Day 21 Feb 4 - Arica, Chile 8-6:00

 Day 21  February 4,2023  Arica, Chile

We visited the main square and St Mark's Cathedral.  Being unique in its design, the entire church is created from stamped and molded cast iron which is coated with paint, and it is considered to be among the greatest treasures of the city.  The Gothic Style was designed by Gustav Eiffel.  As we walked across the street from our ship, we passed through the festival site.  There was a lot of garbage every where.  The festival started last night and will end on Sunday.  

  

Our next stop was the Archaeological Museum.  We saw a lot of mummies.  Some had broken skulls as people would often fight over water.  We also saw weavings, pottery, jewelry etc.   

                                                Mummies

                                                   Alpaca and llama yarn and party remnants.

The guide could not say how this item kept an inventory of the people, but he said it did.  

                                                    Pottery and weavings.

The handicraft village we visited next offered lots of woven items, jewelry, pottery, etc.   

We also went to see the Geoglyphs.  Our day ended with a drive to El Morro.   El Morro rises 139 feet above Arica and offers great views below.

                                            View from El Morro of Ex Alacron Island.

                                    Geoglyphs - stones are from volcanoes and this is a mosaic technique.  

Christ on El Morro is 11m tall and 7 m wide.  Chile wanted him to face the ocean and Peru wanted him to face the town.  He faces the ocean.  
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Arica is a port city in northern Chile.  It is 18 miles south of Peru.  We could see the Peruvian border from El Morro.      At the location of the city are two valleys that  converge and dissect the Atacama Desert.  These valleys provide citrus and olives for export.

Arica was known as the “city of eternal spring” due to the pleasant weather. It is a popular tourist destination. The weather is getting a bit cooler in the winter.    

In 2021, UN human rights experts said they were concerned by the continuous devastating impact on Arica by toxic waste dumped by a Swedish company nearly 40 years ago.  This waste is exposed to the elements.  When the environmentalists and residents tried to sue the Swedish Company, the Swedish Supreme Court refused to hear the case because it was too old.  

Arica is an important port for a large inland region of South America and serves as a free port for Bolivia, shipping a substantial part of that country's trade.  In addition, it is the end station of the Bolivian oil pipeline.  The city's strategic position is  next to the Pan-American Highway and connects by railway to both Tacna in Peru and La Paz in Bolivia and is served by an international airport.

The carnival is in Arica for the weekend.  Last night, 1700 people danced their way down the street.  

Blue shirts are the next group of dancing performers ready to parade in front of the grand stands.

                                                                    Arica, Chile

                           This group of dancers was performing in front of the Grand Stands.

We were up on El Morro and the people in the street are getting ready to make the turn left and pass in front of the Grand Stands which are yellow and appear to be empty.  

These are bands that must have finished performing.  

El Morro overlooks Arica.  The battle that brought Arica to be a part of Chili from Peru was finished on El Morro.

Eiffel never came to Chile, but he did design two buildings.  

Fishing was a big industry in Arica, but over-fishing has put an end to it.  

There is very little rain in Arica, so little it is hard to measure.  The land surrounding the city is like a very dirty desert with lots of garbage around.  

The guide said there are years when there is no water in the stream bed.  There was a little rain in the mountains and it brought a little water to the stream bed.  The guide, Claudio has a theory that people who live in Arica don't own umbrellas.  The town desalinates the ocean for drinking water making water affordable if you don't use too much.  The Pacific and Atlantic Ocean breezes push the rain to the center of the land mass and that is where it rains.  

When we got off the ship, there were fruit sniffing dogs around.  Chile is very protective of the fruit they grow. Fruit flies are helpful and Chile breeds them and distributes them around Chile.