Arica
Trip Start
Nov 03, 2004
1
37
165
Trip End
Nov 23, 2006
Arica,
Chile
Thursday, June 2, 2005
Foreign Office is recommending only essential travel, La Paz is
totally blockaded and they're running out of food and fuel, four days
ago there were 400 people trapped in the bus station in Cochabamba
(trying to get out, either of the bus station or town) and they're
tear gassing the main square. Every paper in Arequipa is leading
today with something along the lines of "Bolivia on the brink of
civil war".
Being on a bus to Chile now seems like the correct decision
San Marcos by Eiffel
. Therewas a confusion at the Bolivian border when the migration official
asked David for money, David got a bit huffy, they led him away ...
the migration official collected foreign currency and did David have
any New Zealand money? There was a confusion at the Chilean border
when the migration official couldn't understand I had two middle
names and not one middle name and two last names (not helped by that
being the norm here and my second middle name being Anderson).
But then we were in northern Chile again - all grey, scrubby, desert
plains covered in pyramid tussock, plastic bags and the odd scraggy
thorn tree. The plains were bisected by sharp sided canyon oasis.
Beautiful, fertile pockets of olive and citrus groves. In fact, our
experience of Iquique and Arica was like we had been transplanted
back to north Africa. It was all idyllic, seaside, perfectly paced
sunny days, filled with leisurely outdoor drinks and light, fresh,
herb and citrus based fish dishes (fish so fresh it didn't even know
it was on the plate yet) ..
Things to do with breasts
. and rotten coffee, so you couldn'tforget you were in Chile.
Because of the nitrate mining Iquique was once a boom town (this
would be a much more pleasing statement if the nitrates hadn't been
used for fertiliser). Now, the nitrates are exhausted and, in an
effort to keep people from abandoning the town, the government has
established it as a tax-free zone - new camera finally attained.
Reflecting its glory days, Iquique has a wonderful collection of
stone public buildings and a fine church - all painted in funky,
Mediterranean colour combinations. It also has an impressive
collection of 19th century wooden buildings. Because all the money
hit town at once a large proportion of the buildings in town were
constructed within a few years of each other. They are slowly
restoring the main street, which currently looks a bit like a wooden
Coronation Street, but the addition of wrought iron lampposts, a
boardwalk, outdoor cafes (serving crap coffee) and light-up fountains
gives it a definite Disneyland feel.
Skill development opportunities afforded by Iquique: due to
inadequate match between door and key - breaking into hotel rooms via
the window;
Foodie experiences: marisco ceviche for David's first lunch (made up
of completely unidentifiable pieces of completely unidentifiable
shellfish of the chewy, fluted, orange variety and rubbery, frilled,
black variety); guava pisco (pisco is the clear, frightening, local
brandy); piquante rabbit and potato stew for me on the first night;
and prawn risotto for David the following night.
Like Iquique, Arica is a pleasant seaside town. It is more touristy
and is the choice, apparently, of wealthy Bolivians for their summer
holidays and, presumably, during periods of civil unrest. The town
is dominated by a giant light-up Jesus on the promontory above the
town. The statue was constructed in a joint Chile-Peru initiative to
celebrate the cessation of the War of the Pacific (a border dispute
between Chile and Peru!!!). At sundown every evening the buzzards
circle it ...
It was worth a stop just to visit the church of San Marcos. The
entire church (except the door) is fashioned from cast iron and was
designed and fabricated in Paris in the workshop of Guatave Eiffel
(yes, that Eiffel)
The church is not painted in particularly funky colours but the City
Council is throwing a public art exhibition that went well beyond
funky ... erected in the main thoroughfare are huge photographic
canvases of body painting subjects. We just happened to wander into
the public opening ceremony - there were no sousaphones - but,
apparently, there is no limit to what you can use paint to turn a
breast into.
Skill development opportunities afforded by Arica: improvement of
developing skill - breaking into hotel rooms via the window;
Foodie experiences: hot chocolate flavoured with cloves.
