which they dried, as bowls or plates. It was 300 years later that they learned how to make ceramic bowls and plates, because they had to first discover fire, learn how to use it, create an oven, and then shape the clay. When I think about the technology we have today, it occurred to me that the human race will never stop developing, and who knows what will be discovered or invented or created tomorrow. Exciting times.
After this there was nothing for me to do. The next activity was sand boarding at the sand dunes, there were plenty of sand dunes for miles around; it is after all a desert. Sand boarding did not interest me so I had something to eat. There I met an old lady from Ecuador, who was actually on the same boat as me to the Ballestas Islands. I sat with her for some time, she is from Ecuador, she is 66 years old (Amma's age!) and she has 2 daughters, and she is travelling alone. I told her she was very brave, and she said that I was even more brave, because at least she was in the same continent and she speaks Spanish. I told her what I told everyone, which is that everyone says I'm brave but the truth is, before embarking on this journey I was scared to death, and then even now, sometimes I panic or get worried so I don't feel brave at all. And she said, notwithstanding feeling all that I am still doing it, and that is courage.
When I meet all these nice people, I can't help but think that God put them there for me to meet, it is His way of telling me that I'm doing alright, and He is watching over me. Because being all alone so far away from home, all I have is God and myself to rely on.
After that I took the 6.50 pm bus (which arrived late) to Nasca.
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