Carnival in Arica 26 January, 2024
Arica is a city of 240,000 (plus 60,000 Venezuelan migrants, if our guide is to be believed) in northern Chile, near the Peruvian and Bolivian borders. In fact, until the War of the Pacific in 1879-1883, Arica was part of Peru and Bolivian had territory on the Pacific coast. It's quite visible and arresting feature is El Morro (the 'nose'). Today happened to be the start of their 3 day Carnival. We were there for the start of the dancing, music and colorful costumes with local people as well as some from Peru and Bolivia. The area is also famous for human mummies 2,000 years older than the oldest Egyptian ones. Also, some ancient geoglyphs. There are two buildings in town built of iron and pre-fabricated by Gustave Eiffel in Paris and shipped to Arica when it was still Peruvian territory. The church below is one. Another exhilarating day!