Moving on Up! (Valparaíso to Arica)

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Here's the long overdue account of my post-paradise adventures!

First, though, I want to thank whatever kind soul worked to recover my previous two blog entries, wherever you are you are appreciated!

Now, where to begin...

My last night in Valparaíso was a little sad. As things turned out I really liked my host family and didn't really want to say goodbye. I truly felt like I was part of the family when I was living there and I still feel part of the family even though I'm gone. I hope to see them again, but if I don't we drank well to our goodbye with some delicious Cuban rum and then took crazy photos all around. Salud familia!

And then I left, ten o'clock at night I boarded the bus to La Serena, an overnight bus that arrived at five a.m., when everything was still cold and dark. Miserable? Yup, I missed my family within the first eight hours of being gone but the misery was short lived. Since I had already visited La Serena I decided to skip the waiting for the sun game and just hopped a bus to my next destination, Copiapó, a kind of stopover point on your way north in Chile and a staging point for anyone who wishes to visit the Parque Nacional Nevado Tres Cruces, la Laguna Verde, y Ojos del Salado. The city was not terribly interesting but I spent a day walking around and visiting the Museo Mineralogico. I tried to get myself out to the National Park but because of poor weather no one was being allowed in the park so I passed.

My next stop was a ten minute spree in Antafagasta which was spent sprinting through the streets looking for an ATM to fill up my cash reserves before heading to San Pedro de Atacama where the ATM only works when it wants to. After another five hours of bus travel from Antofagasta I arrived late in San Pedro, a touristy village located in the Atacama desert with great access to the somewhat famous Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) and the Salar de Atacama (Salt Flat of Atacama). I stayed at the Abergue de San Pedro, a lively youth hostel where I shared a room with a Brit preparing for some sort of grueling desert race, and from here staged my exploration of the city (or village I should say, the population is less than 5,000 and exists almost exclusively for tourism). Relaxing it was, though filled with tourists, and I spent my first day on a bicycle, riding the full loop around the Valle de la Luna which took all day but was quite rewarding. The landscape was beautiful and I hardly saw another person the entire time although I did meet a another biker from France doing the same trip, just the other direction. When I finally made it back, I spent the evening in an amazing bar where local musicians came and played traditional music for tips, while a bonfire raged under an open roof which exposed the beautifully clear stars. It was a good day.

After this though, I was a little tired and felt like moving on so I only stayed one more day, visiting the archeological museum in the morning and then catching the next bus to my next destination, the mining town of Calama.

Here in Calama, I only spent one night and was disappointed to find out that the nearby Chuquicamata mine was closed to visiters for the day because it was a Saturday. The mine is one of the largest copper mines in the world, extracting 630,000 tons annually, and is a huge contributer to the Chilean economy which relies about 50% on copper exports, other exports being fruits/vegetables, wine, and fish. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed to have to miss the tour but not wanting to stay until Monday just to take a one hour tour, I moved on in the afternoon to Iquique, about seven hours north and a little west.

Here in Iquique I decided to stay a little longer as I was beginning to feel like I was rushing myself through cities and I wanted to stay a little longer in a single location to catch my breath and relax a little. Here I stayed at La Casa de Huespedes Profesores, a guesthouse run by teachers which I generally enjoyed although they were a little pushy about their tours.

I spent the first day simply wandering the city. Since it was a Sunday basically everything was closed so I decided to visit all the beaches where even in the winter the surfers were dressed in wetsuits and riding waves. I spent the whole day walking and managed to visit not just the beaches but also the charming central plaza where one can find the Torre Reloj, Teatro Municipal, and the Casino Español (Clock Tower, Municipal Theatre, and Spanish Casino). There was also a book fair going on in the central area and I picked up a book of Chilean stories (chosen for fifth graders) with which to keep up my Spanish.

The next day I took it very easy, staying around the hostel and mostly studying and trying to improve my Spanish vocabulary. I also planned the next couple of days which were quite fun although a little dizzying.

The first of these days involved my first time strapping up in a parachute to go paragliding. The adventure seemed necessary since Iquique is known as a paragliding mecca, and having already been skydiving and bungee jumping (and loving them both) I didn't expect to be bothered much by the jump. I was just looking forward to a new experience, and that it was. After about a half-hour of flying I was ready to come down, the slow gentle movements gave me motion sickness and when I landed I don't think I'd ever been so glad to be on solid ground in my life. I probably won't do that again but it was worth trying and I'm glad I went.

The next day I took a tour to some of the towns surrounding Iquique including the ghost town of Humberstone which housed the workers of the nearby Oficina Santa Laura-a sort of mining camp for nitrates-and their families. The oficina closed in the 60's when it was no longer profitable due to the development of synthetic nitrates and left the well developed town completely abandoned to the tourists like myself who now visit and see how people might have lived in older times. I found myself most interested in the local theatre where performers from Santiago would often visit, and to the large pool where they used to stage matches of water polo in the middle of the desert.

Next was a quick visit to the nearby geoglyphs, an art form created by arranging stone or dirt to create large negative of positive spaces which form pictures. In Iquique, this art is created on the sides of the many sand dunes that surround the city. Interesting to note is that the only reason these have been able to stay on the sides of the dunes unchanged as they have is the complete lack of rain in the area. The artwork is visible proof that this is a part of the world where there is literally no rain, as only one rainfall would be enough to remove it. It was very cool to see and the only regret here was that the tour did not also visit the Gigante de Atacama (Giant of Atacama), a very large geoglyph that is the largest archeological representation of a human in the world. Oh well.

We then visited a couple more living cities including Pica, a fruit producing village where the pica lime-the key ingredient to pisco sours-is made. The city is also known for its hot springs as well as an interesting legend concerning its beginnings. It's said that a Spanish explorer wanted to marry the daughter of a local chief and the chief replied that until the desert between Matilla and Pica bloomed he would not allow it. The Spaniard promptly irrigated the area bringing water, flowers, and the fruit that the city is now famous for. He also got to marry the chief's daughter. We spent about an hour here wandering around, buying fresh fruit, and gazing jealously at the locals who were enjoying the cool waters of a natural outdoor pool nearby.

Next, we went to La Tirana which is a relatively quiet town most of the year but explodes with thousands upon thousands of visitors in the middle of every July when the Fiesta de la Virgen del Carmen takes place. This week long festival is celebrated by almost non-stop dancing which has its artistic roots in traditional Inca ceremonies. Dancers come from all over northern Chile and the spectators come from even farther afield. Unfortunately, I missed this although I did get a taste. The dancers from the north of Chile featured in my last blog come from the same costume and dancing tradition, though I might say that after seeing them I want to see this festival even more. Maybe next time!

At this point I was ready to leave Iquique, I had made some new friends in the hostel but it was time to go. And what was next? Arica. The northern-most city in Chile where the surfing is also good (ie world class) and the sun is shining. Indeed, the residents of Arica refer to the city as La Ciudad de Sol Eternal, that is to say the City of Eternal Sun. It hasn't rained here in hundreds and hundreds of years, or at least as long as anyone can remember or find out. The architecture is a sign of this, the flat thinly patched roofs would be absolutely useless if it ever were to rain in Arica, and even my the main room in my hostel was completely open to the sun, the garden in the center of it being living proof!

Another interesting fact about this city is that it wasn't always part of Chile, it is actually some of the spoils of the War of the Pacific, a war that took place between 1879 and 1893 over the nitrate rich deserts (nitrate being used for explosives and fertilizer) that Bolivia and Chile before shared. When the battle began, it became clear that Peru had a secret alliance with Bolivia so Chile found itself facing two enemies. Despite this, and due to better trained and equipped forces, Chile was able to control the war although it lost 1,000,000 square miles of land in Patagonia to Argentina in a successful effort to peacefully keep the third neighbor out of the war. The battle concluded with Chile's victory, as the country managed to move as far into Peru as Lima before returning with Peru and Bolivia's surrender. And here I was staying at the foot of the Morro de Arica, a giant hill of rock where Chileans won a land battle of what became known as the Battle of Arica. It should be noted that although relations are now fairly normal between the countries, these wounds have never completely healed. And for the last historical tidbit, this war is why Bolivia is now a landlocked country.

That said, my main reason to stay in Arica was to have a homebase for visiting the nearby Parque Nacional Lauca. I opted for a tour since I could imagine no way of visiting the park otherwise and quickly left for a three day tour with our amable guide Mario and three other tourists from France.

The tour was a great experience and undoubtedly worthwhile. We left on a Saturday morning at 10:00 and spent the day driving to Putre, a mountain village set at 3,500 meter where we were able to begin acclimatizing to the higher altitude. On the way up, we first stopped at the Museo Arqueológico San Miguel de Azapa where the famous Chinchorro mummies are housed. These mummies, elaborately prepared by removing internal organs and replacing them with fibers and animal hair, were well preserved by both the mummification traditions of the Chincorro culture and by the dry desert. These mummies are the oldest in the world and outdate the mummies of the Egyptians by thousands of years. Other exhibits here include a detailed look at the developing lives of the pre-Incan and post-Incan cultures of the area.

Next, we visited a few more geoglyphs, and then drove up through the Azapa valley and another valley whose name I can't remember. These are very interesting because they are liked rivers of green that flow through the desert, fed by underground water and full of thriving agriculture. The flows of green in the middle of the dryest desert in the world are quite a sight to see! Next, we stopped to see some interesting candelabra cactuses, which are cactuses which survive by absorbing the scant bits of moisture in the air. At the same time we also learned the mysterious of the magnetic zone of Route 11. This zone, incorrectly named by the police, is an optical illusion in the road. The road looks like its going down but its really going up. This makes for fun if you want to see your car roll up a hill, which we did, twice. I've got a video to show of this when I get home.

We then walked an old Inca Trail for about an hour, and followed this by a visit to the small village of Socoroma where we took pictures and visited the small church. There was nobody at the city though because everybody who 'lives' here actually lives in Arica and the people only return for festivals.

Then, finally, after a few sporatic alpaca sightings and a quick visit to the 12th century Inca fortress Pukará de Copaquilla, we reached Puno where we settled into our hotel and had a delicious meal of alpaca (like the kind we had just seen) served with rice and a delicious bottle of Chilean wine. The conversation was good and we all slept well.

The following day we began our adventures into the Parque Nacional Lauca, the entrance of which is only about fifteen minutes driving from Putre so it didn't take long before we were entering the mountain pass that led to the enormous and beautiful altiplano, filled with wildlife including more vicuñas, llamas, alpacas, viscachas, flamingos, zorros and many different birds.

We started by taking a quick stop to view viscachas which are like rabbits with long tails and they hop like kangaroos. Then we moved on to some magnificent panaramas of the nearby volcanoes, which filled the horizon as we looked across the seemingly endless altiplano. Many more vicuñas were spotted as well as a few llamas, and we took a lot of photos as we moved towards the volcanoes, the most famous of which being the volcano Parinacota which reaches an altitude of 6,342 meters. Other volcanoes include the nearby Pomerape and the farther afield and still active volcano Guallatiri. As we moved slightly past the Nevados de Payachata (a collective name for Parinacota and Pomerape), we reached Lake Chungara, one of the highest lakes in the world (and officially the world's highest non-navigable lakeat an elevation of 4,517 meters. In front of the lake Alpaca grazed making for great photos of wildlife with the background of the lake and Parinacota.

Next, we visited the village of Parinacota where a local church displays very interesting artwork that represents the local interpretation of the Christianity that was brought to them. In one fresco the crucifiction is depicted with Christ surrounded by Spanish soldiers, as these were the only soldiers the locals understood. In another fresco, the inferno is portrayed as a place with only women, suggesting that only women are condemned. We stayed here about forty-five minutes, I bought a postcard, and we moved on.

At this point, our day was almost over, but not quite! First we had the privilege of meeting Loli, a domesticated llama who loves cookies. As we drove past I called our her name from the window and she came running as quickly as she could chasing after our truck. We stopped to let her catch up and she quickly stuck her head right in the window looking for treats. We got out and had fun getting to know our new friend, and then kept moving.

Finally, to relax after a long day, we stopped at the Termas de Las Cuevas where a local family runs hot springs. There were three different pools and I quickly gravitated towards the hottest and enjoyed it thoroughly although after the spas Japan I was ready to go a little hotter. We then returned at ate dinner at the same delicious restaurant over another bottle of red wine.

The next and final day of our tour, we prepared to head towards the Salar de Surire (Salt Flat of Surire) where we expected to see even more wildlife before returning back to Arica. On the way there we saw the diverted river Lauca which runs water from Bolivia briefly into Chile in order to provide Arica with a source of electricity. We also stopped in a tiny village that contains only three families, families our tour guide says are always arguing. One family is Protestant, the second Catholic, and the third Jehovah's Witness. The village also contained a tiny church, the door was only about half my height, and I didn't figure out whose church it was.

Following this, after more driving, we reached the salt flats which encompass a type of wetland where flamingos abound. There are three different types of flamingos here, the Chilean Flamingo, the James Flamingo, and the Andean Flamingo. From a distance I never knew which one I was looking at but I enjoyed the scene nevertheless.

Next, we made one final stop before heading home and that was another hot spring known as Polloreque, completely natural and smelling of sulfur. We had a picnic here at 4,200 meters and the wind chill kept everyone out of the hot springs except myself because I couldn't resist. They were more warm than hot and the first minute after stepping out was damn cold but I made it ok. Then, about four hours later, we made it all the way back to Arica and concluded the tour. Mario, our tour guide, immediately went off to Iquique to prepare for another tour which was the next day, and the rest of us went out to dinner and exchanged pictures before parting ways.

At this point my adventures in Chile were almost complete, but I took a few extra days in the city because I got some kind of bug and was bed-ridden for a few days. I survived, but I'd like to give a special thanks to the owners of the Hotel Buenos Aires for taking good care of me while I was stuck in their home.

Finally, as I was feeling better, I made one last trip in Arica which was a walk to the not-so-nearby Playa Corazones (Hearts Beach) which took me the whole day because the walk turned out to be a nice 25km. It was worth it though, the crashing waves against the rocks and the cliffs painted white by the multitude of birds, as well as a sea lion colony, made the day quite an adventue.

I was ready to leave though, and the next day I hopped on a bus to cross the Chile-Peru border which is where I'll cut off this blog. I'm still three cities behind on writing but I imagine that this is long enough already so I'll save the whole of Peru (that I see) for the next blog.

As a final note, I encourage everyone to look and see if there's any way could support the earthquake victims in Peru. Here I see lots of drives for food, water and blankets, and I imagine agencies like Red Cross are already working overtime to gather relief from other parts of the world. The earthquake that took place August 15 was close to a magnitute of 8.0 and claimed the lives of 503 Peruvian citizens, injuring another 1,042 and leaving more than 100,000 people homeless. Right now there are families left with literally nothing and are sleeping outside with no protection whatsoever and little to no food. Much of the infrastructure has also been destroyed, as well as many cultural monuments including churches that had previously stood hundreds of years. Cooperation goes a long way so I encourage your support if such drives are going on back home.

That concludes this, so until next time best wishes as always!

Brian

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Photos

Goodbye Family!
And off I went

Driest Desert in the World?
Maybe most of the time, it really doesn't rain farther north though.

A Long Way to Go
I was just hoping that this road would end somewhere familiar

Getting Ready to Jump off a Cliff!
Here's hoping the parachute is in good condition : )

Geoglyphs
See what you can pick out!

Giant Fruit
In honor of Pico's raison d'être

Chinchorro Mummies
The oldest in the world!

Welcome to the Altiplano
As far as you can see

Grazing Alpaca
With Lake Chungara and the Parinacota volcano in the background

Loli!
Look at that smile

The Smallest Church in the Altiplano
Right in the middle of the arguing village

Flying Flamingos
This means I got too close

Polloreque Hot Spring
Warm Water, Cold Air