An awesome day in Chile!

This was one of the greatest days of the trip! First the took a look at Arica, which is a beachcommunity and quite rich it seemed (but that could be a contrast between Bolivia and Chile, I don’t know). There is a clean shopping street with lots of fashion. The most important sights of Arica are the Morro, a steep and tall hill that looks like an enormous dune, and the church. The church was designed by Gustave Eiffel (who off course also designed the Eiffel Tower). The church in Arica looks a bit fairytale like but it is completely made of iron.

 

The Morro can be climbed but we would do that the next day. Today we walked around it to the pier. It was such a weird thing to be at the Pacific Ocean after spending three weeks in the Andes. Instead of mountains there were palm trees around us. Aart seemed to be feeling better as well. The pill were working and the change of scenery was very refreshing.

 

We went down to the pier and the lighthouse and it turned out there was an international bodyboard contest happening.

Arica apparently has one of the best and highest waves of the world! Since it came on our path by coincidence we stayed for a while, watching the surfers together with a whole crowd while there was a guy with a loudspeaker announcing the surfers from a stage and a jury panel. Later on we climbed to the lighthouse to have a better view.

 

We spent the day in the streets of Arica (one day is more than enough though, and there is a lack of good restaurants). There were all sorts of things to be seen, like the market, and a demonstration at the municipal hall as well.

 

Then we headed out for dinner and we heared a lot of noise. There was music playing, like a parade. In the main street there were dancing groups coming by in colorfull costumes with marching bands behind them. Each group had its own theme, like Andean peoples or gangsters or many more. It started at 6 pm but we don’t know for how long it continued because we left 6 hours later at 12 o ‘clock! Meanwhile we had something to eat in the same street, so the dancers were jumping past me only at arm’s length! It turned out to be the Bolivian independence day, and since there are so many Bolivians living in the north of Chile, it was abundantly celebrated in Arica as well. What lucky bastards we were.