Blogs from Arica & Parinacota, Chile, South America - page 16

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South America » Chile » Arica & Parinacota June 14th 2008

The most popular gringo route from Chile or Argentina to Bolivia is to go through the Atacama desert, stay at San Pedro and then do a jeep tour of the salt flats. We wanted to do it a bit differently, so we decided to fly to Arica, on the coast of Northern Chile then head up to Bolivia stopping at Putre and then Parioncota. It turned out to be such a worthwhile and interesting trip, all the more so because it was a little off the beaten track and we often had places all to ourselves. It turned out that our impulsive decision to use some of our LAN credit and fly was a very lucky one, because all the trucks were on strike over the price of gas (petrol I should say). They were blocking ... read more
burning off some rubbish in Arica
The beach, Arica
A street in downtown Arica

South America » Chile » Arica & Parinacota » Arica June 9th 2008

Arica foi o primeiro lugar que senti dificuldade em entender o espanhol, não sei se porque falam muito rápido ou usam palavras um pouco diferentes, mas tive algumas dificudades. Também é impossível não citar o quanto o povo do Chile é difrente, primeiro porque a população em geral é composta por maioria branca, o que não tínhamos visto desde o início da viagem e segundo porque dá perfeitamente pra diferenciar o descendente indígena chileno dos peruanos e bolivianos. Talvez pela própria situação social da cidade, notavelmente mais rica que as que passamos até agora, o até mesmo um fatopr cultural chileno, mas nos assustamos ao perceber que os carros paravam para que as pessoas pudessem atravessar a rua. Lindo! Andamos bastante no dia de hoje, íamos ao museo arqueológico, onde se encontram as mais antigas múmias ... read more
Pôr do sol chileno
Civilização
Nosso Hostal

South America » Chile » Arica & Parinacota » Arica April 25th 2008

Santiago Our spectacular bus trip through the Andes brought us down to the smoggy Chilean capital of Santiago, situated in a deep valley. Most backpackers in Santiago have either just arrived or about to leave the continent and don´t really stay long, but we again had some local hosts to show us around. I had met a group of local girls while travelling in Central America and they had given us the tip to stay at a relaxed hostel in the lively suburb of Bella Vista. The rooftop bar was perfect for drinking our precious bottle of Argentinian Torrontes wine (we just couldn´t tell the locals it was Argentinian, due to their big rivalry). The girls met us that night and we caught up over some Pisc-ola´s (the national grape spirit- Pisco, and cola) and we ... read more
Santiago
Santiago Horizon
Valparaiso Streets

South America » Chile » Arica & Parinacota » Arica April 3rd 2008

Today was a travel day as I´m on my way to Arequipa, Peru. Having had a comfortable ride on my way from Calama I set out to see Arica for only a few hours before heading off to Peru. My only real goal was to hit the beach and dip my feet in the Pacific (something I try to do for some reason when I encounter a major body of water). Arica is somewhat drab but isn´t without some charm. Somewhat strangely, Arica is a surfing town. Apparently, Arica´s treacherous waves host high-profile surf championships. The biggest breaks are north of town but I did see some pretty big waves at the beach I strolled along just south of the city centre. The border crossing was an adventure, not that it was difficult, just time consuming. ... read more
perfect location for a restaurant
macro flower shot
Iglesia San Marcos

South America » Chile » Arica & Parinacota » Arica February 25th 2008

In a city called Arica now. It is on the Peruvian and Bolivian border in the north of Chile. Arrived here last night from San Pedro de Atacama. Since I last wrote I have been on 37 hours of bus rides, eaten by weight in empanadas and have had more sand in my shoes to fill a child´s sandbox! Stayed in a little hostel in San Pedro off the beaten path. The city itself was actually super bizarre. In the last ten years, it has really boomed with tourists, so that is pretty much what the city is all about. There were more tourists in the streets than locals and every corner had internet cafés and nice restaurants. I am really glad I visited because there is a good reason that people flock to this desert ... read more
Reflection
Geysers del Tatio
just liked the light in this shot

South America » Chile » Arica & Parinacota » Arica February 18th 2008

Summary in English: We moved to the Tacna - the town on the Peru-Chilean border from the Arequipa. We took a taxi transfer car from there to cross the border. We decided for the taxi after few not very sucesfull tries to get information about bus. The cross of the border was easy going and taxi took us to the bus terminal in Arica. We did not have any plans where to go next. So we studied there information from our Lonely Planet. Because we were finally down from the high altitude enjoing hot wheather, we wanted to stop at the ocean somewhere. And we found out that the Arica is a popular beach place for the Chileans. So it was decided. We stayed in Arica. It was wery late to look for an accomodation. So ... read more
Pust
Ulice Aricy
Ulice Aricy

South America » Chile » Arica & Parinacota » Arica January 29th 2008

Matt writes - Arica was a warm relief after the rain and altitude of La Paz as Emma and I travelled with a Norwegian Hannah, Swede Anders, and Dutchman Jip. We had a confusing half an hour at the Bolivian/Chilean border where the bus conductor took the passports from everyone for checking elsewhere, whilst we missed another fantastic view of a snow capped volcano in the distance obscured once again by grey clouds. Our journey would take us through the beautiful national park of Lauca, although the weather would deny us this view also. Refreshments were taken at the beginning of darkness and a slither of orange sunset could be seen in the distance as we hoped for better weather at our destination. Our excitement was fuelled as we drove into town and past pedestrians clad ... read more
End of a Great Day
Lets do Lunch
Old boys club

South America » Chile » Arica & Parinacota » Arica January 27th 2008

we came down from puno on the night bus, took 9hours and we slept alot of the way, we got into tacna, southern peru, and walked out of the bus station to get a taxi to the train and pulled a taxi over asked to go to the train station, he said he understood, agreed on price got in and he took us to his mates at the collectivo station which we didnt realise got out paid him while being hasselled by his mates walked inside realised it was not the train station and was totally unimpressed. i couldnt not have been more pissed off espec since it cost us 5soles. but managedf to get a collectivo for 12soles into chile and could not have been faster or easier to get here. we then decided to ... read more

South America » Chile » Arica & Parinacota » Arica January 23rd 2008

Hi everyone! Ive got a few pictures here of Arica. The first ones are from New years that I spent with my friend Benni and some people he works with in La Paz! Then I have some photos of me on the ¨job¨.... I dont have much more to write because the pictures are more than explanitory. Leave comments, ok?... read more
downtown
Cathedral
Big Benni

South America » Chile » Arica & Parinacota » Arica January 22nd 2008

Hola de nuevo a todo el mundo, después de nuestra experiencia Macupichena decidimos cambiar de aires y nos fuimos a Arequipa (al sur de Peru y camino de Chile) y es allí donde vino a nuestras vidas Lola 7 (nuestra nueva guitarra y futura compañera de fatigas). Asi pués, llegamos a Arica (la primera ciudad del norte de Chile) cruzando la frontera desde Tacna. Alli acompañados de una multititud de gelatinosas medusas disfrutamos de las aguas del pacífico. Esa misma noche cogimos un bus hacia San Pedro de Atacama (un pequeño y encantador pueblo turístico en medio del desierto de Atacama) y plantamos nuestra tienda en un camping donde entró en acción nuestra nueva amiga Lola 7 a quien se unieron cantando toda la juventud chilena con la que pasamos 2 dias de muy, muy buen ... read more
Ivan y Rocio en un autobus Peruano de camino a Chile flipando con la cholita que cortaba el cordero con el autobus en marcha
Rocio e Ivan haciendo el subnormal en la playa de Arica (al norte de Chile)
Rocio y Aimar pedaleando en el desierto




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