Arica, First Stop In Chile

24 January 2009By Zhu 12 Comments

Arica From The Hill

After La Paz and the Bolivian highlands, Arica, our first stop in Chile, was quite a shock. Imagine a city, actually more like an oasis, bordered by the Pacific Ocean and the desert. Imagine, 30C all year round. Imagine quiet streets, cars that actually stop at red lights and a supermarket. We were in shock, after Bolivia.

The first thing you learn in Arica, is to take it easy. Actually, the first thing you learn is to put a lot of sunscreen. But after that, you realize that you have to do like the locals. Walk a bit in the morning, let´s say between 10 am and 12 pm. Eat. Sleep for a few hours after that: all the shops are closed after lunch, anyway. Then wake up at 5 pm, have dinner no earlier than 9 pm (restaurants not open before that) and hang out in the streets until midnight (which is only two hours after sunset after all).

We really took it easy.

One thing we really wanted to do, though, was to check out the plane tickets. Our next stop was going to be Santiago, the capital. In 2002, we took the bus there and it was a memorable ride: 32 hours non stop in the desert, one day and two nights in the bus. We did not want to do that again. But thanks to discount airlines, it was actually cheaper to fly. And faster too: only 3 hours. We booked our ticket with Sky Airline and relaxed while waiting to go South again…

12 Comments »

Gail at Large said:

Ah, waves crashing on a beach. I could watch that all day…

The Southern Hemisphere is the place to be right now!

By the way, that Ottawa bus strike is *still* on. Yikes!

# 26 January 2009 at 10:35 pm

durano lawayan said:

Hello Zhu, My Favorite peripatetic blogger,

KUNG HEI FAT CHOY!!

Its too late for me to wish you Merry Christmas or Happy New Year, so at least with this I’m right on time!

Haven’t been blogging much lately. After my extended Christmas vacation, I had to fly back to that country I had been working in to monitor progress of the people and the installations we had set up.

Anyway, I missed the other posts you made on this South American trip and I had to go back to all previous posts. You are enjoying yourself immensely and that sounds very good.

I know you speak Chinese and have adapted to the culture of the country, so I know this Lunar New Year would have some significance for you. Besides, your partner is Chinese, and this is important to all of them.

In my country, there are many large Chinese communities spread all over the territory such that celebrations are on a national scale. Some of the superstitions and rituals are also being practiced by all other races here.

Stay well and take care. And to you and your partner: Kung Hei Fat Choy! –Durano, done!