Blogs from Arica, Arica & Parinacota, Chile, South America - page 5

Hello happy readers! We've been in Arica for more than a month now and we're starting to feel how the travelling nerv is itching again. So I'm here to summarize this past month and the trips we've made. But firstly I'd like to say a few words about Arica. Arica is a quite small but very charming city located in the very north of Chile, by the sea and with the dry desert surroundig it. Valleys, such as the Azapa Valley, stretch out from the outskirt of the city. There you can find many producers of olive oil that is exported to an impressive amount of countries around the world. The tourists come to Arica mainly for the beaches. There are many different beaches on different distances from the city centre. Closest is Chinchorro, a wide ... read more

Just a few lines for those of you who have heard about the earthquake and the tsunami. We are currently in Arica which is one of the few cities in the whole of Chile that hasn't been affected by the earthquake. We are alive and fine, but chocked. We will write more about the rest of our trip shortly. Lina & Jonna... read more

Only a very short bus ride to Arica: 4hrs! Mind you it was pretty featureless, apart from the rocks by the side of the road arranged into words; I only wish I knew what they said! I figured one out.. But then again it was an advert for a rather well known drink. On leaving Iquique the road climbed a huge barren hillside; I was expecting mountains, but it turned out to be a plateau. Closer to Arica we dropped into a big valley - finally some colour and vegetation, but not a lot! I was one of three passengers on the bus, this made us equal with the staff! On arrival I walked to the hostel; just in time to get the last bed. Next day dawned sunny (no surprises there), and I wandered into ... read more

Hey all, I'm writing to you from an internet café in Chile's most northern city, Arica. It's a city of nearly 200,000 (or so say the Chileans). The bus ride here was 18 hours through the driest desert in the world. Intense to say the least. I am making my way north through Chile and Peru before heading back to the states after over 8 months in Chile teaching English. As with the last few post I probably won't say much but be sure that a lengthy reflection will be posted when I get back and settled. On November 25th I said goodbye to the town I called home for nearly a year and to the friends and family I had made there. I will carry those memories forever. But I had to head to Santiago ... read more

Nov 5, 2009 Today was Kyleigh’s (Justin’s niece’s) first birthday! Uncle Justin was sad not being able to be there for Kyleigh’s special day but hoped her day was fun! We arrived super early in Arica an decided to wait in the bus terminal until it was a reasonable time to go to a hostel to check-in. Hearing that it only rained twice a year in Arica, we were optimistic of having a clear, sunny beach day. But looking at the sky at 7:00AM, it didn’t look very promising. The sky was dark with heavy clouds and actually made Arica look pretty gloomy. Justin and I joked that we brought bad weather to every place we went to. Looking back, it rained on tropical Easter Island, it rained hard when we were at Iguazu Falls, and ... read more

As of yesterday I have officially finished my screen printing adventures in Arica, Chile. (well. we'll see if i'm really really done; I still have a week here so who knows) I came back from my trip wanting to have workshop style classes open to everyone. My previous classes were good and fun, but didn't seem to be the most advantageous to todos. I taught a select group of students and had really horrible attendance with the second group. So I talked to the dean and my supervising professor about having open workshops this week to whoever wanted to come. Now that the semester is over I can use the classrooms whenever I want. They were worried I wouldn't have any students, but a simple email and facebook message brought in more students in two days ... read more

29th April 2009 After another 12 hour journey, with no food we arrived in Tacna, hungry and with no where to stay. Once we found somewhere a rest was in order so we slept, waking up only for food and drink. Going out for dinner that night we realised that we hadn't missed much, Tacna is definately a border town and nothing else. The Italian food we had was nice though. 30th April 2009 Today it was time for a new country. So we crossed the border in a novel way via train, these are very rare in South America and as such it wasn't exactly the orient express. Even so it was a great way to cross and a lot less hassle than getting a taxi (the only other option)! As an extra special treat ... read more