Azapa valley - geoglyphs

I have arrived in Santiago! I´m staying in Marcos' and Angie´s house, and they are absolutely wonderful. I also get to play with their two boys Nico (3 yr) and Ben (1 yr), which is always fun. Yesterday Angie took me on a quick tour of some of the outskirts of the city, and now we are planning what to do in the next few days during times that she doesn´t have to work :)

One thing that we´ve decided upon so far is to try one local Italian icecream place a day (they have so many here) - I can agree with that plan - the stuff is absolutely heavenly!!

In the meantime, I will leave you with one last Arica post - exploring the Azapa valley, a green valley extending westwards from Arica. This valley has a lot of agriculture, so it was fun to see some of the local farms, and way of farming. The valley also has a museum about the local peoples and cultures from the past, past wars, and even several mummies. Also, on the hills along the valley, you can find geoglyphs - drawings made out of rocks on the sandy hills. There are very many of these geoglyphs, extending over a very large region (150,000 km2) in the Chilean Atacama Desert. They vary a lot in style (e.g. geometric shapes, and animal and human forms) and were believed to be built between 600 and 1500 AD, by cultures including the Inca and Tiwanaku. They are believed to have had multiple symbolic or ritual purposes, including cultic worship of mountains, expressions of devotion to Andean deities, and to store knowledge of safe pathways for llama caravans through the desert. From these images, people could know about location of salt flats, water sources and animal fodder, therefore forming a vital role in the transportation network connecting the great South American civilizations.

I probably won´t post much for a while - probably not till after I come home, or after we find out whether we are having a little boy or girl... 1 WEEK from TODAY!!!