Arrived at about 8am and went ashore at 9:30. Warm and sunny, as would be expected as we get closer to the equator.
Northernmost port in Chile and just on the boarder with Peru and Bolivia, to the East. Used to be Bolivia’s coastline and only access to the sea but that was scuppered by the war, in 1880 – 83, between Chile against Bolivia and Peru – as previously noted, U.K. egged on Chile, who, fortunately, won.
Usual cross on the top of a hill but this one overshadowed by a statue of a mini Christ the Redeemer – called Christ of Peace. A bit ironic, as it is also the location of a military museum, celebrating the victory and complete with rusting Gatling guns and cannons.
Interestingly, the statue was donated by Spain, in the 1980’s but was “guarded” by the military for twelve years until it was finally erected.
Not much choice of excursions at the port entrance but as there were four of us, chose a minibus, rather than cramming into a taxi.
The bus could take about 20 people but the driver was satisfied with 14 and off we went, on our four hour tour.
First stop was the hilltop museum and statue, then off into the Atacama desert, to see some monoliths. Think they were supposed to be from the original inhabitants and linked to the Nasca lines (which we did not see) but they were made from, what looked like, fairly recent, brown concrete.
Carried on to pass through the fertile Azarpa valley, which is irrigated by a river, whose source is high in the Andes, before visiting a museum full of prehistoric implements and bones, then back to the ship.
The driver/guide tried hard to describe the scenery but he could could only speak “Pidgin” English and was basically a lunatic.
Quiet evening with clocks going back an hour, then another one tomorrow, to get onto Peruvian time – strangely, it is 2 hours behind Chile but not a big change in longitude.
Perhaps, the difference from Southern Chile to Northern Peru justifies it.
Thanks for taking the time to write for us. It’s interesting to know what you are ‘up-to’.