We arrived in Arica in the afternoon. One guess which country it’s in:

Seems this part of Chile was once part of Peru. There was a war in 1929 where Chile gained the territory, and this rocky outcrop near the port was a sight of a major battle.

Arica is a commercial port, and it was educational watching how the tugs placed our cruise ship on the pier while surrounded by other craft.

This time I signed up for a general tour, titled “Colors and Flavors”. We visited the town square, where there is an iron church designed by Gustave Eiffel. Yes, that Eiffel. Our guide explained that Eiffel never traveled to Arica, he just designed three buildings and sent the parts. They were numbered and assembled per the included instructions. After they finished construction a tsunami hit, and the waves stopped on the seventh step of the new church. Everyone agreed that was a good sign.

We then went to a giant farmer’s market. Our guide explained on the weekends you can barely move it’s so crowded.

We then went to an olive farm, which is owned and operated by a retired doctor. I find it interesting how every farm and/or plantation I’ve visited has a primary crop and a scattering of other items. Here they have many fruit trees:

We then got to the olive orchard.

Olives must be picked by hand to avoid bruising the fruit. Green and black olives come from the same tree, the color changes depending on how long you allow the fruit to grow. They are then brought to a shed where they are soaked in a brine for a year or more. Each barrel holds 600 kg (1000 pounds) of olives and brine. Afterwards they are sorted by size and sold. I’m not an olive fan, but I like learning how it is done.

Arica is in the midst of the Atacama Desert, which our guide described as the driest in the world. Parts of the coast we traveled on was less than 100 meters from the desert hills. The farms extend along the valley between dunes. The locals are very good with irrigation.

I have another tour in Arica tomorrow, this time more focused on the town.