Arica is the most northerly town in Chile – it’s only 25km from the Peruvian border. Actually it used to belong to Peru, until Chile confiscated it in a war in the 19th Century. Now it’s a lively little coastal town, again overlooked by the impressive mountainous cliffs and sand-dunes of the Atacama desert.
Our stop in Arica was for a brief 2 nights, as we now have to press on to Peru. But at least we had a chance to look around! Actually we were more or less forced to look over a reasonable section of town as the bus terminal is a good 3km from the centre – giving us a few long walks back and forth as we tried to work out exactly how to get across the border to Peru. Not the easiest thing! But look at the ‘Leaving Chile’ entry on the main Blog page for details on that…
One of the nicest things about Arica is its main thoroughfare – lots of cafes and small shops on a bustling tree-lined street leading down to the waterfront. It’s a lovely place to relax and people-watch over dinner. And from here it’s only a short walk through a few Plazas complete with fountains (and even an old black steam locomotive engine for some reason) to Arica’s most dramatic feature: a 150 odd meter cliff rising abruptly to tower over the town. It’s only a short climb to the top, but the views back over the town are great – complete with circling ravens (at least I think they were ravens!).
Anyway, now we have worked out how to cross the Peruvian Border we will give it a go tomorrow, and then let you know how we get on!
Our stop in Arica was for a brief 2 nights, as we now have to press on to Peru. But at least we had a chance to look around! Actually we were more or less forced to look over a reasonable section of town as the bus terminal is a good 3km from the centre – giving us a few long walks back and forth as we tried to work out exactly how to get across the border to Peru. Not the easiest thing! But look at the ‘Leaving Chile’ entry on the main Blog page for details on that…
One of the nicest things about Arica is its main thoroughfare – lots of cafes and small shops on a bustling tree-lined street leading down to the waterfront. It’s a lovely place to relax and people-watch over dinner. And from here it’s only a short walk through a few Plazas complete with fountains (and even an old black steam locomotive engine for some reason) to Arica’s most dramatic feature: a 150 odd meter cliff rising abruptly to tower over the town. It’s only a short climb to the top, but the views back over the town are great – complete with circling ravens (at least I think they were ravens!).
Anyway, now we have worked out how to cross the Peruvian Border we will give it a go tomorrow, and then let you know how we get on!
No comments:
Post a Comment