Mystic North

Pick up your rental car at the airport in Arica. Start exploring Arica, the City of Eternal Spring. In the beautiful city center the work of Gustave Eiffel awaits you. The French engineer designed the San Marcos Cathedral as well as the historic customs office on the main square. Visit the famous Morro rock, the symbol of Arica. It is a sandstone outcrop of 130m, which was stormed by the Chilean army during the war against Peru.

There is a small museum that highlights this important event in Chilean history, and the viewpoint on the top of the Morro offers a spectacular vista of the city, the long beaches, and the lush Lluta Valley. Enjoy the rest of the day at one of the nice beaches.

Overnight stay in Arica. Distance covered: about 20 km on asphalt (only airport - city center).

Drive your rental car eastwards out of town and discover the Azapa Valley today. This place is not only the main area of Chilean olive production, but hosts the Museum San Miguel de Azapa, where you can marvel at the oldest mummies in the world. Did you know that the world's oldest mummies are not from Egypt, but from the Chinchorro culture? The Chinchorro people lived on the North Chilean Pacific coast in the Stone Age and began to preserve their dead around 5.000 BC. Organs and muscles were removed. Then, the body was carefully remodeled with mud and straw, mantled with its original skin and decorated with a mask and hair dress before painting it with manganese oxide. Nobody knows exactly why the Chinchorro people did that, but one theory says that there might have been a high childhood mortality rate due to naturally high levels of arsenic in the groundwater. By mummification, the Chinchorro children could live on.

After this interesting history lesson, stroll over local markets or visit an olive farm before heading back to Arica’s pleasant beaches. Have a look on the slopes of the Azapata Valley, there are ancient geoglyphs: large images of shepherds and herds.

Overnight stay in Arica. Distance covered: about 50 km on asphalt.

In case you arrive in Arica early on the first day, you can also visit the museum in the Azapa Valley on this very first day and shorten the tour by one day.

Today you will undertake a fascinating all-day excursion to the Lauca National Park and let yourself be enchanted by the sublimity of the Altiplano sceneries. First, you cross the green Lluta Valley, which provides a surprising contrast to the surrounding desert. On your way, you can observe mysterious rock paintings of lamas and humans on the hillsides as well as remains from the Inca Conquest. The highlight of the tour is Lake Chungará (4,500m), with its emerald, green surface that beautifully reflects the snow-covered volcano of Parinacota (6,400m). This is a real postcard-panorama, don’t miss it! Observe the local fauna such as guanacos, alpacas, flamingos, chinchillas, and others who manage to live in this seemingly hostile environment. The churches of the pre-Hispanic highland villages Parinacota (4,392m) and Putre (3,500m) are worth a detour on the way back. The adobe buildings date back to the early 17th century and are among the earliest evidence of European colonization in the area.

Overnight stay in Arica. Distance covered: about 400 km, mostly on asphalt.

Please be aware, that the difference in altitude between Arica and Lake Chungará is 4.500m, covered in only one day. If you are not absolutely sure, that you do not have altitude problems or are not in optimum health conditions, you should rather refrain from this excursion. Turn around immediately at the first sign of headache or nausea. If you are not sure, you might also take this excursion as a guided tour, so that help is available, and you do not have to drive yourself.

Leave Arica today in the morning on the Panamericana Highway with direction to Iquique. Make a short detour to the «giant of Atacama», an ancient, 86 m high image on a hill about 70 km before reaching Iquique.

Very close to Iquique, take the detour to the former nitrate mining towns of Humberstone and Santa Laura, which will beam you back in time to the 19th century, the era of the nitrate boom. They were built in 1872, when the area still belonged to Peru, to extract the ‘white gold’ from the desert soil. Santa Laura once was home to more than 400 inhabitants, while Humberstone hosted even 3,500 workers. There are warehouses, a church, a school, a sports stadium and even a hotel with a swimming pool. Actors from all over the world performed in the local theater.

All those remains just left there from one day to the other create a bizarre atmosphere in this now UNESCO heritage site. Iquique itself, the former bastion of the nitrate boom, awaits you with long white beaches and a busy port along with magnificent buildings from the time of the boom – a very attractive combination.

If you are the adventurous type, you can also do a paragliding excursion in Iquique. For this you should plan an extra day.

Overnight stay in Iquique. Distance covered about 350 km on asphalt.

Drop off your rental car in Iquique and take your return flight.