By Bob Van Leer

  (Arica, Chile, Feb. 12, 2003) - This northernmost city in Chile is located in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest areas on earth. Only on the valley floors where there is irrigation by water from the mountains is there anything green. Where there is no irrigation, there are only miles and miles of bare mineral soil. But where water is applied, the desert blooms. Our guide says olives are the largest export from Arica.

   Betty and I took a bus tour around Arica, a city of 200,000, and its environs. One of the first stops was El Moro, a rock promontory overlooking the harbor. On it one of the decisive battles of the War of the Pacific was fought on Jan. 7, 1880. Chilean troops defeated defending Peruvians.

  The war was between Chile on one side and Peru and Bolivia on the other. Chile won the 1879-1880 war and Arica was part of the spoils. It used to be in Peru. As a result of the war, Peru lost a big chunk of its territory and Bolivia lost its seacoast. The war was not settled until a treaty in 1929. Relations between the three countries are still touchy over the war.

  At the edge of town on barren hills are geoglyphs, pictures made on the hills. In this case they seemed to be made out of stones. In other areas of rock they are incised into the stone. One was a whole heard of llamas, possibly with a herder. Another was of a monkey, lizard, snake and pregnant woman. Size of the geoglyphs was difficult to estimate from a distance, but I would estimate 50-100 feet tall, perhaps more, and much wider.

  This used to be mining country, but all except one coal mine are shut down. At one time nitrates mined nearby made this a prosperous city but a method was found to produce nitrates artificially and the mine shut down.

  A railroad from here to Bolivia is that country's link to the sea. We visited a museum of pre-Spanish artifacts, the Archeological Museum of San Miguel De Azapa nine miles outside Arica. The museum takes the local culture from 10,000 years ago to the arrival of the Spanish in 1535. There was a thriving, rather advanced civilization here before the Spanish arrival, but it came to an abrupt end. In the museum are some of the oldest mummies ever found.

  The dryness of the desert prevents degradation. Saddest to see were the tiny mummies of infants. Their life ended almost before it began, yet thousands of years later the mortal remains are still to be seen. We will be leaving Chile and, after a day at sea, will dock at General San Martin, Peru.