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1994
Chile (North) - South America
Bec2004-09-20 17:14:02
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Arica
This is Arica's characteristic "Morro" landmark. The fort on top is now a museum commemorating Chile's victory over Peru and Bolivia in the War of the Pacific.
It was midnight when the ferrobus from the Paz pulled into Arica. Looking for a place to sleep alone at night is never advisable so Doug and Diane from Kingston Ontario, Pamela and Janet from Santiago and I stayed together until we found rooms at the Valencia Hotel for only 5 dollars a night. Arica was quite a change from Peru and Bolivia, we went out for something to eat and a beer and felt quite safe as there were still a lot of people out on the streets when we turned in at 1 a.m.
Before the War of the Pacific, Arica was part of Peru whose border, just a few kms up the coast, is within sight from the fortress on top of the landmark "Morro" rock.
Rio Llauta
Having missed seeing the descent from the Altiplano to Arica, I decided to go back up the Andean watershed with a guided tour during the daytime. I seldom enjoy such tours but this one I can heartily recommend for the views were just fantastic.
Copaquilla
The ruins on this hilltop, 100 km from Arica, are believed to have been a fortress (pukara), built to defend the Copaquilla valley below, some 200 years before the arrival of the Incas. Valleys like the one shown in the previous photo were inhabited in pre-Inca times but they did not give rise to sophisticated regional civilisations such as the Moche or the Chimú in Peru probably because they could not support sufficiently large populations and were too isolated one from the other.
Altiplano
The high altitude marshes of the altiplano are too cold and wet to be cultivated but they provide good grazing for large herds of llama and alpaca.
Parinacota
This remote mission church,
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See photographs from:
Chile Gallery
