Arica, Chile - part 1

We are in Chile for 11 days. This is an incredible interesting and diverse country. The shape is long and thin and somewhat looks like a “chile”. Stretching between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean for 300 sq miles, there are almost 20 million people. In the North it borders with Peru, Bolivia (they broke away from these countries in the War of the Pacific in 1883, which ended on a famous rock, El Morro, where we docked) and Argentina and on the Southern border is Antarctica. Chile grew quickly in the 20th Century, depending on mining to grow its economy. In the 1970-90s there was political unrest here with both left and right wing dictatorships until about 10 years ago when a center coalition finally resulted. As this nations changes, a new Constitution has been in the works for the past 4 years and is still not approved, thought to be too left.

In 2010, we all remember when Chile was in the news due to the rescue of 33 miners, when a tunnel collapsed at a San José copper and gold mine in the Atacama Desert near Copiapo in northern Chile (where we were today). It trapped 33 men 2,300 ft below ground. The miners were found 17 days later but it took 2 months until all the miners were saved in a 24 hour operation that included rescuers from around the world and we watched live on TV.

Arica is a commune and port city (over 400 trucks/day take containers from this port) only 10 miles from Peru, where Chile bends from on the West Coast creating 2 valleys (Azapa and Lluta) from the desert which allows them to grow citrus and olives for export. The inland part of this region is a free port to Bolivia where much trade goes on and is strategically where the Pan-American Highway and railroad connect Peru and Bolivia. There are a significant number of African Chileans that live in Arica as well as indigenous Amerindians and Mestizos (Spanish -Amerindian mix) and Criollos (Spanish origin) and Chinese Chileans. Arica dates back to native groups from 10,000 years ago with mummies found that predate Egypt.

First we walked through the 3 day Carnival of the Sun (quite a challenge if you saw the photos posted of non-stop singers, dancers and bands) to get to the pink and white Gothic, Church of San Marcos designed by Gustave Eiffel in 1870 (believe it or not, it’s totally made of metal).

In the Atacama Desert, the driest place on earth (<0.06”rain/yr.) we saw the work of sculptor, Juan Diaz Fleming since 1997 (called Tutelar Figures at Pampa Chaca). These concrete sculptures (see photos) were interesting depictions of the ancient people’s beliefs (Incas) that lived here. We also saw very large ancient geoglyphs of llamas (1500 years old) created by earlier cultures on desert hills as they were scratched into rock. And what was waiting for us IN the desert, Pisco Sours (we had been introduced to them when we were in Peru in 2020).

We also went to the San Miguel de Azapa Archaeological Museum to view Pre-Colombian artifacts of the culture at that time and the famed Mummies of Chinchorro, the oldest mummies known in the World, 3,000 years before Egypt. Quite interesting!

Our stops in Chile (photo 1)
A Metal Church by Eiffel (photo 2)
El Morro where we docked (photo 3)
Men and Women in the Desert (which is which) (photo 4)
Bruce with a big smile - waiting on a Pisco Sour (photo 5)
Juan Diaz Fleming Desert Sculptures (photos 6, 7, 8, and 9)
The ground is ocean bed from thousands of years ago (used to be the Pacific) (photo 10)
Bruce and Karen with big smiles - waiting on a Pisco Sour (photo 11)
Karen and the Pisco Sours! (photo 13)
Map of the area (photo 14)
Communities in the Desert (photo 15)
What can I say (yes, in the desert) (photo 16)
The llamas in the Sand (photo 17)
Archaeological Museum (photo 18)
Geoglyphs (photos 12, 19 and 20)Read more