Off to Chile: Start in Arica!

How beautiful!! Arica greeted us with sun and 28° upon our arrival!

We found a nice hostel with an overwhelming view from the in-house rooftop terrace.

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Arica is located by the sea, surrounded by desert. According to our Taxi driver, it hasn't rained here for 2 years! Due to the Humboldt current, it's always quite windy here, but the heat feels very pleasant.

Due to the presence of natural resources such as saltpeter, copper, silver, and ore, the city, which originally belonged to Peru, was hotly contested in the past. Arica was ultimately awarded to the Chileans.

Since the 1930s and the production of artificial fertilizers, saltpeter has no longer played a role.

The city and its inhabitants seem very modern and almost a bit European.

There is a lot to see and hear on the main street: here, original street artists and mostly talented singers and musicians perform, and the atmosphere is cheerful and lively.

We discovered an ice cream parlor here, which offers fantastic ice cream and is therefore frequented by us very often;). Generally, it must be said that here, as already in Peru, when asked for vegetarian food, people mostly look very puzzled. But then, almost always, a meatless version is offered.

Since our arrival in South America, we have been on the move a lot, so we decided to stay for a few days.

A little nap in the midday heat can't hurt;)

On the outskirts of the city lies the El Morro de Arica, a hill 110m high, which can be climbed without any special effort and offers not only a huge statue of Christ and a war museum at its summit but also a wonderful panoramic view of the city and the sea.

In a few weeks, carnival will be celebrated here, and therefore some groups are already out on the streets to rehearse. The rhythmic drum sounds and colorful costumes are truly a sensory experience!

By the way, speaking of senses: today we tried our first cerveza (beer) - muy bien!!!

Tomorrow we will continue our journey to Antofagasta in the south for about 10 hours by bus.

We are looking forward to the next city and new impressions!