El Norte Grand, Part 3: Arica

Our last stop in northern Chile was Arica, the port town we passed through on our way to the Ruta de las Misiones.  We stayed here over the Christmas holiday for a little R&R after being on the road for so many days. Arica itself is a scrappy town of approximately 150 thousand people and definitely lacks the cosmopolitan air of Santiago or historic flair of Valparaiso. There are shanties at the edge of town (though well organized, like Mumbai’s slums or Rio’s favelas) and a prison and lots of government housing and half constructed buildings. It is the only city of any size in Chile for hundreds of kilometers, and also functions as Bolivia’s primary port. We had noted in a previous post that Chile won this territory in a war with Bolivia and Peru; one concession is that Bolivia can use the port of Arica for free. In particular, Bolivia imports fuel from this port, as they have no refineries of their own, and so fleets of petrol trucks clog the highways going through town.

Despite its first impression, we actually found the town quite charming once we spent a little more time there. Perhaps it was because of the holiday, but everywhere we went young families were out having picnics on the beach or shopping on the main pedestrian mall or riding bicycles along the waterfront. We had some excellent artisan pizza and delicious ceviche (the place is also heavily influenced by Peruvian culture, being so close to the border and sharing a common history) and discovered the refreshing piscola (Pisco and Coca Cola).

We also found a little sanctuary on the beach called Hotel Apacheta with rooms overlooking the ocean and an outcrop of seabirds that squawked all day but flew away to somewhere as soon as the sun went down. The architecture reflected the fact that Arica – supposedly the one of the driest cities on earth – does not get any rain because all of the spaces were open to the air except the bedrooms – even the shower had a skylight literally open to the sky, no glass or plastic cover! The hotel included an elegant sit down breakfast with real French press coffee (no Nescafe!) and eggs and fresh juice and picture perfect sunsets every day and we made ourselves very comfortable.

Another reason we chose to make Arica a destination is that here are found the oldest intentionally mummified human remains on earth. The earliest date from 5,000 BC, thousands of years earlier than the Egyptians!  The mummies belong to the Chinchorro culture, a local group of hunter-gatherers, and are well preserved due to the extremely dry desert conditions. Over 300 have been found in the immediate vicinity of Arica. The oldest mummies are infants or children, who would have been transported with the families as they moved around. To mummify the remains, the bones and internal organs were removed and either wrapped in plant fibers or replaced with sticks and shells and wool. Human hair would be affixed to the skull, and then the entire body, including the skin, would be plastered in mud, with a mud mask placed over the face. They are divided into categories depending on what color of earth was used (e.g. black or red) which has something also to do with temporal sequences and subculture groups, but we couldn’t quite figure out the significance from the local interpretive material provided.

Two museums run by the local university showcase the mummies. One is southeast of town in the Azapa Valley where the majority of the mummies have been found, and the other is right in town on the side of the morro, or tall bluff, overlooking the city. In the latter case, the story goes that a hotel was to be built on that site but that once they broke ground and found a veritable graveyard, the owner shut down the project and donated the property to the university. The mummies are preserved in situ and you can view them under a glass floor, just as they were found and excavated! It was a very cool and strange experience that would never happen in the United States. We are glad we made this offbeat pilgrimage!

Last but certainly not least, we finally had a chance to play some dominos. It was a multi-day battle but Sam can now officially be called El Rey del Norte (King of the North)!

From here we left Chile behind for a bit and headed back into the highlands to Bolivia. Viva Chile! It has been an amazing journey so far!