The guidebook said great things about Arica, and although it didn't really live up to it we still had a lovely time here! Arica is known as the 'town of never ending spring' due to it bring continuously sunny with very little rain. The guide book also promised lots of nice beaches, surfing and fishing so we had high hopes that this would be an excellent relaxation point. Aricas beaches were not particulary great, being a little dirty in places and sometimes the water was tainted brown due to the muddy/sandy rivers coming down from the desert landscape, which didn't look very attractive to go swimming in. However Arica has a really nice town and the most charming little church I have ever seen, which reminds me of one you would see in a fairytale; Built by the same people that made the Eiffel tower the church is made entirely out of cast iron! The town has one main high street filled full of your usual shops, and then lots of other streets branching off which contain lots of market stalls. Most markets we have been to so far have never been particularly interesting, however these Market stalls are excellent and you can get all sorts of things for very little money. Due to Jonathan now losing two pen knifes (and resorting to using his nail clippers to cut fishing line) we managed to pick up another fairly cheap! Over looking the town is a huge cliff face that reaches 110 metres up and has fabulous views over the town. From here you have a great Birdseye view of the port and also the amazing cliff faces which stretch along the coast. It's also worth the scramble up this mountain because from the top the condor birds swoop just below the lookout and you can see their enormous wing span in more detail. We also spotted a nice clean stretch of beach that looked like a great sunbathing spot so decided to go there the day after. We set off early the next day but didn't get as far as the beach; Jonathan spotted people fishing on the pier just before the beach so we pitched up there for the day so he could have a go. It was also great here because there was seals and sea lions swimming in the harbour! Four little coral fishes and a sea urchin later we headed back to the hostel for a steak tea! My spanish accent isn't that great here and instead of three chunky pieces of steak we somehow ended up with five. I have decided it us completely pointless learning Spanish as the accents changes so much throughout each town. Sometimes in one town they understand me and then in another town they look at me as if I'm an alien. Quite frustrating as I really am trying! Anyway steak for tea tonight aswel.
Our last day we compromised in creating our daily schedule, as myself being a culture vulture spotted a museum in the guidebook! Knowing Jonathan isn't interested at all in museums we decided that we would spend the morning fishing and then in the afternoon we would take a collectivo (taxi bus) to the San Miguel De Azapa museum which holds some of the worlds oldest mummies. Chinchorro mummies found in the Atacama desert which predate back to 7020BC (3000+ years older than the earliest Egyptian mummy found!) there's a selection of mummies on display and information about the mummification rituals; whereas they removed their insides and replaced them with vegetable matter and then removed their skin and wrapped them in reeds and mud whilst creating a clay mask for over their face! It is thought that as they mummified everyone who died in this region, the whole of the Atacama desert and Arica itself is one big cemetery and you could probably find alot more than what has been found already. It was very fascinating and was especially amazing seeing how preserved their fingers and toes where.
Anyway we are now off to the Atacama desert itself, San Pedro De Atacama. We hope to maybe try some sand boarding here which should be good fun and visit Moon valley, the driest place on earth! This is our last town in Chile before Bolivia on Thursday where we have also just booked a three day tour around the Bolivian Salt desert, lagoons, lakes and hot springs! Can't wait! Bye Hayls and Jonathan x