Arica

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From La Paz, it was onwards to Chile and our first stop was its most northerly town, Arica. From the moment we arrived, it was immediately very different to either Peru or Bolivia - much more modern, it kind of reminded us of Carrickfergus 10 years ago (ok, so not *that* modern!). Neil was even able to pick up a charger for his ipod, something we'd been unsuccessfully trying to find for a few weeks.

Our hotel here was fab, very cosy, with a lovely French owner who contsantly spoke in her own personal hybrid language of French and Spanish, leaving us a bit disorientated and not quite sure where we were at times!

Arica is a beach resort, so with it being winter here, there were very few, if any, other travellers about, and a lot of the bars and restaurants seemed to be closed. The corner shops were still open though, so we were able to take advantage of some lovely CHEAP chilean wine back in our hotel room. There's also a fab museum nearby which we were able to visit, and see our second lot of South American mummies, including the 4,000 year old Chinchorro mummies, the world's oldest known.

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