Blogs from Arica, Arica & Parinacota, Chile, South America - page 12

I never thought Valparaiso could feel so much like home. After my two-week excursion to the north, I was thrilled to return. My trip consisted of a mix of tourism, education and culture shock. It was by far the most unique thing I’ve ever done in my life. But first, I need to catch up on events from before my departure. This entry is a bit longer than the others because there’s a lot to cover. I experienced two fundamental aspects of the Chilean culture in the week before my trip. The first was what they refer to here as a “temblore,” or earth shake. In the Midwest we would call this the Armageddon. Quite literally, the earth shook violently for a solid ten seconds. I was in a café with my Spanish class (yes, I ... read more

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