Day 4- nazca

Hi everyone! Today was a great day. We got woken up a bit before our alarm by the town's very loud roosters. At 7 am, emily was in the shower, while I was groggily finding my pillow, in the process knocking down and breaking the hotel room's lamp. While I was honest and told our tour leader, he opted to clear the evidence and keep our mouths shut. Nice clumsy start.
At 8 am we went on a tour with about ten other members of the group. First, it took us to the nazca cemetary, which was really a bunch of open tombs. The displays were amateur, without much care, just tons of bones and mummies. The tombs had tons of skulls and other bones. Some of the mummies still had their hair, a few had dreadlocks which apparently was a way to distinguish tribes. Another way was to change the shape of the babies' skulls. The nazca people, after which the city we were in today is named, were a civilization before the infamous incas, around 2000? Years ago. The tour guide explained that the government of peru hasn't invested money in archaeological projects and so this explained the fact that these really old tombs were not being more officially displayed.
The second stop on the morning tour was to a man's house who replicates the nazca people's pottery using the same tools and raw materials used by these people. It was pretty cool.
Next, just down the street, another man described to us the dangerous process of gold mining in the area.
After lunch at the hotel, we went on a great adventure! A buggy picked us up and took us on a wild 50 minute drive, stopping a couple of times on the way to show us aqueducts, a pyramid, and more tombs. In the middle of the desert, there are human bones scattered, so odd to see.
The guy then took us over sand dunes which was pretty wild, quite a few rollercoaster type drops.
We stopped at this beautiful area where the bright blue sky and the sand made a stunning contrast. We were given sandboards, which were basically snowboards. Emily was really skilled and looked like a sandboard/snowboard pro. Some of us (myself included) had more of a toboganning experience, still really fun!
We watched a beautiful sunset over the desert and drove back to town.
Now we are on a 9 hour overnight bus to arequipa. This will be our first time hitting serious altitude, so wish us luck.