Arica n start of peru

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March 14 
So I woke up around 7:30 checked the surf and debated going out for a long time but decided to wait on the tide switch again. So I had breaky n hung out a bit.  I went out around noon for a few hours. There crowd grew as I was out there but I must say all the guys in the water were super nice so it was a great sesh. I got some fun waves and the vibe in the water was great. When I came in I had some lunch and chilled out till my avo sesh. 
Which was even more crowded but with kids so I paddled over to colegio to have it myself. It wasn't as consistent especially at first but as the tide dropped it got better and I ended my sesh with a couple of barrels. 
After surf I went to get some dinner, i was tried of my steamed veggies and rice. So I got this macker steak sandwich with some fries couldn't even finish it all. Then mucked on the net and called Denisse then went to bed. 

March 15 (Happy Birthday Dad)

So I decided to not to leave because the hostel I want to stay at in arica was booked tonight, it's more expensive, there's no surf so there's no rush and I have some food to eat. Haha  So I hung around the hostel most of the day my left hear is hurting more than before I thought it was because I jammed the ear plugs in far and so long yesterday but as the day goes on I think it's the infection. So I may have to go to the dr tomorrow or the next in Arica. Good thing there's no surf and hopefully itll heal before the next swell. I went with some guys to a big market to buy some wheels for a skate board. This market was crazy they had super old wetsuits and other crazy stuff it was mad. I could have bought them as antiques probably. When we got back I had lunch then went to buy my bus ticket for tomorrow and get some food for dinner. I also want to make a alcohol vinegar solution to help my ears. I just hung the rest of the avo then went for a work out. After my work out I had dinner talked to Denisse and nicked off to bed. 
I'd like to say this is a cool and interesting town. It's nestled on the coast surrounded by massive sand dune mts. I don't think there's anything around for miles. It's pretty neat. It's also weird there are alot of homeless people here don't know how cold it gets in the winter but guess it's a good place to be. Haha

March 16
So I got up had breaky and packed up. My ear feels maybe marginally better at least it's not worse. Feels like a pimple is in there sore to touch. Maybe hit a dr tomorrow since i won't get to Arica till 5:30 or so. I said good bye to my hostel friends and caught a taxi to the bus station. While on the bus a guy came on and told me I had to pay for my board. 10,000 about 20 bucks. I was pissed when I bought my ticket I asked if I'd have to pay the woman said maybe 2 or 3 thousand not 10. I kept trying to say it was robbery and I haven't paid anywhere else. They just shrugged their shoulders and said there's little space, which is bull. I thought about getting another bus but I was at a station with only that company and the other buses left at weird times so I had to take it. The guy checking tickets on the bus whispered to pay half 5,000 and not say anything to the old driver. I'm stoked even though still shouldn't have to pay anything. 
So when got to Arica I decided to walk to the hostel. I did stop at a hardware store to buy some over priced rope to make a shoulder strap for my board because it's much heavier and its windy as heck here. 
Well I finally made it to the hostel checked in and got settled. It's a really cool place and the 12 bed dorm is huge. It was getting late and I was hungry so I quickly walked down the main walking street, which I was throughly impressed with. It's not a high rise city like iquique but a pretty well developed port city. I walked to the harbor so I could see and feel the ocean. Along my walk i stopped at a guy selling paintings he asked me something about a boat I couldnt figure out why, until dinner the waitress asked me the same and pointed out to sea and I remember seeing a cruiser out there. I chuckled and said no. Dinner was delicious fresh basil, garlic and tomato pizza it was small but very good. After dinner I went to the grocery store to stock up then went back to the hostel mucked around on the Internet researching my ear infections then talked to Denisse and went to bed. 

March 17
So when i got up my ear was just marginally better so I decided to ask about seeing a dr. Kurt the owner is super chill guy he called his wife for me because she use to work for a hospital or something and they made an appt for me at 4:30. So I didnt have to just go to the emergency room, wait and possibly not get the right answer. 
Then I decided to walk to see el gringo and la isola the surf breaks here.  I sat there watching a couple of body boarders for a bit, it's super shallow gonna be sketch.  Then decided to walk a bit further down the coast to see what was around the bend. There was a small but pretty beach that was basically a cove, protected from the surf. It was really neat. During my walk, I went back and forth about whether to see the dr or not? It felt like it was getting a bit better and I didnt want to spend the money if I already knew the answer. The internet can be amazing and I suppose dangerous with self diagonals and self treatment. Haha. Well after a few convos with dad going back and forth about it I'm now sitting in the waiting "room"/hall way. Good thing is I already paid and it was 25,000 pesos so about 50 bucks not bad as long as he cleans them out and gives me something I didn't already know. Haha. My main concern is whether I can go surf or not or a time frame I have to be out of the water. Well see. 
So the dr didn't speak English so I had to convey my problem in the best Spanish I could. But i think he understood for the most part at least, especially because later that night I told Denisse what I said in spanish and she understood my crappy Spanish. Haha Anway the dr say there was no infection now he didn't even clean them out like we had hoped.  I didnt need any antibiotics or and ear drops he thought it was some muscular jaw joint related pain. He gave me a prescription for some muscle relaxer. I asked him numerous times are u sure there is no infection he repeated now no, both ears look the same. Kind of odd. So I called dad back up and he said he didn't think that he was right but then again dad couldnt see my ears. Dad gave me the name of better drops I could use if it got worse but not to bother with the muscle relaxer. I can't remember the rest of the night probaly just made dinner n talked to Denisse. 

March 18
Today I walked around the town to a ton of little stores and markets looking for some headphones that don't go in my ears so they don't irritate me and looking for these shoes I saw in a market in iquique for Denisse. Well I couldn't find the shoes and couldn't commit to any headphones. I then went on a wild goose chase for peroxide I wanted some for my ears and the nice security guard at one of the pharmacy told me where to get it and the name well i couldn't find the other store he told me of and the other pharmacies told me to go to a ferriteria which is a hard ware store couldn't figure that out so I went in one and asked for it. Turns out it was some sort of industrial cleaner. Haha 
After my unsuccessful shopping I went back to the hostel made some lunch then went for a walk to the beaches to the north to play with my kite. There were some other kiters down by the pier so I went and watched them for a bit then went back to a deserted spot found some tires to use as anchors got all set up and flew it for a while. It's good fun just need to get better at self launching and what not, I'm stoked to play with it this summer since we dont always have surf but usually have wind. Haha when I finished playing around I went back to the hostel talked with some kiwis and had dinner then called Denisse and went to bed. 

March 19
So according to the swell it was still only 4ft so I didn't bother going surfing with the guys in the hostel plus I wanted to keep my ears dry another day so I decided to head to the caves near by. I had the most interesting taxi ride ever. It started out normal where are you from ect. Then he asked me if i was patriotic not the norm but given USA relations understandable. I replied as most would I am proud of certain things and not of others he agreed and said the same of chile. Ok. Then he started to ask me if I believed in god. I should have just said yes because he had a bible in is dashboard because the rest of the trip I got an earful of religion I half understood and how he didn't think it was right mom and dad are different religions. I ended up apologizing to him so he would just stop talking haha. I couldn't believe I did that when I got out but he was driving the taxi and I'd didn't want him to get mad.  Haha. He offered to wait for me while I looked at the caves, I said no thanks I'll find my way back, mind you this was the end of the road for 7 kms nothing around aside from 2 tiny restaurants and a fish factory a few kms away. Haha. 
Anyway the caves were pretty cool but sadly very dirty with trash and human fieces,poop. There was a trail I decided to follow for a while to see if there were more caves but it just lead to a tiny beach where I made a sign in the sand for Denisse with shells.  I went a bit further but it was rocky coast and I couldnt see anything worth going further so I went back. I decided to grab lunch at one of the small restaurants. I had the best seafood empanada there. After lunch I started walking back, planing on hitchhiking along the way. Well as I was passed the second restaurant there were 2 girls pulling away I threw out my thumb they looked but continued on but stopped about 70meters away threw it in reverse and waived me on so I ran up. they were very nice and brought me back to the main street in town. When I got back I walked through town and found a cool present for Denisse and decided to finally buy some headphones. Then I went back to the playground to have my work out. This time there were many more kids and parents around. Haha at one point I was doing pullups on the monkey bars and a little girl was on the other side staring at me. N not because she wanted to cross the bars she was too young and couldn't, just staring.  Haha. While I was working out a boy/guy came out of his house and waived me over. He gave me his jump rope. I didn't catch everything he said but I assume he used to use it but doesn't any more, although he could/should have, just saying. It was super nice of him and it's a pretty sweet rope, during my workout I was thinking I needed a new one anyway. When I finished I went back did the norm had dinner talked to Denisse and bed. 

March 20
So this am I went with the guys to "el gringo" it wasn't working to well the tide was high and closing out a bit. Kurt went to go tow in "la buey" with his friend and the Brazilians went with some one else to the beach break. I didnt know what to do. The beach was so far but there was no one out here. I sat and watched it for ages finally some guy said we should go out. So I let him go first so i could watch him. He caught a couple but nothing great and man is it sketchy. I almost said f it and went home but I decided to get wet. Well I don't know how long I was in but I only caught 3 waves the guy didn't catch many more and he left before me so I caught one and left to not a place I want to surf alone. 
When I got back Tom the kiwi working there said he was gonna go try la isla the other side of the little island of el grino so I decided to go with him. Well unfortunately it wasnt breaking and el gringo still looked sketchy to me. He finally decided to go out I sat there and watched he only caught a couple as well, not good either, then the wind picked up a bit so he came in. 
When we got back I walked to the Sunday market in hopes to finally get some presents but it wasnt souviners stuff it was house hold stuff. Bummer I feel bad I have no presents from this trip for my family. Hopefully the excessive presents from
past trips will be ok. Plus I have no room with the kiteboard kit. 
Then I walked up the morro 110 meter cliff over looking the city to watch the sun go down. I didn't time it right so I had ages to kill when I got up there. Haha and it wasn't the prettiest sunset but nice non the less. 
When I got back I had dinner and met a couple the girl was Chilean and the guy was english. We chatted a bit and I told them about Denisse and the girl said we were proof it can work so don't lose hope. That was very nice. Then I called Denisse and went to bed. 

March 21
So I wanted to try and tackle el gringo one more time so I got up early because high tide was around 9:30 unfortunately the sun didn't rise until 7;40 or so. There wasn't anyone out but a bodyboarder was there checking it too, it didn't look great but decided to give it a go. This time we went for the tiny channel rather that around the outside like I did yesterday. It was sketch as well we had to wait along time and time it right. He was an argentinan that spoke a bit of english. He actually didn't stop talking in the water.haha He caught a couple, but kept saying it wasn't good and the tide was too high. I caught 2 and wiped out on both after sitting there for ages trying to pick good ones. I again said f it and went it. I got back had breaky packed up and caught a taxi to the bus stop. Where I got a bus across to Tacna, Peru. Kind of weird crossing but all went smoothly. We arrived around 12:00 because Peru is 2 hours behind chile. Which was nice it made it easy to get a bus to aeroquipe. The bus was about 6 hours, I tried studying a bit but need up just falling asleep or just daydreaming about Denisse. When we arrived I got a taxi to a hostel I picked. I was a bit worried because apparently the taxis aren't safe here unless there official ones and I couldn't tell the difference. But he was an old guy so I wasn't too worried. We made it fine I checked in and went for some dinner. I had some fried rice and meat with a good green sauce for about 1 buck and as I was walking back I saw a tiny shop that had anticucho, I had forgot cows heart one of my favorites so I went in and had 2 skewers and a fresh mixed fruit juice. Ahh man love Peru and the food between anticucho and chiviche all I need is buffalo wings. When I got back i had a shower and talked to Denisse and went to bed. 

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