Arica

Arica sits under the Morro, the headland stormed by Chilean troops in June 1880 in the battle that took the city from Peru during the War of the Pacific; it remained Peruvian in law until the treaty of 1929. It is also the site of the oldest deliberate mummification known anywhere: the Chinchorro people of this coast were treating and preserving their dead from around 5000 BC, roughly two thousand years before the earliest Egyptian mummies, and the practice covered everyone rather than an elite. The Chinchorro sites of Arica and Camarones were inscribed by UNESCO in 2021. Rain here is close to nil, which is why the bodies survived.

What you actually see

• The Morro above the city - stormed in June 1880.
• Chinchorro mummification from about 5000 BC - the oldest deliberate practice known.
• Everyone preserved, not an elite - what makes the Chinchorro unusual.
• Inscribed by UNESCO in 2021 - the Arica and Camarones sites.

When to go

Year round; the coast is dry and mild in every season. A full day.

Honest expectations

The mummies are displayed at the Azapa valley museum outside the city, not in the centre. Displaying human remains is handled with restrictions and photography rules. The city itself is a working port and border town rather than a resort.

Nearby

The Azapa valley museum is inland; Putre and the altiplano are east.