Arica
Trip Start
Oct 28, 2007
1
15
Trip End
Ongoing
Arica, Chile
Monday, October 29, 2007
Just to top it off we had great weather the whole time we were there, the whole 4 days!
Chile definitely was a step up in the world, seeing the first shopping centre in all of my travels, feeling back in the westernised world, normal shopping streets, people dressed well, normalish food on offer and of course much normal prices for things instead of paying $3 for a 3 course meal!
Either way it was a nice change! Arica is a shipping port so you had to walk down the coast a little way to find the beaches but they were there with nice restaurants and places for a drink right on the beach, what more could you ask for! Obviously a couple of evenings were spent like this.
We didnt really get up to too much here, chilled out, got use to being back in the normal world, had McDonalds which had not been hit in a long time, but was not missing much there. Hit the beach most days, apart from that we checked out the mirador which was up on a cliff face over looking the ocean, great views of the surrounding coast and of the city Arica which was not all that small we came to realise.
One day we did decided some exercise would not be bad, hired ourselves some bikes, packed in some lunch & snacks then headed off. We cycled down the coast to a remote part of the coast line, where there was hardly a person in site, riding right near the water, caves and cliffs on one side, lovely coast line on the other. We actually come across a sealion colony out on a small island about 10-15 metres from shore, packed with seals! Then just chilled out on the coast taking in the sensational view around with the awesome sound of the ocean! Nice ride back during sunset to help top off the day then a 3 litre Schop, which is like a beer keg thing you can by to help relax after the days efforts, much deserved!
