Blogs from Arica & Parinacota, Chile, South America - page 18

After a few days chilling in Valparaiso, Tom and I spent a day traveling by bus to the most northern tip of Chile, a city called Arica. We explored town, walked up a mountain and had a great view of the city and came close to Jesus! :) We visited a mummy museum, and tho I am not super keen on museums it was really interesting to learn how the Incas lived and survived. I love that they lived for survival, there was no such thing as greed and power, just day to day hunting, weaving and survival... is only... Day two we went for a 3hr walk along the coast and explored the rock pools. There were hundreds of lizards and crabs everywhere! The crabs freaked me out, but Tom was fasinated. At night we ... read more

We hebben ook nog verslagen hieronder toegevoegd en ook nog foto´s bij meerdere verslagen!!!! Op 18 augustus zijn we ´s nachts vertrokken vanuit Cuzco naar Chili. De nachtbussen zijn zeer relax. Filmpje, dekentje, hapje, drankje... Op 19 augustus hebben we op de bus terminal van Arequipa de verjaardag van Onno gevierd met een kadootje. Een mooi boek van Peru! Jippie! Daarna door naar Tacna, aan de grens bij Chili. In een grote gare Amerikaanse bak zijn we met 6 personen de grens over gegaan naar Arica (kustplaats) in Chili. Alles ging zeer voorspoedig en we zijn eigenlijk nergens tijd verloren. Na 18,5u waren we in Chili! Na een hoop afdingen vonden we een mooi hostel met een heel lekker bed waar we van 21.00u tot 10.00u heerlijk hebben geslapen. We hebben ons op de 20e vermaakt ... read more

I hope my legs don´t break, walking on the moon. Back in Chile´s Atacama desert, after our brief jaunt in Bolivia, we had a spare day so decided to check out the Valley of the Moon. This is where, over centuries of high winds and floods, the sand and stone formations have come to resemble the surface of the moon. Having seen another lunascape in Namibia, we were considering ourselves veterans of this type of thing. This time though, we went for our visit at sunset and as the low light hit the rocks they started to glow red as the sky turned purple, all set to a backdrop of white capped volcanoes. Nice, and a definite improvement on the Namibian experience. Then it was time to head north again. Our last port of call in ... read more

. Chile In the last two years I´ve crossed about two dozen borders but this is the first new country I´ve visited in that time. Same time zone as Toronto and New York even though its on South America's west coast. Not ¨Chillie¨ but ¨Chee-lay¨ unless you want people down here to put that puzzled look on their face that means - ¨What´s this gringo trying to say?¨ Crossing the border is an ordeal. Lot´s of banned items like fruit, vegetables, milk and cocaine.They x-ray all baggage. The border guards have those fur hats with ear flaps that gives them that intimidating Russian-border-guard look and seems to give them that old bureaucratic attitude. Even travelling within the country from state to state, the luggage searches are more intense than most other international border searches. Apparently its ... read more

Lonely Planet has summarized that “the most lasting impressions you’ll take away of Chileans is undoubtedly of their renowned hospitality, helpfulness, genuine curiosity and heartfelt eagerness to make travelers feel at home”, maybe this does not apply to Arica….. I have had the opportunity to visit this northern most city of Chile during the Semana Santa weekend. It’s a port city and also a stopover for tourists who are border crossing to Peru. Arica is quite a nice place to spend a weekend despites those unfriendly locals and tasteless food. El Morro de Arica, the commercial area at 21 Mayo Street, beaches, the fish market near the Arica Port, Iglesia San Marcos, Isla de Alcran etc are a few interesting places worth visiting. Iglesia San Macros is designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the same engineer who ... read more