Los primeros días, parte 2

So I ended up going to bed pretty soon after meeting with my host family last night (which was really fun), but I want to make sure I tell about the rest of my week before I actually move in later this afternoon.

A small tienda en Ex-Isla el Alacrán

In addition to the usual orientation stuff we've been able to do some sight seeing/touristy things this week as well.  On Thursday at about 11:00 we headed to Ex-Isla el Alacrán.  I'm a little confused on the history of the place, but I know that it was declared a national monument and there's some old remains of colonial fortifications.  Now it's just a little peninsula (a former island that was connected to the mainland with a false road) where some of the more "hardcore" surfers come.  You can see a picture of the Isla from up above later in my pictures from the top of El Morro.

After spending a little time at the Ex-Isla we drove a few miles to Las Cuevas de Anzota and Playa Corazones.  It's an area of natural caves and beaches where guano was once fertilized.  This place was absolutely beautiful!  Once again, the stark contrast of the booming ocean against the dry, arid desert stone is just incredible.  As we walked along the beach and through the caves, Leo, a member of our program staff, refreshed us on the history of guano harvesting in the 1800's and it's cultural and economic significance in Chile.  Guano (which, yes, is the excrement of bats and sea birds and other creatures) has very high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen.  This, in combination with is lack of odor, made it an ideal material for fertilizer.  Guano harvesting can be traced as far back as the Andean people in Peru, where they used it to enrich their soil.  Here in northern Chile specifically, many Bolivians would come to the area to mine the guano.  It's a very, dangerous job -- essentially requires scaling the mountains with little protection.  It was a very important product in the Chilean economy for a large part of the 1800's but busted in the early 1900's with the discovery and rise of artificial fertilizers.  All in all, it was an absolutely beautiful place with an incredibly rich history.  Here's a few of my favorite photos!

Cross in remembrance of a Bolivian guano miner

The white rock formation in the center is same type of stone
as the rest, it's just completely coated in guano (a little gross, yes)

Late that afternoon a few of us went downtown to explore el centro of the city also, which is so pretty!  Everything is very very colorful, which is typical of Latin America, and everywhere you look there are little tiendas selling everything you can imagine.  I think it's all pretty self explanatory, but here's a few pictures!

El Morro de Arica - Arica's pride and joy! More on the story
behind this giant rock formation later.

Alright, so once again I gotta run - I have about an hour to shower and get all my stuff re-packed.  Today I move in with my family (and will finally not be living out of a suitcase for a while)!  But there's still a lot to tell about yesterday, so hopefully sometime today I get some free time to do that.  Cross your fingers that everything goes well!

Chao,

Brittany

p.s. all my photos are on flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/bliebhard. check them out!