chapter 9 - mathematical mystery

Following along the base of the world’s largest sand dune resonant with sand-boarders’ whoops, we arrived at the airport for our flight over the famous Nasca lines, early in the morning, before the desert winds became turbulent. Once in the air, it took a moment for the eyes to focus, and then suddenly the lines popped out, as if looking at a hologram. No wonder the Lines were only revealed when man began to fly: they are huge and can only really be seen from the air. Hamish was mesmerized.

I had no idea there were so many of the things, over 13 thousand! The monkey, spider and spaceman are the most well known and photographed figures, but there are squares, spirals, and thousands upon thousands of straight lines just going off across the desert, stretching into the horizon in every direction. The latest theory is they are part of an enormous terrestrial calendar, reflecting the movement of the stars and the sun. No one really knows for sure, the Nasca people having come and gone unchronicled. Time swallowed up the answer, leaving the lines as silent sentinels to the past. I kind of like it that the earth still holds such mysteries.

One the way back, the pilot of our tiny plane, sensing that we weren’t adverse to the notion of thrill, rode the now noticeable turbulence with fair-ground ride jolts. Hamish and I squealed to each other as our stomachsw lurched, and we simultaneously raised both our arms as high as we could in the cramped space, remembering other roller coasters. It’s so easy, this, being with someone I know so well, with by one word or gesture there’s a connection of some memory or private joke that has meaning only to us.

Places like this, the prairies and deserts and plains of the world, places where earth and sky share equal billing, are places that have always awed me. As a child I wondered how anyone could live in such a place, devoid of any interest, any landmark. But now I feel a connection whenever I am there. Connected to earth. To myself. A small speck of life in this enormous landscape, I am placed in the centre of the world in the middle of nowhere. Even when buffeted by the winds there’s a kind of tranquility that seeps into my soul, and will stay with me whenever I think back to them.