Nazca Lines & Huacachina Adventure, Huacachina

This day excursion includes an aerial tour of the famous and mythic Nazca Lines of the southern Peruvian desert. The lines are a series of about 300 giant Pre-Columbian geoglyphs etched into the sand in the shape of all kinds of figures. These include everything from hummingbirds and dogs to trees and whales.

The tour begins early in the morning with a scenic four-hour drive south along the coast from Lima to the seaside town of Paracas. Here the excursion takes to the skies for an aerial viewing of the Nazca Lines from a Cessna airplane. These massive images, the longest of which are 1,200 feet (370 meters), are comprised of thousands of geometric lines. Due to the stable climate of the Nazca desert, the geoglyphs, which were created by removing the top layer of soil to reveal the light-colored clay underneath, are remarkably well preserved. After the flight is a trip to Huacachina, the very definition of a "desert oasis," for a sandboarding adventure on the surrounding desert dunes.