We had already booked our flight with Aeronasca for the next morning with our hotel for 70 USD + 77 Soles airport fee per Person when we read about the latest fatal crash of a small airplane from Nazca airport on 5th February 2022. We had read before about the crashes around the year 2010 and that things had improved and even since the last crash there have probably been 10,000 successful flights but if something happens then it would be over. So we changed our mind and cancelled the flight again just before we were supposed to be picked up at our hotel. 
 
Instead, we took a PeruBus from Nazca to the small village where there is a museum about Maria Reiche who had dedicated her life to the discovery and maintenance of the lines. No one was there but it was open so we strolled through the few halls and the garden for free. There were some exhibits related to her work of measuring and documenting the sites.

Afterwards we hitchhiked 3 km back to Nazca to the observation tower what was newly installed in 2020. It´s bigger than the older tower that still stands on the other side of the highway. From here we could see the salamander which is split in 2 by the Panamericana, the tree and the toad. It was well visible from the top and afterwards we could check out the technique of how the lines were constructed by standing next to them at the side of the street.

Afterwards we started walking back to Nazca to see the cat on the hillside that is visible on the way there about 2 kilometres later. However due to the heat we rather took the bus that only goes once an hour as soon as it passed by. Finally, in the evening we visited the museum Antonini in Nazca that exhibits some artifacts of ceramic from the local cultures incl. The Nazca culture. There was a book with English translations and the objects were nicely displayed. Also in the garden there was a miniature model of Nazca lines and some peafowls walking around. The model was not very well maintained. If you don´t have a big fascination for the culture I found the content a bit dry. 
 
In addition to the Nazca lines we have visited the aqueduct at Collantes outside the city center which displays how the Nazca have utilized a water system of underwater streams that is still active today. Also the Inca site Los Paredones was part of the small tour and the Las Agujes site which is showing some straight lines built in the sand by the Nazca civilization.
 
Maybe others have a better force of imagination however for me the lines in the desert sand even though I know they´re older than 1000 years don't offer such a high degree of fascination. Apparently the shamans of the Nazca were able to utilize the San Pedro cactus for hallucination and by this could see the lines as if they were looking from a plane while their body stayed on the ground. I haven´t tried it though as it sounded similarly risky as the plain ride.