Arica, Chile

ARICA Stopover and the MAN and the DESERT Tour

Tuesday 3rd April 2012

Only a part of Chile since the War of the Pacific in 1879 (it originally being a seaport of Peru), ARICA is the most northerly city in Chile and is a major seaport and transportation centre, not only for northern Chile, but also for the southern Tacna Region of Peru and totally landlocked Bolivia to the east too.

The central plaza, where we started the “Man and the Desert” tour, is dedicated to Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) and with a statue bearing his image.

It is apparently always a hub of activity and we were welcome there by (what is becoming a common appearance) a brass band and the usual arts and crafts street vendors.

Up some steps at the top of this plaza is the Catedral de San Marcos, which dedicated to San Marcos de Arica, who founded the city in 1570. 

It was designed by the world famous architect Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (designer of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France) during the 19th century.

Built from iron, it was moved to ARICA, Chile from ILO, Peru where it was originally erected, after being made in and the then shipped over to South America from France.

The (Old) Customs Building (Aduana) in ARICA is also an Alexandre Gustave Eiffel design, although only used today for special exhibitions.

The coastal ATACAMA DESERT, which stretches out inland from ARICA, is the driest place on Earth and save for a few oases, it is barren and is often compared to the lunar surface. 

As can be seen, it also has some very unusual advertisements too, as can be seen from the Coca Cola one etched onto the side of the hillside just outside ARICA.

We visited some amazing sculptures at Pampa Chaca, which we made out of concrete by a local artists some 15 years ago based on INCA designs and symbols and were strategically placed right out in the ATACAMA DESERT.

From here we continued back towards ARICA and then turned up into the fertile AZAPA VALLEY. Which enables its inhabitants to grow the necessary fruits and vegetables (in greenhouses) to sustain the population of the region.

We even saw some red wine bottles growing on trees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are also many Olive Groves which produce most of the olives for olive oil used for domestic consumption in Chile. The industry is run by several of the local families in the AZAPA VALLEY from farms dotted up and down the valley.

The San Miguel Archaeoligical Museum is also located in the AZAPA VALLEY, housing a collection of pre-Columbian artifacts and several mummies preserved in sand from ages ago.

After returning to ARICA, we had a few hours free time, to shop in the local markets (of which there were several) and also on the pedestrianised shopping street before returning to the MS VEENDAM and leaving ARICA and Chile behind us, as we sailed towards PISCO (General Martin), Peru.