Arica

We arrived in the coastal port of Arica on the evening of the 12th April, and settled on one of the first cheap hospedajes we could find. Northern Chile’s Northernmost city is a hub of activity from the port to the university, and includes many immigrants from Peru (the border is very close) and Bolivia (being landlocked, the Bolivians have an agreement with Chile to use Arica as their export base). The only food we could find at that time of night was a McDonalds, so that is what we had.

The next day, we headed out and took in some sights, including the plaza, with it’s church and old aduana (customs house). We were again thwarted by the earthquake a few weeks earlier, because many of these places were closed. The animals in the area did not seem to have been too disturbed though, and we saw a tree full of nesting cormorants sitting in the middle of the plaza.

One of the main tourist attractions in the region; in fact in the whole of the Atacama, are the archeological sites. In Arica, this means mummies. The Chinchorro culture were the first people on Earth (as far as we know) to mummify their dead. The desert environment certainly helped preserve these bodies, and there are a few museums we decided to visit to view them. The first was Museo de Sitio Colon 10, which was located at the base of the huge Morro de Arica (mount of Arica) – a huge steep hill overlooking the city at 139 meters above sea level. We had to walk up many steeps roads to get to the almost hidden museum, but it was pretty good once we got there – if  not a little morbid!

The museum was bought for us as a hotel, but once they began digging out the foundations, the builders stumbled upon numerous ancient mummies which had been buried there. 32 mummies had been excavated when we visited, although there were rumors that the earthquake had damaged some. We did not see any evidence of this, but it was clear this museum was still in it’s infancy, and could benefit from some expert advice to present the findings better.

We have written about the mummies before, as the Chinchorro culture extended across Northern Chile and Southern Peru, and the mummies have been displayed in many museums we visited. It was interesting to see them as they were found though – surrounded by shells, plant mats and human hair wigs. These mummies were dated to between 2500BC and 2000BC – not the oldest in the world, and even Egypt’s mummies were dated back as far as around 3000BC. Being more recent, they reveal the most modern Chinchorro techniques of embalming and mummification, called the ‘red mummy’ technique – named after the red ochre clay masks that were placed to cover the face (once the brain had been removed – gross). The owner of the museum had realized the significance of the findings luckily, and so they are now kept in the positions they were found (there have been tests that determined there are more mummies, but they will be left undisturbed).

A viewing platform allowed us to see a bit more, as it was quite difficult to see through the glass at ground level. This had an added bonus of giving a nice view over the city from an outside balcony.

We decided to tramp the rest of the way up the Morro, and, with a few pauses for breath, made it up to the top. Once we got to the top, we noticed a large crowd had gathered in the main plaza making a lot of noise, setting of fireworks, etc.. It seems the Chilean league had been won by a Santiago-based team, called Colo Colo, and the people of Arica were celebrating for some unknown reason! I guess the Arica team sucks. Cars were honking their horns constantly from the streets below, and we could see fireworks and even flares being set off. We chose the right time to be outside of the center!

The views from the Morro across the Pacific and across the city were nice, and there were a few tourists (Chileans) around. We visited the Museo del Morro de Arica, where we learned that the Morro itself was the site of a decisive Chilean victory over Peru in the War of the Pacific. Arica was a Peruvian city, until the battle of Arica in 1880, when it became Chilean. The Morro was the last line of defense for the hapless Peruvians who were completely surrounded. Chile’s domination over the sea saw that they could position troops anywhere along the coast, and it was this that won them the war, and enabled a land grab which saw Bolivia become landlocked – a situation they are still bemoaning and challenging in international court today. A huge Chilean flag flies atop the Morro today, no doubt rubbing salt in the wounds of the large number of immigrants working in the city.

We headed back down into the city, by the steep path leading down the hill, and jumped in a taxi to the Museo Arqueologico San Miguel de Azapa. This museum was about 12 km from the city, and we ended up getting shafted by the taxi driver (even after over a year in South America). If heading out to this museum, either hitchhike or take a shared taxi (collectivo) – there is definitely no need for a taxi. The museum held lots of different interesting objects, including some old rock art of the type we saw in Iquique’s reserves, ubiquitous textiles and pottery and some excellent examples of red and black Chinchorro mummies. The red ones we had seen in the previous museum; but the black ones were older and formed using a different technique. Over 7000 years old, the black mummies were created when the people removed all of the organs and muscles of the deceased. This grim procedure was followed up by stuffing vegetable material, mud an even feathers into the body cavity. Finally a manganese black mask (hence the term black mummy) was placed over the face.

After hitching back into town, we took a walk to the port, where we hoped (in vain) to get some food. We did, however, see some pelicans and cormorants feeding on leftovers from the fishing haul of the day.

We got a set meal (or almuerza) which consists of a starter, a main dish, usually of meat and rice, and a simple dessert. The bean and pasta broth/soup I had was delicious. The vegetarian food was very welcome after so many pizza and hamburgers, which is often all that is on offer when you have no kitchen to use in your chap hostel.

Arica was OK, but there was not much to do. Many people trek out with a tour to the Lauca National Park on the border with Bolivia, but we decided to get going an head to another destination instead – the world’s biggest open pit copper mine. Lauca was by all reports, quite similar to the Tres Cruces National Park we had been to (volcanoes and lakes, on the altiplano), and we knew there were many more of those to come in Bolivia, so we zoomed off after just a few days. Arica is more historically interesting and financially important than worth a visit just for tourism. Next stop, Calama.