Fantastic New Friends in Arica
Arica is one of Chile´s northern-most towns, a coastal border town with Peru, just 1.5hrs from Tacna, the equivalent border town in Peru. Arica is an attractive and charming town with lovely beaches, it´s an oasis in the desert and is the site of one of the most famous battles of the War of the Pacific. Like in the most of Chile, Arica is subject to regular tremors and the odd earthquake. Thankfully the only tremor during my stay was so mild that I didn’t even notice it!
So how do you begin to thank a family so very warm and generous for allowing you to stay for a whole month in their home, giving up their room for you, feeding you every day, showing you their town and a good time and simply being great friends? I can only say I am touched and so grateful for their generosity, and am honoured to have met them. Who am I talking about? Jano, Esteban´s cousin, and his wife Alejandra are two fantastic and chilled people who shared a month of their lives with us, also sharing with us their three wonderful children, Nico (10), Cristòbal (8) and Ferni (6). Jano´s brother, Chulo, lives with them and is studying history. Jano is an engineer working in a chemical factory in Calama, 12hrs bus ride from Arica, and has the very difficult lifestyle of being away from his family for 4-6 days at a time before returning to them for 3-4 days. Although he wasn´t around all of the time, when he was we got to know him well and had great fun and laughs together. Alejandra is studying biology in Arica while also being Supermum! We immediately hit it off, she´s so chilled and I can´t imagine that there is anyone on this earth that would not warm to her straight away! We had so much in common, she´s a woman after my own heart and I respect and admire her greatly. She and Jano made us feel so at home in their house and in their company, and for so long. Nico, Cristòbal and Ferni are so incredibly charming and good-natured, but with such wonderfully different characters and I couldn´t help falling love with each of them. Esteban and I spend hours playing games with them, drawing, helping with homework (and probably distracting them from it!!!), practicing English (they go to the North American College, where they learn English from an early age).
While in Arica we got to know the town, played with the kids, went to the beaches (even camped on the beach!), visited the War Museum on the hill and the Archaeological Museum with pre-Columbian exhibits including 6 indigenous mummies. We visited Tacna (Peru) a number of times and went on a 3-day excursion to Lauca National Park (see next blog post) in the Altiplano (3-6000 metres above sea level).
While holding the most amazing memories, Arica was a town of very emotional goodbyes. Firstly saying goodbye to our generous hosts was difficult, but to make it worse I also had to say goodbye to my beloved Esteban…..again. He accompanied me to Tacna, Peru, where he saw me off on my bus to Cuzco – a tearful goodbye. I miss him terribly and we have arranged to meet up once again next month in Arica before I continue on with my travels, and this time he will be accompanied by my dear friend (and his mum) Yvonne! So we will all - Esteban, Yvonne, Jano, Ale, Chulo and the children – be reunited again in Arica! Hurrah!
Here are the photos of Arica, plus a few of a beautiful Monument to the Fallen (Plaza de la Alianza) in the desert hills of Tacna, Peru.
DISTANCE TRAVELED SINCE USHUAIA: 10,230KM
So how do you begin to thank a family so very warm and generous for allowing you to stay for a whole month in their home, giving up their room for you, feeding you every day, showing you their town and a good time and simply being great friends? I can only say I am touched and so grateful for their generosity, and am honoured to have met them. Who am I talking about? Jano, Esteban´s cousin, and his wife Alejandra are two fantastic and chilled people who shared a month of their lives with us, also sharing with us their three wonderful children, Nico (10), Cristòbal (8) and Ferni (6). Jano´s brother, Chulo, lives with them and is studying history. Jano is an engineer working in a chemical factory in Calama, 12hrs bus ride from Arica, and has the very difficult lifestyle of being away from his family for 4-6 days at a time before returning to them for 3-4 days. Although he wasn´t around all of the time, when he was we got to know him well and had great fun and laughs together. Alejandra is studying biology in Arica while also being Supermum! We immediately hit it off, she´s so chilled and I can´t imagine that there is anyone on this earth that would not warm to her straight away! We had so much in common, she´s a woman after my own heart and I respect and admire her greatly. She and Jano made us feel so at home in their house and in their company, and for so long. Nico, Cristòbal and Ferni are so incredibly charming and good-natured, but with such wonderfully different characters and I couldn´t help falling love with each of them. Esteban and I spend hours playing games with them, drawing, helping with homework (and probably distracting them from it!!!), practicing English (they go to the North American College, where they learn English from an early age).
While in Arica we got to know the town, played with the kids, went to the beaches (even camped on the beach!), visited the War Museum on the hill and the Archaeological Museum with pre-Columbian exhibits including 6 indigenous mummies. We visited Tacna (Peru) a number of times and went on a 3-day excursion to Lauca National Park (see next blog post) in the Altiplano (3-6000 metres above sea level).
While holding the most amazing memories, Arica was a town of very emotional goodbyes. Firstly saying goodbye to our generous hosts was difficult, but to make it worse I also had to say goodbye to my beloved Esteban…..again. He accompanied me to Tacna, Peru, where he saw me off on my bus to Cuzco – a tearful goodbye. I miss him terribly and we have arranged to meet up once again next month in Arica before I continue on with my travels, and this time he will be accompanied by my dear friend (and his mum) Yvonne! So we will all - Esteban, Yvonne, Jano, Ale, Chulo and the children – be reunited again in Arica! Hurrah!
Here are the photos of Arica, plus a few of a beautiful Monument to the Fallen (Plaza de la Alianza) in the desert hills of Tacna, Peru.
DISTANCE TRAVELED SINCE USHUAIA: 10,230KM
posted by Louise Parmenter at 12:22 am
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