Arica, Chile

Today, we visited our first Chilean port, Arica. We decided to “freestyle” it on our own today without a formal excursion. Our first stop was to El Morro, the massive cliff that guards the southern tip of the city. It’s a hike up and it was hot so I bailed about halfway while Brad climbed to the top. We then walked back to the port to find a taxi to take us to the geoglyphs and the museum with the famous mummies of Chinchorro.

The challenge was, it’s Carnival weekend in Arica and traffic chaos which meant taxis had zero interest in taking fares. One of the port tourism coordinators, Martin, tried his best to get one for us with no luck. He then came to us and said if we were game, his mother would take us! Brilliant!

One of the employees from her thrift shop walked over to the port and escorted us to the store where his mother, Delia, met us and we set off together. What an angel. She spoke little English but between Google Translate and occasionally calling her son, we managed just fine. She not only took us to the geoglyphs and mummies, she also took us to a supermarket to buy some Chilean wine. It was a truly magical, special day.

The kindness of strangers❤️Read more