San Pedro for Tourists

Hey there y'all

Just got back yesterday from a trip to the North with my host mom, and it was awesome!!!!!

So we started up in Arica. I never realized just how long chile is, and I'd forgotten how fast airplanes are. We went in a plane, and it was 2 or 3 hours. In bus, I think it's 20. And I thought I was pretty far north here in Vallenar. But basically Arica is the city furthest north in Chile. Almost in Perú. Actually, it was Peruvian before the War of the Pacific. That war where they were fighting over the biggest salitre (sodium nitrate) deposites in the world. So the Peruvians had their defenses in Arica, and mines around it and all. They were waiting in the city for the Chilean army, expecting an attack by sea if I remember right. So the Chileans sent out some scouts, and happened upon the English engineers in charge of Peruvian defenses. These engineers were carrying the plans and everything.

So the chilean army takes a gander at the plans and goes around the back, storms up the Morro (big hill? small mountain?) de Arica, and then goes in to take the city. They won the battle in some 55 minutes. By the end of the war, Chile had taken territory all the way up to Lima (is that right?) but at the end of the war they only kept territory up to Arica. So to this day, Arica is Chilean. There was a big economic boom with the salitre in Chile, but then after WWI Chile was selling the salitre very expensive, so a German invented sinthetic salitre, which is much cheaper than mining it. The salitre business died in Chile. To the sides of the highway in northern chile, you see the occasional ruins of abandoned towns, where there used to be salitre offices.

We visited the morro, took a tour of the city. There are 3 buildings designed by Eiffel en Arica. That is, designed and made in France, put together here. There's the church in the plaza, the Aduana (town hall?) and some other that I didn't see.

Arica is next to 2 valleys, el Valle de Azapa y el Valle de Lluta. The Valle de Azapa has a lot more agriculture because the water is better, has fewer minerals. They grow a hell of a lot of olives, tomatoes, and also bananas, potatoes, all kinds of stuff. But what's famous is the olives. Aceitunas de Azapa. I recommend them. They're big and have a lot of flavor. They grow three types. The tipical ones are called Aceituna de azapa, they're purple. They also have the little green ones, sevillians, and the mulata, a not so strong version of the aceituna de azapa.

I don't know what kind of olives y'all get in the U.S. Here, they sell olives con amargo (bitter) o sin amargo (not bitter). Con amargo is soaked in saltwater for months, leaving it with a deliciously strong olive taste. Sin amargo is soaked in lye. They then use a lot of water to get rid of the lye. Then they add color to these bleached olives and put them on the market. Bland. If you like the taste of olive, get the con amargo

We went to the Lago Chungará too. Cool place. It's the lake at highest altitude of all lakes in the world. Some 4,700 meters. We're talking a good 3 miles above sea level, folks (thank you CC). Beautiful. The roads going up there are cool. First you go into the Valle de Lluta. Then you get into the Andes and it's pure desert. Then you get up to the altiplano (high plain?). There, suddenly there's an expanse of ground again, not just a bunch of mountains. They told me altiplano is above 4000 meters. It's cool, and I tried to take fotos, but it's not the same as the real thing. I can just tell you that it's a cool tour and I loved it

And, because you'll be at a high altitude at Chungará, you need to be careful about la puna (altitude sickness). Symptoms of puna include: dizziness, nausea, headache. It's all really just lack of oxygen because of the lack of air pressure. To avoid puna: 1) take it easy. Walk, don't run. This way you keep a good supply of oxygen in your blood and you'll be fine. 2) drink the coca tea. It's good stuff. Chew the coca leaves. It helps. Well, don't chew it, just make a little ball and keep it in your cheek. It's the same plant that they make cocaine from, yes, but it isn't cocaine. 3) don't worry about it. If you go there thinking about how you're going to be sick, you'll probably get sick

Coca really is an amazing plant. All kinds of benefits:
-restorative and energetic
-aids digestion
-anti-diarrhea
-anti-fatigue
-anti-puna
-relieves a tired voice

It also makes you not feel hungry, which was very much a benefit for the Andian peoples when food was scarce. Nowadays it's used more in diet products

So we headed over to San Pedro de Atacama. I will give my opinion based on what I have seen. San Pedro is a phony adobe-faced tourist trap. It's a little town where everything is ridiculously expensive. It's mostly fake south-american tourist junk. If you ask the shopkeeper, of course it's hand-made artesan work. Probably made in a factory in Perú. Now I don't have anything against Perú, but if you look at a lot of the merchendise, stuff that has a label saying where it was made says peru. I saw merchandise with monkeys on it. No monkeys in Chile. I even saw a shirt with a giraffe on it. Crazy. Even the adobe is fake, I saw them building a new hotel, they just put an adobe looking layer over the basic cinder block sort of brick.

The food isn't quite so horribly expensive. That's considering that it's restaurant food, and considering that they give way too much food in one meal. It's plenty of food for 2, so we'd order one meal for 2. They really nail you on the drinks though. What my host mom and I did, and what I suggest, is that you buy a 5-liter bottled water (the tap water isn't good in San Pedro), and go refilling little water bottles. This is much cheaper than buying $3 cokes all the time.

From what I saw, San Pedro now lives and breathes by tourism, and has lost its identity. However, the tours are excellent. There are tours in English and Spanish, the guides that I saw speaking english spoke it excellently. The main tours that you want to see are Valle de la Luna/Valle de la Muerte (the Valley of the Moon and the Valley of Death), los Geyser del Tatio, el Salar de Atacama (Atacama Salt Flats). I put up some photos, but it's not the same. And they have a nice museum in San Pedro too

Last thing we did was visit the Termas de Puritama in the Quebrada de Guatín. It's at the union of 2 rivers, one volcanically heated (el Río Puritama) and the other not (Río Purifica). The result is a pleasantly warm river to bathe in. 20-30 degrees C. Hot, but not like a spa. Have I mentioned that there's a lot of volcanic activity in Chile?

Hmm...in this year I have come to the conclusion that english needs an ito. Basically, in spanish if you want to make anything smaller, cuter, more loveable you put an -ito or -ita on the end of the word. And the Chileans use this a ton. The germans have their -ein. In English, we got nothing. Just the word little, but it doesn't have the same effect. It's sad, really. I'm tempted to just start using -ito in english.

And wouldn't you know it, I leave town for a week and we get a decent rainfall in Vallenar. I'm told that if they get another rain like that, the desert will bloom this year. A month or 2 after I'm gone. ha

Now I've basically got a week and a half and I'm out of here. That's a week of school. At this point I pretty much just want to say goodbyes and get home. It's been a great year, but home is home. I'll see you soon

abrazos,

Ian

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