3 Best Sights in Nazca, The Southern Coast

Inside a walled, 4-square-km (1½-square-mile) precinct west of the Nazca Lines lies an ancient ceremonial site. In it, five adobe pyramids, the highest of which stands at about 21 meters (69 feet), tower above a network of 40 mounds, with a bevy of rooms and connecting corridors. This is Cahuachi, which archaeologists had previously supposed to be the Nazca capital, but which current studies suggest was actually a pilgrimage destination for inhabitants of Peru's Southern Coast. Built by the early Nazca culture, the site has been called the region's "theocratic capital" and is estimated to have existed for three or four centuries before being abandoned around AD 500. Also visible nearby are grain and water silos, as well as several large cemeteries outside the precinct walls. La Estaquería, with its mummification pillars, is nearby. Tours from Nazca, 18 km (11 miles) to the east, visit both sites for around S/50 with a group and take three hours.

These wooden pillars west of Nazca, carved of huarango wood and placed on mud-brick platforms, were once thought to have been an astronomical observatory. More recent theories, however, incline toward their use in mummification rituals, perhaps to dry bodies of deceased tribal members. They are usually visited on a tour of Cahuachi.

Everyone comes to town for the Nazca Lines, but a more contemporary spot that's also worth visiting is the studio of Tobi Flores. His father, Andrés Calle Flores, years ago discovered Nazca pottery remnants in local museums and started making new vase forms based on their pre-Columbian designs. Today, the younger Flores hosts a funny and informative talk in his ceramics workshop, and afterward you can purchase some beautiful pottery for reasonable prices. It's a quick walk across the bridge from downtown Nazca; at night, take a cab.