On to Nazca, again by coach. A strange place - covered in the dry dust of the desert and virtually deserted when we were there. The town itself offers little other than the lines as far as we knew, so we found ourselves quite glad that we had not arranged to stay overnight.

The lines were only discovered in 1939 and I assume the local people saw very few visitors from anywhere at all before that. Now 60% of the population survive on them.

The other 40% is made up of agriculture and mining for quartz and gold. We visited a gold refinery. It was like stepping into the 17th Century. There were young boys and girls in their teens rocking back and forth on huge semi circular stones that were crushing rocks in a pool of water.

The whole place, the people, the machinery, the air was red from the iron ore. We were shown how gold is extracted using mercury. At the back of the site was a huge room that had a massive crunching machine in it which was spitting out the smaller rocks that would eventually go to the teenage see saw grinders. The noise in that room was unbearable and it was so full of dust you could hardly breathe. I tried to hide my pity for the 4 men that were working in there and decided that see saw grinder wasn't so bad afterall. Only one of them had earphones. The others must surely be deaf already.

Next stop was the Cemetery of Chaucilla. A strange place that I couldn't decide whether was peaceful or not.

Out in the middle of the desert 12 open tombs lie in the heat. Inside there are mummies and remains of people from the Nazca civilisation who lived around AD 200.

The actual Nazca period was 200 BC to 600 AD. Grave robbers hungry for the ceramics and textiles that were buried with the dead had desecrated all the graves about 80 years ago and left bones and skulls scattered across the desert.

Anthropologists have put the bones back together as best they could. Some of the mummies are whole. Many have a collection of bones beside them. Who knows if they really belong to the right skeletons?

It's quite sad that these people have not been allowed to rest. First disturbed by thieves and now subject to coach loads of tourists ogling their tombs and taking photos. As you leave the site you can see thousands of bits of broken bones scattered on the desert floor. I'm not sure if they were just too small to collect or just left there for effect.

The mummies were cool though. Apparently the longer the hair the higher the status in Nazcan times so all of them were buried with their hair dangling down to the floor making them look like Rastafarians.

The Nazca lines were great to see and the plane ride was lots of fun, but a touch unnerving.

The pilot looked like a 70's porn star. Was that alcohol I could smell? Deep breath Dana. I can't decide whether South America is making me braver or just plain stupid.

Tim and I were sat in the back. An American guy we had got chatting to was in the front having a complete nighmare. Every time the pilot told us to look left or right the plane would lurch sharply in that direction. Tim and I were strapped in but still falling all over the place! I feel awful because I cannot remember the name of the chap who was with us - he was a lovely guy too. Anyway, the poor thing looked green by the time the plane landed and barely spoke a word for a good hour afterwards.

The area where the lines have been etched is called the Pampa Colorada (due to the reddish-brown stones are on the suface). It stretches 37 miles long and 15 miles wide and it's covered in gigantic geoglyths

Apparently there are 18 different kinds of birds. Between smacking our heads on the side windows of the plane, heaving ourselves back up to our seats again and deciding that our mental drunken pilot was either doing it on purpose or had been taking lessons from London Transport (or both) , we managed to spot what we thought was a spider and definitely a hummingbird. I tried to video them on my phone. Failed miserably.

There was also a spaceman. Spaceman??? I still can't help thinking that's got to be a fake. He is just too rounded compared to the others. The Incas always walked in straight lines for their ceremonies, so where does a round helmet suddenly appear from?

There are a million and one theories as to why the lines are there. Some say locals made them as offerings to the mountain Gods as they begged them for rain during a 50 year drought.

Others say locals recreated what they had seen when they had been tripping out on cactus nectar that makes you throw up, then hallucinate, then fly. (I like this theory best)

Others say aliens...aliens?? Whatever. Tourism?

Who knows. Whichever way they were a must see and we thought the trip was well worth it - just check the breath of your pilot before you get on a plane if you do go.