La Paz-Arica...
I Spent two nights in Arica, (the most northern town in Chile before the border of Peru) feeling quite ill having left such high altitude in La Paz and travelled on an eight hour journey down to sea level, to the town of Arica. Met three Hawaiian big-surf riders and watched them being towed in to some incredible waves. From the view point ´El Morro` I could see out to the island where ´el gringo´ breaks. The swells coming in were just amazing. They wrapped around the island creating another break on the other side which was best to be surfed in the afternoons when the wind had picked up making ´el gringo´ too dangerous to ride. The wave was just incredibly powerful, perfect A-frame, but really heavy, and could equally be surfed in either direction. Visited the war museum from the War of the Pacific in the late 1890´s between Chile and Peru. I also went for stroll along the sea front to the fish market. What an experience that was. Those fish vendors live such a hard hard life. You can see it in their eyes, their skin and their hair; all wrinkly, and overgrown but hold exceptionally lively spirits. One man I remember in particular was cutting the head off this fish and washing the various inner parts which the customer wanted to keep. He then proceeded to slide his heavy duty knife first to the right, then to the left of the backbone before ripping out the vertebrae in one fell swoop. He slid the knife flat down one side, flipped the fish over, then down the other side leaving two bloody fillets on the reddened ceramic tiled counter. The skin was removed from the meat by holding on to the tail end and gently running the knife through. A quick wash in coloured water and bagged in plastic served to the customer, along with all the other parts. It was too late, I was also in the reminants of the mutiny of this fish, stupidly wearing flip-flops! I just had to get out out there, but fascinating all the same. Outside lay sea lions and pelicans waiting for a morsel.
As I walked along the dockyard to get closer to the sea lions which were basking in the midday sun, I met a what could only be described as a very weathered woman donning a fishermans cap. Her eyebrows long and curly. Her face was tanned by the fearsome sun exposure. She was accompanied by three scally dogs- all hers. She was in a way tormenting the beasts when we met by placing all her weight on her front foot and leaning towards them. This encouraged them to retailiate by opening their jaws and bellowing forward. We chatted for a few minutes about her life in Arica and selling fish. As she left, all three dogs were in-toe, one jumped up at her from behind, but this didn´t phase her she was obviously used to it, she continued walking forward but holding on to its paws, looking at the floor as well as acknowledging a fellow friend in the distance. The dog once released, not in any discomfort jumped straight back up again, insisting that the game was not over!
