Arica, Chile 80F Sunny
Why Arica? I asked myself that every time I looked at the ship’s itinerary. Perhaps a refueling, resupply stop as we continue down the coast of Chile. I ask the same question about Pitcairn Island where our stop is only 3 hours – why?
Arica (population approx. 210,000), situated on the Pacific Ocean is the northern tip of Chile, where it borders Peru and Bolivia. By rainfall, Arica is the second driest place on earth – receiving about 11 mm (yes, millimeters) of rain yearly. The winds from the Pacific however keep the temperature moderate year round, making Arica a very popular summer vacation area for Bolivians.
While Arica is located in the Atacama Desert, there are fertile valleys around Arica due to volcanic activity long ago. Receiving water from southern Chile or rivers fed by the rain in the Andes, drip irrigation has allowed the area to be a producer of tropical fruit trees and produce such as tomatoes, onions, potatoes etc that they export back to southern Chile. We saw bags of onions loaded on trucks to be delivered. Olives are exported as trees were brought from Greece, years ago. Fun fact, we saw piles of soil at the port. Because Arica is in a desert, they must import soil for the farms. It is the weather and water content (minerals etc) that makes the farming successful.
Arica has been inhabited for at least 10,000 years by different native groups. These groups are thought to be the first population to mummify the dead as specimens date to at least 2000 years before the Egyptian mummies. It was quite an intricate manual process for civilizations that did not have tools such as knives yet. The mummies found in the Arican area are referred to as ‘black mummies’ which is the color of the corpse after mummification because they did not wrap the corpses in any fabric.
The Incas ruled for about 50 years before the Spanish Conquistadors arrived so there is not much Incan influence as is seen in other South American countries. They do know that Arica was included in the Inca trail. Being an important port for the landlocked countries in South America and handling much of the Bolivian export of silver, this area was repeatedly looted during its more current history.
Arica was originally part of Peru until the War of the Pacific in 1880 where it was declared part of Chile. We heard about the war from Peru’s perspective and then again from Arica’s. Details differed but they both agreed that Bolivia started the war against Chile, asked Peru to fight with them and then abandoned the fight while Peru paid the price of losing land.
Before landing in Arica, we received several communications from the ship concerning the strict rules entering Chile. For us, it was basically don’t disembark with any food other than bottled water and other agricultural rules to avoid any contamination to their products.
When we landed, we were met by port authorities who searched bags and a dog trained to sniff out any food on passengers (don’t all dogs do that inherently but in hopes it will be shared?). There was a yellow lab that from afar looked pretty goofy, wanting only to explore, jump, greet etc. Then he gave some slight signal to his handler and people were handing over fruit, sandwiches, bread – whatever they carried for snacks. Rewarded for his efforts with play time, this happened over and over.
Beside the port is the Morro, the tall mountain that was the last site of the War of the Pacific resistance by Peru. The top of the mountain provides the view of the city.
Going out to the valley area, fruit and olive trees covered much of the land. Trees were planted in a section surrounded by desert – looking like an oasis.
Produce is grown in cloth covered greenhouses to prevent insects and avoid the use of pesticides. These greenhouses would cover the landscape and used drip irrigation.
We passed by geoglyphs outside of Arica. There was no place on a narrow 2 lane road to stop and get out to take pictures. While I don’t always see value in pictures from a bus window, this was the best I could do. Geoglyphs are stone drawings etched into hillsides. These geoglyphs are ‘addition type’ meaning stones were added to the hillside to create the picture. The ‘subtraction type’ would remove portions of the hillside to make the picture.
The geoglyphs around Arica are a mixture of animals, geometric shapes as well as other shapes that cannot be definitively identified. Dated from around 800 AD, it is thought they played in part in directions or navigations as they are meant to be seen from a distance. You can also see the tops of more greenhouses in the second picture.
They do have a natural history museum, built on the site of huge old olive press (powered by donkeys) that also housed an exhibit on the black mummies.
I was outside the museum touching a hibiscus that grows as trees in South America. The flowers easily recognizable but the leaves are much thicker and stiffer than I am used to. A security guard stopped me and motioned me to follow him. How could I be in trouble for touching a leaf? I followed him. He must have seen me taking pictures of plants and birds and wanted to make sure I saw the hummingbird nest!
We had a short time in town to view Colon Plaza, the main city gathering place. At the end is a catholic church designed by Gustav Eiffel (yeah, the tower guy). How a steel church from France ended up in Arica is more a story of happenstance. Ordered by the government, it was received at the port of Arica. Someone noticed there was no church in Arica, destroyed in the past by an earthquake. So, it stayed in Arica.
Just a couple of odd pictures - telephone booths still exist and one of the unusual (to me) cacti.
I’m not sure any of this answers Why Arica? But it does show with a little interest and time, every place has a variety of stories or situations that can surprise you.
We continue to move down the coast to Valparaiso near Santiago.
Adios!
Seems like a crazy wonderful place. Glad you are doing well.