Todays adventure was to explore and focus on the
archeological sites of Arica.
The tour arrangements for today were handled by my new
friend Darla Bernard from New York.
She
selected
Raices Andines as the tour
operator.
I had done some early research on this company prior to
signing up with Darla and was pleased to see it was highly recommended
on Viva Travel Guide Chile and also on Trip Advisor.
I read each of the 15 reviews on Trip Advisor,
which rated this company 4 out of 5 stars.
I was looking forward to meeting Orlando, the owner of the company as
his name was positively mentioned in almost every post.
In all but one of the reviews Orlando was the
tour guide and he received numerous accolades.
In addition, Darla had selected a company whose office was right in Arica so I
felt that was another plus.
Our ship docked at a working port again so we were not
allowed to walk off the pier. As soon as
Darla gathered the group together, we left the ship, boarded the free NCL
shuttle, and were quickly transported to the dock gates. Our van was scheduled for a 9am pickup and
arrived right on time. Unfortunately our
tour guide was not Orlando but instead, a young man named Nicholas. I
quickly assessed that Nicholas was very inexperienced as a tour guide. I actually had the feeling that this was his
first tour so at our first stop I asked him what his connection was to the
owners of the company. He confirmed that
he had just recently moved into the area, was just learning and that he was, in fact, related to the
owners. Unfortunately for us, he lacked some
of the basic skills needed to be an effective tour guide.
Just getting into our van proved to be a challenge. We had a small group, I believe the total was
14. I consider myself a relatively thin
person with a body mass index of only 18%.
I am 5’9” however and getting into this van proved difficult for me. Not only were the seats very narrow but my
legs jammed against the seat in front of me.
I found them to be smaller than any airline seat I had ever been
in. This made for somewhat of an
uncomfortable ride for the day.
Our first stop would be at
Del Morro de Arica and Museum.
It was a relatively short drive from our pickup point to the
top of the solid rock hill where Del Morro resides, about 450 feet above sea
level, affording stunning views of almost 360 degrees.
During our drive, Nicholas did little in the
way of narration or prepping us for our arrival.
After
we arrived I actually had to ask Nicholas how long we would be here and then disseminated
that information to the others on the tour.
Morro de Arica was
the last stance of the Peruvians during the War of the Pacific (1879-1883) and was
captured on June 7, 1880 by the Chilean troops.
From the top of the hill your line of sight can follow the coastline
north and take in views of Peru.
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| Entrance to the museum |
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| View looking north to Peru |
As we entered the war museum we noticed
a ticket booth but no one to collect money so we simply walked in. Mostly comprised of various uniforms and
cannons from the 19th century, this is worth going into if you enjoy
military history.
As we came out of the museum we ran into friends from the
ship who had decided to hike up the hill.
The paved footpath visible from anywhere in town starts at
the south end of Calle Colón. They say
to allow 10-15 minutes for walking up.
Even though our van was small, Nicholas did not use a
microphone and because he was very soft spoken it made his few remarks very
difficult to hear. Even when we would
ask him questions he normally had to ask the van driver the question first and
then reiterate the answer.
On our way to our second stop Nicholas made the following
statement “Arica has a population of 200,000 along with 30,000 dogs. We receive only 5 milliliters of rain per
year making this the driest desert on earth.”
Having lived in the Sinai Desert of Egypt for 3 months and also having
visited Lebanon, I found this hard to believe so I did a little checking
online. Live Science online lists Dry Valleys, Antartica as the driest place on earth with 0 rainfall. Nicholas was close however, Arica is listed
as #2 with 0.761
mm (0.03 in) per year. Egypt was down
the list at the #4 spot and Lebanon wasn’t in the top 10.
Second stop was the
Asoagro Farmers Market, the local fruit and vegetable market.
Here we took 20 minutes to walk through the
market.
On a walk through the
alleys you can get to know the different kinds of fruits and vegetables that
grow in the fertile valleys of the region (like the black olives of Azapa) and
also the products that are imported from the neighboring countries. I found it extremely clean and
organized compared to other markets I have been in.
If you
need to use the restrooms here be sure you take along some change.
Before you enter you will find a man sitting
in a booth to collect your $1.50 chillean pesos.
Not only does this get you in the restroom
but you will also receive a nice supply of toilet paper.
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| Olives, olives and more olives in the market |
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| Rows and rows of produce |
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| Meat counter in the market |
Next stop were the geoglyphs of
La Tropilla. If a stop here represents your first
geoglyph site then it is probably very impressive but I didn’t find this one
that amazing. It is quite close to the
side of the road however, making it easy to view. Originally Nicholas said these were over 1,000 years old but after questions about
what good shape they were in he conceded that they were ‘restored’ in the
1980’s. For about 2.5 miles, there are
approximately 14 panels of geometric, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic rock
designs scraped and chipped into the mountainsides. One hill displays a caravan
of llamas with its guide and two dancers, presumably representing the traders
connecting the coast and highlands. Our
guide joked that these geoglyph sites were used for navigation and
advertisement.
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| Obelisks marks the sites for the geoglyphs |
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| Geoglyphs just outside Arica |
As
we left the geoglyph site I spotted an advertisement for Club de Golf Río
Lluta. Being a golf enthusiast I really
wanting to make a detour to check out this 18-hole, Par 72 course composed
entirely of sand. Time didn’t permit however,
so we drove on.
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| The fertile Valle de Azapa |
Our next stop would be at the San Miguel de Azapa Museum. On
our way we would drive through the Valle de Azapa. This is the most renowned olive
producing region of Chile, with groves dating back to the 17th century. In
recent decades, farmers have also been growing tomatoes and tropical fruits
like mangos, maracuyas (passion fruit) and guayabas (guava). This valley has been inhabited by humans for several
millennia.
The first visitors to the area, the Chinchorro people, have left
behind some of the oldest known mummies in the world. These are currently on display at the Museum. There is a small entrance fee to the museum
but it was included in our tour price. The
museum has excellent chronological displays from the first human settlements
10,000 years ago to the colonial olive plantation that once thrived on these
grounds. On exhibition are the oldest
mummies yet uncovered and very fine weaving from later periods.
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| Mummies lined up like visiting a morgue |
At the end of the museum road you will
find a private floral and hummingbird farm Refugio Floral del PicaFlor de Arica and Floral ReFuge of Arica’s Hummingbird. I spotted a total of only 5 hummingbird but many,
many different types of plants and flowers, along with a lone Alpaca grazing
carelessly untethered. This is a private home and we met the owner
who has been living and working on the property since 1966. Around every corner is an eclectic collection
of items from mirrors to sofas to old typewriters. Truly a unique place to visit.
for olive and cheese tasting. We were escorted to outside seating at the
back of the restaurant where we were confronted with a caged ostrich. As we were waiting to be served, 2 local men sitting
a couple tables away kept yelling questions in our direction. I finally got up and walked to their table,
asking my Spanish speaking friend Marci to join me. These were local construction workers, one of
whom spoke relatively good English and was delighted that he could ‘practice’ his
English on us. I found it interesting
that he was familiar with Oregon and in particular, Eugene. He indicated he had been to Eugene when one
of his children decided to attend school there.
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| Locals engaging in English conversation |
Our samples finally arrived and we were able to taste 5
different types of cheeses which included goat cheese, cow cheese, cheese with
basil and cheese with peppers. We also
tried some local olives which I found to be very tart and unappetizing, though
several in the group thought they were delightful.
Our drive back to the ship took approximately 30 minutes and
took us by the coastal shoreline. I was surprised
that there were so few people on the beach but Nicholas commented that the
water here is fairly cold.
