A little bit of Arica by my side

A little bit of Arica by my side
The view of the Sea

 We arrived in the early morning in Arica, having taken the overnight bus from San Pedro. Arica was only to be our destination to break a long journey northwards so we only remained here for a few days. As I mentioned in our previous post we had arrived on Wednesday, a day that appeared to be the hangover cure day of all the mass celebrations. Our bus arrived earlier than anticipated so we waited at the bus station for a little while before heading to our accommodation in the North of the town.

Olivia enjoying the beach

When we arrived we found our accommodation relatively easily and was greeted by a very sweet lady who made us a hot drink and gave us some cake from her daughters birthday the day before. It was a great cake of layered pieces of pastry, cream, dulce de leche and strawberries. We felt well and truly spoiled. After enjoying our cake we headed for a nap before we left for the day to find an open shop and the beach.

The Pelicans in the sea

Arica is not the cleanest of cities but the beach was amicable and we watched the surfers for a while. A lot of our time here was spent doing a similar excercise as the next day we walked into town to find out about the bus to Tacna that would then take us to Puno. After this we headed to the Mall to get a bit of shopping before heading to the beach where we sat and watched some pelicans for a while, and even a vulture.

A random large reed boat we saw

Our final day here we were honored to have been taken to a local museum in the nearby Azapa valley where we learned about the how the local people had evolved over time. This was a very interesting museum with lots of information about how the people changed from being hunter gatherers, to farmers, to a collection of tribes and then finally the Inca people of the 16th Century. This was very interesting, in particular its large collection of Incan mummies that far surpassed any amount we'd seen before. We then briefly visited the Cathedral on the way home which was designed by the same man who made the Eiffel tower. When we got home the lady of the house had made us some fantastic peanut dip and the man had made us some Pisco Sour to try, which was all really nice and lovely. The people here have been very sweet.

Inside the Cathedral

We've really enjoyed our time in this dry area of Chile and in San Pedro as well. The people we've met have been really lovely to us and made us feel very welcome and at home. It's rather scary to think that we are now nearly in our final two months worth of travel. But alas time marches onwards and tomorrow we head off towards Puno, our first steps in Peru. Until then.
San Marco Cathedral


What next?

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Have a look at our Instagram as we explore Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in South America, it also holds the claim of the highest navigable lake in the world. 
Location: Arica, Arica y Parinacota Region, Chile

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