Chile: Arica

 Saturday, February 4, 2023

Arica, Chile

Insignia docked right in town (about 11 miles from the Peruvian border) about 8 am this morning.  Again we took a shuttle out of the commercial dock area (no tourists walking on the docks). An information agent was handing out maps and told us this was Day 2 of their 3-day version of Carnival, which hasn’t been held in 3 years because of Covid19.

It didn’t take took many steps into town to realize this town had a hangover. There was confetti all over the streets along with copious amounts of trash and here and there I saw someone drinking a beer, early for this time of the morning, someone else trying to sweep up the mess. The Carnaval Andino Con la Fuerza del Sol (Andean Festival with the Strength of the Sun) was starting slowly.

Note beer in his right hand (10:30 am)

There were grandstands set up and a parade route blocked off. We asked around and were told varying times the parade would start. In the meantime, we made our way up to the cathedral, designed by Gustaf Eiffel. A baptism was under way.

We then began to wind through the downtown streets and eventually found an office supply store. We’re having a paper management problem on the ship and need an accordion file and labels to keep organized. They didn’t take Visa or US dollars, so we found a money exchange and got some Chilean pesos, went back and bought the file folder. 

Purchase successful!

We started noticing people dressed in elaborate costumes here and there. The suddenly, there was the parade! It was absolutely amazing. Different costumes depending on the group, whistles keeping everyone on the same page with the choreography, marching bands and drums keeping the beat. At one point, it kind of petered out so we walked toward the grandstands, wondering what they were for. Suddenly the parade started up again. There was a large dump truck blocking the parade from entering the grandstand area. We walked closer to the grandstands and were invited up to a nice, cool, covered stage with chairs set up behind  some microphones and sound equipment. Eventually, the dump truck moved. The parade continued to the grandstand area. A woman asked if I knew what was happening. I said no, and she explained these particular groups were not invited to the parade, that they had just showed up anyway and finally been allowed to participate.

Lady with protest sign for the uninvited’

After the unauthorized parade went through, there was a big delay. The announcers filled in with patter for some time. The crowd in the grandstands was getting visibly fed up with the delay. Part of the blah blah involved interviewing one of our companions who spoke fluent Spanish. Then introducing Charlie and I  “from Washington State.” It was getting weird.

Susy Olsen from Solvang being interviewed for local TV

Contingent from “Washington State!”

Finally, the official parade started despite whatever dignitary they were waiting for being an no show. And what a parade it was. It was incredible to see the diverse groups of dancers and musicians. Old, young, from Chile, Peru, and Bolivia.

At some point during the parade, a woman came up and introduced the Governor of the Arica Province and his wife. It dawned on me we were sitting in their seats! We realized it might be time to leave, and on the way out we were introduced to the mayor and given umbrellas with the festival name on them. 

Charlie meeting the governor

0

Charlie meeting the mayor

All of our interactions with Chileans were very positive—overall impression of warm, friendly people. We were incredibly lucky to be here on this day.