Chile, a land of amazing variety

Our first port in Chile was Arica. The port was incredibly busy with storage containers stacked at least 9 high and who knows how many deep and wide. Our guide explained that the Chilean government had an agreement with Bolivia allowing them to store containers here for up to six months free of charge, BUT on the first day of the seventh month if said container is still on their dock, they must pay a daily fine retroactively for the six months and each day thereafter until removed. I had been

struggling with the economics of having inventory stacked on a dock somewhere waiting to be shipped. Seems almost all of the containers are empty.

After a short walk up to view a beautiful Church which has withstood numerous earthquakes, we headed down the coast and a bit inland to view these magnificent stone structures. My guess is that they are at least 30 feet tall, solid granite looking stone and about as big around as my waistline pre-cruise. Your guess is as good as mine as to who, when and why these stone structures came to be. Why, why, why was it necessary for the conquerors to totally obliterate the culture of the society they were conquering? So very much was lost forever. Our guide did say that currently the area is a popular viewing site for eclipses, meteorites, star gazing, anything to do with the sky because there is absolutely nothing around to spoil the sky. No lights, no city, no animals and little to no traffic. Nothing but barren rock for miles and miles in every direction. The lack of traffic was also evidenced by the fact that the welcoming band and dancers performed in the middle of the road. After their performance, we were treated to refreshments consisting of your choice of bottled water, a box lunch, and/or Pisco Sours. A would-be passerby except for the dancing going on in the street assured me that even though he was Chilean, the Peruvian Pisco Sours were better. Can't imagine that.

As we were returning to Arica and our ship, we passed by "the world's largest sand dune." It was huge, I'll give it that but alas I was not able to capture it on my phone. The guide said that back in the 80's China tried to buy the dune to use in the making of china, but the Chilean government put a stop to that. Back in Arica a festival was in full swing and would last well into the night each day for a week. When asked the reason for the festival, we were told, "It's summer." Okay to me that translates, "Why not?"

Note how relatively small the people are and they are closer to the camera!

Part of a sundial???

We also visited another site which had, according to our guide, some sort of animal or something that we were supposed to be able to see. Kind of like the old game of what do you see in that cloud. Instead I was captivated by the roadside nursery. First sign of life we'd seen since leaving the city. I much prefer beautiful flowers to imaginary creatures formed by mountain tops. Flowers are real. To each their own.

Back in town before the festival began. I chose not to take part in the festival, but rather relax on board to be ready for my next adventure.