Arica
 Strolling the Town

Saturday July 21

Well those three hundred nurses made quite a ruckus last night. The hotel manager had assured me that it was not going to be a loud affair. I assumed he probably was right. After all, they're just nurses, right?  Since the hotel was devoted to feeding the nurses, we drove down to a restaurant on the beach and enjoyed an excellent meal. It sounded like a fairly tame dinner banquet was in progress when we returned shortly before 10pm. I drifted off to sleep shortly before midnight. Lynn and I were both jolted awake a little after 1am by someone using a microphone turned up loud enough to carry their voice throughout the entire city. I was so astounded that I pulled on some clothes and strolled into the lobby to ask what was going on. The night manager assured me that the event would be over in "5 or 10 minutes." 

Well, the guy talking on the microphone did stop after about an hour, but then the dancing and music commenced. I managed to tune it out well enough to get a few short snatches of sleep, but apparently the rest of my family had little success.  Somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00am, a woman in the room next door to ours went out, slammed her door, and commenced screaming at everyone. Then the noise stopped. I didn't have a pen and paper handy, but I wanted to write down some of the words she was using. They seemed to have worked quite well. 

Needless to say, we slept in later than we were intending. Fortunately, we had a casual day planned, and the late start caused no real problem. We simply waited until everyone had finally dragged themselves out of bed, and then drove downtown to  walk the pedestrian zone of the city. The kids were looking for the new Harry Potter book (no luck - the Spanish edition doesn't come out till the 23rd, and no store in Arica is planning on stocking the English version), and Lynn and I were hunting for a few other miscellaneous travel supplies. 

We noticed a hardware store and bought both a funnel for our extra gas can and a hammer and chisel for rock collecting. What odd souvenirs these gringo tourists take a fancy to. Trying to communicate that we we wanted to collect rocks and not pound nails or work with wood in any manner challenged our Spanish faculties. "Yes, we are traveling sculptors, and we came here to make our mark on the face of El Morro. Please don't tell the Carabineros."

Eventually they understood and we got what they promised is a chisel that won't chip when we bang it on rocks.  After lunching at a hip cafe with the best assortment of salads I've seen in Chile, we next went to the "Feria Internacional"  to buy woolen blankets and coca tea from old women in tourist stalls. These are important supplies (blankets and tea but not the old women) for our impending foray up into the high altiplano.  Now we're totally ready. I hope. 

The fog never quite completely burnt off, but the weather was pleasant enough to enjoy playing on the beach during the afternoon. The air smelled fresh and good. Lynn gave us a half joking, half serious reminder,  "Enjoy the oxygen while while you can!"

The mini-Gibralter  of Arica is known as "El Morro."  The giant rock is the northern terminus of the Chilean coastal cordillera, which extends southward for well over a thousand miles. The family is standing in front of a statue of the "Great Liberator" (from the Spanish), Bernardo O'Higgens.

Another intriguing landmark in Arica is this attractive, intriguing, and slightly funky church, designed by the French architect Eifel. While more colorful, it is slightly smaller than his tower in Paris.

Pedestrian zone on  "Avenida 21 de Mayo." There is also a "Avenida 18 de Septiembre" in Arica. I know why there is an "11 de Septiembre" in Santiago, but I haven't read why these dates deserve a road named after them yet. 

Beach! Arica has long, (relatively) clean beaches, and is visited by surfers from around the world. Closer to downtown, we passed a busy playground on the beach, lined with ice-cream and coffee shops. But we also passed huge, locked up and rusting water parks, unused public swimming pools, and other signs of a previously more vibrant tourist industry and/or social activity in general. A long line of rusty dormant mid-size tankers flank the central port. Although Arica is attractive and much more pleasant (to me) than Iquique, the sense of decline is pervasive. It's a bit sad, but simply the way it is, I guess. These cities are awfully far away from anything else in order to really thrive off of tourism. Surf bums aren't known to be extravagant spenders. I'm guessing that the modern mining industry uses technology that employs fewer and fewer people. Yet the weather is good, the beaches are beautiful, and the zona peatonal is still a happening scene. There's little choice but to smile and enjoy it when you're here.

-Rolf