Arica

We’d never visited Arica, Chile before so we decided to simply wander through town with our fabulous Romanian friends, Constantin and Maria.

Like Cape Town, a large mountain stands watch over Arica and helps keep your bearings. I tend to anthropomorphize such geological features. To me, they impart a certain feeling to a town. Like trees, they are silent witnesses to all the follies of us shortsighted humans.

We had three items on our “to see” list, but only managed two due to the heat and steep inclines. Ah, well.

Some of the sidewalks around Arica feature the same geoglyph designs as can we seen from the air in the nearby Arica desert.

While that desert is one of the most arid places in the world, I swear it was rather humid as we wandered town. (Hey, it’s a port, and had rained recently.)

Townsfolk were quite friendly. Many of them greeted us with smiles and hellos, and were happy to give us directions when needed. Neither Constantin nor Maria know Spanish, so I had fun translating their questions for shopkeepers.

After seeing the cathedral and museum we started off towards the cemetery, but never made it. The heat made us woozy, so we stopped at a cafe for cold drinks and before we knew it, it was time to head back to the ship.

The photo of the llama on the phone makes me laugh because it’s a visual pun. “Llamar” means “to call” so the llama is making a “llama.” Hehe!

Constantin and Maria started calling Larry “ombra” which means “shadow” in Romanian. I tried to say he was the “hombre de ombras” but it didn’t work in their language.

By then end of the day, Maria and I also earned nicknames. She’s “caffea” due to her sun loving nature, and I’m “mozzarella” due to my pale hue.

We still need to come up with a good nickname for Constantin! (Update: his nickname is “lămâie” which means “lemon” in Romanian. He puts lemon on everything at dinner!)

We had such a fun day with our sweet Romanian friends! We’re so comfortable with Constantin and Maria now. We’re sure gonna miss them when this trip ends.

Constantin and I have already agreed to become pen pals. He’ll write in English and I’ll reply in Romanian. I hope they visit us in Texas, but it doesn’t seem too likely.

There may be a trip to Romania in our future, however!

ps I don’t know what those pigeons are standing on, though I suspect it’s a pile of grain. I’ve never seen so many pigeons in one place before!Read more