Day 15; Arica, Chile

 January 20

Noon Position: 18 degrees 28.43' S / 70 degrees 19.52'W

Last night's time change (yup, another and we are heading South) caused a late sleep this morning and the knock on the door with our breakfast tray started the day in a rush. We came into port as the sun rose over the cliffs behind the port city of Arica, which has the distinction of being the driest city on earth. Now we are just inside the border and sailing under a different courtesy flag. This is another working pier with container ships to one side and the fishing fleet on another. One has to take a shuttle to get to town, although town is right here...a safety measure.

We found our transport and headed out of the port, past the fish mongers, through town and onto the Pan American Highway, heading South. Immediately we ran onto the Atacomadesert. We made a brief stop to see some modern artwork beside the highway and examine the fossilized coral “rocks” that were once sea bed.

Arica

We left the Pan-American and headed East, climbing to 9000'. This is desolate territory, just rocks, sand and a gorge. There are no animals and for plants just a few cactus; very few. (They only grow 3mm per year at the most.) Finally, after 47 kilometers off the Pan-American, we worked down switchbacks into a tiny valley and the pueblo Codpa, population 200. The village band came out to greet us and the local Shaman gave a ceremony with cocoa leaves and local wine outside the adobe church. A few vendors were out with their weaving’s, lacework, jewelery, wine and objects d'art. There was more music and dancing then the group trundled off down the street to a restaurant where we sat at long tables and were served plates of steamed vegetables, baskets of fruit, local wine and a beefsteak with rice. That was followed by a walk around town, back to the transport and re-traced our route back to Arica. The townsfolk that came out to greet us in Codpa were happy and friendly but most had disappeared during our visit.

Codpa

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the local Shaman gives a welcome ceremony

Once back on the ship it was not long before preparations were made for getting under way. Sea lions were feeding in the harbor and would toss fish into the air, tempting flocks of sea birds. There was a lot of splashing and thrashing going on. A brass band showed up and played from the pier as we slipped our lines, pivoted in the basin and headed out.

Our course was southerly along the coast so we sat on our deck and watched the cliffs of Chile slide past. This was so spectacular we had dinner brought to our cabin and dined watching the panorama.