Blogs from Arica & Parinacota, Chile, South America - page 7

As we woke up in the morning and looked out the window, a dramatic change in the landscape was apparent, with endless deserts, sand covered hills and sand dunes. We'd been going for nearly 24 hours but would still have another five to go on this 2000km journey into northern Chile. We had slept pretty well (all things considered) in the 'semi-cama' reclining aeroplane style seats. Buses here can be very luxurious with some of the posher options even having seats that stretch out completely horizontally, forming a full on bed! Not for us long-termers though. As we reached Arica at 1pm and stepped off the bus, we were hit by the nice warm weather and sunshine that was rather lacking in Santiago (at least in our opinion). Once inside the terminal we attempted to locate ... read more

We soon settled back in Putre in Chakana mountain lodge and having been a wee bit stagnant for some time we decided on another trek, John decided it was time for me to learn how to repel, Oh lordie! We climbed a nearby "hill" (my arse Mallorey would have been proud of me) Again I am reminded how I love to trek but just don't get the same satisfaction from climbing, Perhaps I am spoiled and not at all versed on the gratification of achieving such heights (pardon the pun). We reached the top much to my amazement and tried to find a spot to tie off the anchor (I hope I'm getting the repelling jargon correct) I was doubtful of my abilities but decided I needed to "cowboy up" and just go for it, We ... read more

Another sleepless night, I am tired and irritable, Breakfast, then I inspected my feet from Sunday when they blistered badly, still a little raw so I cleaned them put Sangre de Drago on the wounds and covered them with second skin and tape, boots on and off we went. We started at the hot springs with the intention of climbing colorful mountain about a 6-8 hour climb. It was arduous from the beginning and I was feeling the altitude immediately, when we reached the top of the first mount the views were gorgeous, We climbed across the range which was difficult and put a lot of pressure on the knees, I was breathing hard, John was ascending like a mountain goat, I on the other hand resembled a lame baby elephant. We had been on the ... read more

We caught a bus to Putre a wee village 3 hours away from the coast, The journey was cold and after being used to the heat it really chilled me, Its a gradual climb up to 3500 metros and my ears were popping like hells bells. We hit bad fog and could only see a few feet ahead but we kept climbing and eventually emerged above the fog, The valley walls were visible high up but with a blanket of fog in between like marshmallows or cotton wool even though we were experiencing clear blue skies above. In Putre we acclimatized, The hostel or in this case Lodge is Chakana, run by avery friendly welcoming couple who are German/Chilean, the place is pretty, rural and very homely. Its hot as hell during the day when the ... read more

Arica is quite a large town nestled on the coast a handful of miles from the Peruvian border. Being a border town which once had the biggest silver mine in the world and copious amounts of nitrate deposits not far south it has been hotly fought over in bygone years. There is a large sandstone cliff at the south end of town known as El Morro de Arica and during the war of the Pacific in the 1870s Peru defended Arica as it was in there hands, In 1880 the city fell to Chile in a battle known as the desert campaign and Peru left, content to take Arequipa instead, Boliva once had claim to this area also but lost it to Chile in doing so also lost it port and is now land locked, Relations ... read more