7-3
I took the one bus from Putre to Arica in the afternoon. It was a scenic drive as it dropped from 12,000 feet down to sea level in a couple of hours. If you are going from the Bolivian border up above Putre, then you are looking at 15,500 feet descent over 77 miles! As we got lower down it got drier and drier. At first there were some of these really crazy, Dr. Seuss type cacti. Saguaros on arm hormones. But then absolutely no vegetation. The mountains all around looked like they were just giant sand dunes bc they were mountains covered only in sand. Down closer to the ocean, we went through a place called the Lluta valley. It had some greenness to it as glacial runoff ran through their and people irrigated. Near this area on the giant mountain sand dunes you could see humongous geoglyphs. Geoglyphs are like petroglyphs except they are ginormous. You may be familiar with the Nazca lines, which are giant and famous geoglyphs you can only see from an airplane. Well these are similar, and I think done by the same people in the past, but since they are formed up on the sides of huge sandy mountains, you can see them from the ground. They are quite cool how big and yet intricate they are.
I arrived into Arica which is on the coast. One of its claims to fame is that it is the driest town in the world. It receives on average 0.03 inches of rain per year. There is of course no vegetation in the surrounding hills. Its crazy to see a place so devoid of life. I had a bit of a celebration dinner for being offered the job in Antarctica. I went out to a fast food (here, fast food is kind of the expensive and treat option) specializing in completos (the hotdogs with avacados and tomatoes). I got the huge combo meal that also included empenadas, a soda, and an icecream sundae.
Arica is also famous for its surf breaks. I was staying at a cool surf hostel and there were actually some pros as well as surf photographers staying there. Its kind of winter here though and so its wetsuit surfing and so required a lot of rental gear and such. And since I am on a bit of a time crunch now, I decided not to stay to surf.
7-4
Feliz dia de la independencia!
There are beaches north and south of town, so I took a walk to the beaches north of town and did a bit of wading in the water, but it was pretty chilly. It was also very cloudy all day. Although it doesnt rain here much, I think in the winter bc of the currents and such they get a lot of fog. Sorta like CA June gloom. Along the walk the google streetview car went by, so maybe the next time I look on the coastal road in Arica on googlemaps streetview, I will be there. I made sure to wave.
I also took a walk up El Morro which is a giant bluff that marks the end of the coastal range and overlooks the town and the ocean. It had greats views from the top down to the port, town, and ocean surf. At the top there is also a giant statue of Jesus looking out over the ocean. For my 4th of July meal, I did what a lot of Americans probably did and had completos (hot dogs)
7-5
I took a car from Arica over the border to Tacna in Peru. Its funny bc you take this sort of fancy oldsmobile car. Very plush. From Tacna I took a 7 hour bus to the city of Arequipa. It was an interesting bus ride. Almost all 7 hours was through extremely dry landscape that looked like badlands, except absolutely no vegetation. The interesting thing is that it sprinkled a bit outside of Tacna, which I think is highly unusual as it must have a similar climate as Arica, which is no rain. We also went through some crazy areas of super thick fog (that famous Atacama desert fog that some plants can use to take water from and people have been trying to use fog and mist nets to also get water)
I arrived into Arequipa in late afternoon. They talk about this fairly common problem in Arequipa with taxi drivers where thieves rent the registered taxis and pick people up and take them to a distant place in the city where they rob them or force them to empty their bank accounts at ATMs. I was determined to not have this happen to me. When I walked out of the terminal, I wiggled my fingers at tall the taxi drivers calling for me and went to an old guy who was not. I imagine if he wasnt after a foreigner, he was probably safe, plus he was old enough that I figured if I noticed we were going somewhere odd, he would be easy to overtake.
Since I didnt eat during the entire bus and car journey, I had some feasting time at night with some new food in Peru. I had some sort of bird neck bbq. It wasnt from a chicken, some other bird bc he just called it aves. Then I went to a place with a tasty beef stew that also had a soup with chicken legs in it.
I took the one bus from Putre to Arica in the afternoon. It was a scenic drive as it dropped from 12,000 feet down to sea level in a couple of hours. If you are going from the Bolivian border up above Putre, then you are looking at 15,500 feet descent over 77 miles! As we got lower down it got drier and drier. At first there were some of these really crazy, Dr. Seuss type cacti. Saguaros on arm hormones. But then absolutely no vegetation. The mountains all around looked like they were just giant sand dunes bc they were mountains covered only in sand. Down closer to the ocean, we went through a place called the Lluta valley. It had some greenness to it as glacial runoff ran through their and people irrigated. Near this area on the giant mountain sand dunes you could see humongous geoglyphs. Geoglyphs are like petroglyphs except they are ginormous. You may be familiar with the Nazca lines, which are giant and famous geoglyphs you can only see from an airplane. Well these are similar, and I think done by the same people in the past, but since they are formed up on the sides of huge sandy mountains, you can see them from the ground. They are quite cool how big and yet intricate they are.
I arrived into Arica which is on the coast. One of its claims to fame is that it is the driest town in the world. It receives on average 0.03 inches of rain per year. There is of course no vegetation in the surrounding hills. Its crazy to see a place so devoid of life. I had a bit of a celebration dinner for being offered the job in Antarctica. I went out to a fast food (here, fast food is kind of the expensive and treat option) specializing in completos (the hotdogs with avacados and tomatoes). I got the huge combo meal that also included empenadas, a soda, and an icecream sundae.
Arica is also famous for its surf breaks. I was staying at a cool surf hostel and there were actually some pros as well as surf photographers staying there. Its kind of winter here though and so its wetsuit surfing and so required a lot of rental gear and such. And since I am on a bit of a time crunch now, I decided not to stay to surf.
7-4
Feliz dia de la independencia!
There are beaches north and south of town, so I took a walk to the beaches north of town and did a bit of wading in the water, but it was pretty chilly. It was also very cloudy all day. Although it doesnt rain here much, I think in the winter bc of the currents and such they get a lot of fog. Sorta like CA June gloom. Along the walk the google streetview car went by, so maybe the next time I look on the coastal road in Arica on googlemaps streetview, I will be there. I made sure to wave.
I also took a walk up El Morro which is a giant bluff that marks the end of the coastal range and overlooks the town and the ocean. It had greats views from the top down to the port, town, and ocean surf. At the top there is also a giant statue of Jesus looking out over the ocean. For my 4th of July meal, I did what a lot of Americans probably did and had completos (hot dogs)
7-5
I took a car from Arica over the border to Tacna in Peru. Its funny bc you take this sort of fancy oldsmobile car. Very plush. From Tacna I took a 7 hour bus to the city of Arequipa. It was an interesting bus ride. Almost all 7 hours was through extremely dry landscape that looked like badlands, except absolutely no vegetation. The interesting thing is that it sprinkled a bit outside of Tacna, which I think is highly unusual as it must have a similar climate as Arica, which is no rain. We also went through some crazy areas of super thick fog (that famous Atacama desert fog that some plants can use to take water from and people have been trying to use fog and mist nets to also get water)
I arrived into Arequipa in late afternoon. They talk about this fairly common problem in Arequipa with taxi drivers where thieves rent the registered taxis and pick people up and take them to a distant place in the city where they rob them or force them to empty their bank accounts at ATMs. I was determined to not have this happen to me. When I walked out of the terminal, I wiggled my fingers at tall the taxi drivers calling for me and went to an old guy who was not. I imagine if he wasnt after a foreigner, he was probably safe, plus he was old enough that I figured if I noticed we were going somewhere odd, he would be easy to overtake.
Since I didnt eat during the entire bus and car journey, I had some feasting time at night with some new food in Peru. I had some sort of bird neck bbq. It wasnt from a chicken, some other bird bc he just called it aves. Then I went to a place with a tasty beef stew that also had a soup with chicken legs in it.
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