Back to the sea

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- FOOD: 3 course meals at lunch are the cheapest way to eat. But I don't think Chile has a 'dish'.

- PEOPLE: So very friendly (but do they really speak Spanish?) - totally surprised as the Chileans have a reputation of being snobbish. Lots of gypsies and fortune tellers.

- AREA: A bit run down and tacky. The plaza isn't great but has an Eiffel designed iron church. Street full of posters of naked people covered in paint! Restaurants with staff that aren't in a hurry to serve. El Morro cliff with war museum at top and fab views.

- WEATHER: Very windy!


Wed 8th: Lee has persuaded me to go the Galapagos Islands after all (how can I POSSIBLY do a trip to South America and not?). I have enough time now it looks very unlikely that I'll return to Bolivia where threats of civil war have been announced.

So I missed out Iquique and went straight to Arica which is very near the border of Peru.
A very friendly taxi man took me a very friendly hostel - the man running it took great care showing me where all the light switches were bless him. A room to myself with a bathroom and cable TV - YEAH. I can only last 3 days of sharing before getting my own room again! It was nice to doze the morning away, watching films.

When I dragged myself out of bed to walk around the town, I found it didn't have a great feel to it and seemed a bit tacky and run down. I suppose it is a border town but I was expecting more as it's a holiday destination for Chileans with it's expanses of beach.

Everyone in this place seems to speak a different language to Spanish and I had great trouble understanding their mumblings but they were all SO friendly - so much for Chile's reputation of being a bit snobbish and unfriendly. I haven't found that at all.

The plaza wasn't very nice and there's lots of building work going on. But it has a cute church made purely of iron and designed by Gustave Eiffel. The best bit about the town was a walkway full of huge posters of body painted people - very revealing and the teenage school kids heaven!

I got irritated as I sat in 2 different restaurants for about 20 mins not getting served but eventually found one on the main street where all the shops are with a friendly waiter and 3 course meal for very little money (it's by far the cheapest way to eat here instead of eating in the evening).
The area was packed with gypsies and fortune tellers who were very persistant but the police were also very persistant in moving them on.

I walked up the cliff El Morro where the views were great and went to the museum at the top which was all about the war Chile fought with Peru to gain Arica. Not such a nice museum (well not for me anyway) but lots of people there as the war was won on June 7th so this week is the anniversary week.
The Christ the Redeemer statue wasn't Rio standards but the beaches look quite nice.

I was surprised at how windy and cold Arica is and also surprised by the lack of people in the streets as I thought they'd all be partying this week. So I went to bed early to appreciate all the films!

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