Canyon country

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December 17th 2009

Published: December 19th 2009

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amatth11

Humberstone

now deserted

Only a very short bus ride to Arica: 4hrs! Mind you it was pretty featureless, apart from the rocks by the side of the road arranged into words; I only wish I knew what they said! I figured one out.. But then again it was an advert for a rather well known drink. On leaving Iquique the road climbed a huge barren hillside; I was expecting mountains, but it turned out to be a plateau. Closer to Arica we dropped into a big valley - finally some colour and vegetation, but not a lot! I was one of three passengers on the bus, this made us equal with the staff! On arrival I walked to the hostel; just in time to get the last bed.
Next day dawned sunny (no surprises there), and I wandered into the town. Almost the second I left the hostel I spotted the cruise ship so naturally the town was awash with Americans, and there were prople singing in the street and a military parade - not sure if this was down to the cruise ship? I gave the port a wide berth... shame as there are sea lions there, and just ambled around. Saw the

the river valley

church - designed by Gustave Eiffel, and I went to the beach, but I realised I was just a little burned so headed for the hostel.
Next day I was up early, picked up by minibus and driven East, up a canyon for what felt like hours, the walls getting taller and taller, then we started switchbacking up them, going up and up and up. In places the landscape looked like you´d imagine Mars, and in others more like the skin of an elephant. I´d figured this was my last chance to see the altiplano for a while, so make the most of it. We saw all the different types of llama before we arrived on the altiplano - much wetter than the last time I was up there, and this time with snow capped volcanoes. I say wetter... all the while we were above 4000m we were followed by a thunderstorm, with occasional hail. Not that it worried me too much... I was too pre-occupied with "La Soroche" or altitude sickness; felt like flu without the runny nose. We topped out at over 4600m.... that´s about half the height of most commercial jet aircraft, and we were still on

army parade

gunfire in the streets

(admittedly patchy) tarmac! The tour guide actually brought me an oxygen cylinder for a few puffs and I felt a bit better, and one of the other passengers brought me some coco tea.... not entirely sure about that one...
We did see vizcuna(?) too, and these guys are sooooooo cute, and fast, too. The way down took in a few stops that strangely I didn´t pay much attention to, especially as it was now the tour guide driving, like a lunatic, overtaking lorries at 80 mph before trying to take the next bend rally style.... felt car sick as well.
OK, time to head for Peru, ciao for now.

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