One hundred and forty kilometers from Ica, lies Nazca and the legendary “Pampa”, where its tracings of figures and lines on the desert floor have been studied and photographed by experts from all over the world. The lines and figures etched on the Pampa of San Jose can be partially viewed from the observation tower on the Pan-American Highway. Do not walk or drive on the Pampa. Being the Nazca Plain one of the earth’s driest areas, the drawings are in excellent preservation, changing little since they were formed 1000 – 3000 years ago. Archaeologists attribute these drawings to the Pre-Inca Nazca culture who made deep furrows, removing the crustline brown soil, to expose the light yellow, almost white, alluvial subsoil.