This really is a lovely bag. Well made, good materials and environmentally friendly production.
Lets get to the parts I love most then we’ll get into why I’m wavering in keeping it:
- I love the materials. Black canvas, leather strap points… nifty.
- The interior organization is good. I love the clamshell opening then having zip compartments for your stuff. The clamshell feature is mostly what attracted me to this in the first place.
Actually, I first wanted the Allpa but it was too big for my purposes, and happily the Nazca is not. - The straps are great to wear and it has a larger webbing hip belt that does well for the smaller bag. Super comfy. I think mostly I won’t need the hip belt because I probably won’t have it stuffed that full.
- it holds the right amount of stuff.
- it looks sooooo pretty
Now the things that made me doubt if I want to keep it:
- It is a longer pack, and I have a very short torso. This messes with me in backpacking packs as well. I’ve come to terms with the longer packs (one of my all-time favorites ever was the Eagle Creek Bedouin, but the straps on it with any weight at all were painful. I’m still looking for ways to replace them without breaking the bank.)
- I thought the weight balance would be awkward with the 2 rectangular sections put together, but it is only slightly so on my short torso. To be certain I will look like a derp (as I do anytime I use a hip belt on a loaded pack) if I need to go miles in this thing, but I can handle that I think. The weight balance seems doable.
- I think I need just a bit more division on the main compartments. That’s just a personal thing. I’ve seen many folks load it up and it packs just fine. If they had miniaturized the Allpa I’d be content.
- I actually don’t need the laptop compartment. 😉 I put my collapsible daypack in there.
- No water bottle pocket. Sigh.
Test packing the Nazca:
In the front pocket:
- airplane stuff: charger, cable, earbuds
- liquids for easy TSA walk through
In the laptop sleeve:
In the main area, left side:
- packing cube 1
- Cpap and associated gear
- dry kit
- passport and travel docs would go in the yellow zip compartment on the front of this compartment
In the main area, right side:
- Beach packing cube
- Peshtemal
- water bottle
So far so good. After all was packed I could put the pack on and not need the waist belt. Using the waist belt pushed the pack up on my back (short torso, remember?) but was still doable-especially without a laptop in there. I could definitely wander about in a foreign city for hours without too much discomfort. If I was doing that I probably wouldn’t have a laptop anyway. I only ever take my laptop on business trips.
Verdict: No. I tested various configurations and my short torso is just too short for this.
I’m sad now.
Yes! I keep because I love 😉
I’ll probably be using this for a trip I have in mind that has several driving segments and a flight segment.
Here are some pics of starting to pack for this upcoming trip:
Outside, not stuffed full:
The small front pocket:
Pack opened when somewhat packed:
Left side of opened pack: cpap and gear and dry kit, still room for another packing cube: 
Right side of pack with basic clothes in cube:
There’s definitely enough room for me to put another packing cube and my Tom Bihn Sidekick if I need to, but I tend to want that where I can access it or put my hands on it easily.
Buy the Nazca 24L on Amazon here or on Cotopaxi’s site here.
Here are some other folks who use this pack:
Cotopaxi.com | Our founder, Davis Smith, grew up in Latin America and lived for several years in Ecuador. When he wasn’t in school, Davis was exploring and camping in Cotopaxi National Park. It was here that he developed a lifelong reverence for the strong, hard-working people of the Andes. His time in Latin America also showed him the plight of those in abject poverty… [Read more]
