Up into the Atacama Desert to Codpa Village

At The Guardians

Yesterday we spent the late afternoon reading and writing. Then to the Glass House for prinks and dinner with a wine flight. As it was formal night and we were all dolled up, two people referred to Gabrielle as a fairy in her pink flowery party frock. She then went on to be a fairy godmother to Janice with some relationship advice. 

After we had consumed some 900 ml of wine, Gabrielle said oops, but d’you know, it was gorgeous. They have a wine flight called Rocking Reds, comprising New Zealand, Italian and Chilean varieties. The food at Glass House was also delightful having been specifically cooked for us and not en masse.

Fishing boats at dawn

We were woken by the bark of seal lions at dawn. There were little noses skimming the water and coming up to investigate the ship in the dawn light. 

Jellyfish in Arica Harbour

Large jellyfish were floating by, pulsating with colour. and birds were in the rigging of boats opposite with the sun pushing up over the distant mountains. All in all, a photographer’s paradise. 

Breakfast was a bun fight with everyone prepping to get off at 9:30 when the gangways opened. And it was obvious that a very large proportion of the passengers intended to travel off the ship as there were a dozen large coaches waiting patiently to depart. For once we were early and snagged a couple of seats near the front. This has the benefit of allowing one first dibs at getting off and the chance to dawdle getting back on. 

Inca Terns

By the ship as we disembarked were three Inca Terns. 

We went to Codpa Village today, an artisan village and an oasis in the desert, in the mountains, set at about 1,800 metres high in the Andes.  Gabrielle insists on calling it Codpiece, of course. It surprised us by not being a tourist trap to sell locally made goods and there was plenty of scenery and viewpoints. Oh, and lunch. And local hooch. What could possibly go wrong? Paulina was our guide and Miguel was our driver and all was well with the world. 

The population of Arica is around 180k. Originally it was a Peruvian city until the 1880s but then there was a Pacific War with Chile and Arica against Peru and Bolivia. Now Bolivia has no access to the sea because the British helped Arica to win, having discovered a rich source of nitrates there. There are no diplomatic relations with Bolivia and yet there is free access to all ports in Chile for them. The war was won up as far as Lima but Chile couldn’t maintain the advantage and so the Chilean northern border was fixed at Arica. Aricans use Peru’s health service because it is only 50 mins away and is one third the cost. The nearest major Chile city hospital on the other hand is five hours away. 

High in the desert

There is next to no rain in the Atacama Desert: 0.05mm per year. They actually don’t know what to do with water when it does rain. They bring water down from the highlands in the Andes and from wells and have recently begun investing in expensive desalination. Chile now shows other countries how to plant crops in the desert using irrigation techniques, pumping water from 150 metres down. They worry about the climate because the cold Pacific is now becoming warm. After a chunk of Antarctic ice fell off it went cold again but now has returned to warm. Their fishing industry and associated fish meal has declined due to overfishing, not by local fleets, but by Chinese and Japanese factory ships. 

An accident delayed us even as we left the city. This seems to be a very regular occurrence in Chile and the vehicles bear testament to how badly they drive. It was a fatal and the recovery teams had not yet removed the body when we passed, which was covered with a tarpaulin. Apparently it was a young woman and we feel guilty for worrying about being delayed by 20 minutes. I’m sure there will be a new shrine in the next few weeks. It was carnival last week and there were multiple fatalities with drunk driving. More on that later on. 

Fleming's The Guardians

Gabrielle by the sundial

We visited statues in the middle of the desert which were erected in 1997: The Guardians by the sculptor, Fleming. Standing in the middle of the desert near the Highway, they represent man, woman, womb, universe and sundial in synchronicity. They are alien, really striking and atmospheric, despite the crowds of tourists. 

The woman and the moon

They had looked like nothing much on the page but here they conjured a sense of awe. And the moon was out! The land in the Atacama has no vegetation at all. There are miles and miles of completely blank sand, looking as if it has been rolled flat, meaning that every few months there are massive sandstorms. It looks just like Mars. 

The Andes grow by 7cm a year because of continental drift, hence Chile gets regular earthquakes - actually daily. The mountains are only 12 million years old. Everything is built for earthquakes and although not beautiful, the buildings all survive. The Andes are a natural border with Chiles’ neighbours. 

We stopped at a high viewpoint 2,500 metres up and looked across the landscape which was coloured with minerals. These aren’t mined because there’s no community here. 

Cairn-building

The little cairns that stretch as far as the eye can see are built by visitors and reused as they tumble down from wind or earthquakes. The Andes lurk in the distance, covered in clouds and it rains there in the afternoon but not in the lower valleys. 

A very sad-looking cactus

Cacti grow only between 2000 and 3000 metres altitude. They flower for a couple of days in August and are fertilised by humming birds. Echinacea also grows low to the ground, looking like grey paper. The road that took us down to Codpa was archetypically twisting and turning through hairpin bends that hang over vertiginous precipices- often with no guard rail. It was a hairy drive and on our way down a car had broken down on the side of the road on its way up. It was still there as we departed. 

Codpa Village

Codpa Village Church

Codpa - “the golden village” - had electricity for the first time 5 years ago. It has a Church for St Martin of Tours and the Virgin. It’s frankly falling down, like much of the other architecture in this village. In the museum are the oldest mummies in the world. 

Reinforced roadside rocks

A muddy orange river winds through the town and rocks hang over the houses, waiting to fall, you might imagine. Where they are particularly perilous they are reinforced with rebar and wire netting. 

The medicine man

There was a ceremony by the local medicine man, with much mumbo and a certain amount of jumbo. We were served a communion glass full of the local sweet wine, which tasted very like port. 

The local boy band

The exotic smells of the incense wafted over us and then the band struck up with guitars, lute, drum and pan-pipes - very Andean. 

We then had a good meal with a vegetable salad starter, slow stewed beef and rice and then a pudding which was made with quinoa, caramel and custardy mango and passion fruit mousse on top. We did well and there was pisco sour and red wine. Result!

We returned to the bus and it climbed laboriously back up the switchback road to the top at 2,500 metres once again. Every so often a dent in the guard rail spoke of a near miss but one could not help think about people who had flown over the edge where it was unprotected. There’s a remarkable number of shrines up there so there’s obviously no serious learning going on about road safety skills. With drink, drugs and texting while driving, there’s not much hope for Chileans. Hundreds of shrines line the roadside, some like little bird boxes and others trying to gain ecclesiastical status with their scale and elaborate decoration. Many are flying the Chilean flag. Apparently, relatives come and sit at the shrines, eat and drink and then presumably drive home. This is the secret of compound interest. This place makes Crete look absolutely safe!

So we arrived back to Aurora and, expecting to have to hand in our affidavits as we had been told, we were all prepared. Nope - no one collected them. What a load of bureaucratic nonsense! As the ship pulled away from Arica, a seal popped up to check everything was OK - the ultimate seal of approval, I guess.