Casa-Museo Maria Reiche

Location:
Approximately 30 kilometers (18 miles) North of Nasca
Nasca, Peru

Museum Types:
Archaeology, Anthropology, ethnography, History

By Lorraine Caputo

For decades Maria Reiche lived in a simple, dirt-floored house just to the north of the Nasca Lines where she spent most of her life studying the patterns in the lines. Her bedroom is left just as it was when she studied and lived here. (You may even catch a glimpse of her, sitting and pondering their enigma). The grounds now include a museum with the tools she used and the charts she meticulously drew of the lines, as well as old aerial photographs of them and some archaeological finds. In a new building are ceramics and a mummy. Maria and her sister are buried in the xero-scaped garden.

Getting There
Tours, which include the Cerro, Mirador and the Casa-Museo Maria Reiche, cost on average $15 per person (check if entries are included).

To get there on your own, take a bus heaing for Ica or other northern destination and hop off at the Cerro (there is no roadside sign, so inform the driver; $1). The look-out tower is one kilometer up the road, on the same side of the highway.

Travel Tips: It is best to do this outing in the early morning or late afternoon, to avoid he mid-day heat and strong sun. This outing can be combined with a trip to the cerro and mirador, three kilometers south. However, the highway is quite dangerous as it goes through a narrow cut. It’s best to await another bus to go down there ($0.70).

Price Description: Adults $1.70, children $0.70.

Relative price: Budget

Open Hours from:Daily 8 a.m.

Open Hours to:Daily 6 p.m.

Travel Skills: None

You Need to Bring: Bring along water, snacks and protection against the sun (hat, sun screen).

Flights over the Lines; the cerro and lookout tower, Planetario Maria Reiche, the Museo Antonini, various archaeological sites in the region.

Currencies accepted
Nuevo Sol