María Reiche

Hello! My name is María Reiche. I was born in a country called Germany on May 15th, 1903. Even when I was a little girl, I loved solving puzzles and working with numbers. It was like a fun game for my brain! When I grew up, I studied a subject called mathematics, which is all about numbers and patterns. In 1932, I decided to go on a big adventure. I moved to a new home far, far away in a beautiful country in South America called Peru.

One day, around the year 1941, I took a ride in a small airplane over the desert. When I looked down, I saw something amazing that changed my life forever. Drawn right into the sand were giant pictures! I saw a hummingbird with long wings, a silly monkey with a curly tail, and a spider with eight long legs. There were also lots of long, straight lines that went on and on. These pictures were so huge that you could only see what they were from way up high in the sky. I knew right away that this was the biggest and most exciting puzzle I had ever seen, and I had to solve it.

I decided to spend my life studying these amazing drawings, which are called the Nazca Lines. I moved right to the desert so I could be close to them. For over 50 years, I worked very hard to carefully measure each one. My tools were very simple. I used tall ladders to see better, long pieces of string to measure, and even a broom to gently sweep the sand away and keep the lines clean! I wanted to protect them so that everyone in the world could see their beauty. The people who lived nearby started calling me the 'Lady of the Lines.' I believed the lines were a giant calendar that helped ancient people know when the seasons were changing, which would help them know when to plant their food.

I lived to be 95 years old, and I spent most of those years protecting the desert drawings I loved so much. I was so happy when, in 1994, the Nazca Lines became a special protected place for the whole world to enjoy. Thanks to my work, people today can still fly over the desert in Peru and see the giant monkey and hummingbird. I hope when they see them, they feel curious and want to protect the world's amazing treasures, just like I did.