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Ben and Karli a very nice Aussie couple shared the taxi ride with me to the bus station from the Surfhouse hostel then, when we are paying for the bus to Iquique the lady asked for our passports and ben realized they left theirs at the safe in the hostel so he have to run and get it , he only have 30 minutes to spare. i was confused when I asked about the time schedule of buses I thought the lady in the counter said the next bus was 2:30pm then saw posted 12:30pm turns out i did not understand her thoroughly, I thought she said dos y media but actually dose y media with silent "e". but it all got sorted out in the end.
Have to pay a tax to get on the bus, a first for me, but Ben and Karli said it is common in Peru, hmmm. My seatmate is a young boy whose parents are across from me, the boy was talking to m in Spanish but i cant understand a thing, he seems frustrated, i think he is 3 years old, playing with his toy cars on the floor, occasionally tapping me if
my feet gets in the way, quite a cute kid, I put on my headphones to listen to my mp3 to block him out but he keeps asking questions, is that your seat he said in Spanish, 4 times over!then palyed with the strap in my backpack, he is entertaining himself, giggling ang laughing, the parents were asleep so it seems i am baby sitting! The scenery outside is amazing, sand mountains just like Valle Azapa and Lluta, i loved it. Took some photos, The conductor asked for ID's for police checkpoint, Ben and Kylie hesitated to give theirs as the guy was talking in Spanish they cant understand him so I explained to them what he needs it for. At the checkpoint the boy keeps asking me carabineros(police)? I wanted to tell him if he does not shut up they will take him, but how,in Spanish..
The bus conductor when he handed me my passport back wanted to know what i do for a living since i have so many stamps in my passport, i said a bum!! At one town we stopped vendors came up and selling empanadas, i bought a few, really good. Iquique is only
4 hours away, and a very dramatic entrance to the town, from the top of the sand mountain, liked to call it that, where there is a small town called San Pedro we made our way down towards the ocean, and man what a sight, giant dunes surround the city below, i have not seen such big dunes from above before and the city looks miniscule! Arriving in the city we took a taxi, the 1st one we hailed said he does not go to our destination so he pointed us to another one, maybe they have different zones. Found the hostel and Claudia the receptionist checked us in. The place is very nice a bit smaller kitchen but we can cook. Ben and Kylie came with me to the grocery store to buy food to cook for dinner, i bought chicken wings and swiss chards which i cooked and shared with them and some rice, played uno after dinner and went to bed.
Walked down the Baquedano pedestrian walkway , lots of old buildings and banks, went to the ticket ofice next to the local mercado to purchase my ticket for Copiapo then had lunch at one of
the restaurants in the market, i had a very good ceviche then promised the waitress I will come back the next day. Strolled around the waterfront, followed the boardwalk, met Karli and Ben sat at the beach and had a chat with them, and a fella from San Francisco came off the water from surfing and talked about the waves and all, surf lingo, got bored so i decided to take a walk again. I left my towel in Arica so need to buy a new one. bought dinner as well, cooked a beef stew and shared it with Karli and Ben and played uno once again. The Japanese guy is still in my dorm room, below me and so have to brace for another loud snoring, i tried to wake him up by moving around agitating the bed so he will wake up but no luck and thus a poor sleep night for me.
Went back to the market to have the superb seafood soup, cant remember the name. Went back to the Backpacker's hostel and fell asleep on the couch. This hostel is cool as it is only a few meters away from the beach
and good views from our dorm, nice to chill out. The hostel is only a few meters from the beach, and thus surfers stay here often. The water is freezing cold and so only the brave dare to wade in it, counting me out, the waves are big and strong, but may not exactly favor the surfers, they were talking in their lingo while discussing the wave status, cannot understand a thing. ben whipped up a storm in the kitchen, cooking early to avoid the usual rush in the kitchen, chicken and veggie stir fry, quite good, he is quite a cook himself. Karli cleaned up and we chatted for a bit before it is time for me to catch the 7pm bus to Copiapo. The bus ride was following the coastline and even though it was night I can see the bright white foam from the waves thanks to the full and bright moon, nice scenery. We got stopped for the 1st time by police checking IDs, am the only tourist, they searched our day bags as well then much later on another check this time our bags out and on the table as if crossing borders, through it
and off we go again, next morning another check near Bahia Inglesa about an hour away from the city, took ages this one took our IDs and half hour later they opened the carriage compartment and checked it as well, dont really know what they are looking for, we never got checked once on the way up north why going south they are so strict? Arrived in Copiapo 20 minutes late, left my backpack at the left luggage service at the bus station then headed to the town center for Sernatur to seek a map of the city.
Visited the Mineral museum to kill time, a nice guy from the museo explained to me the different minerals they have on exhibit and wanted to exchange emails so I obliged. He said in high season people can climb the highest volcano in the world which is near here, Volcan Ojos del Salado at nearly 7,000 meters!!!
Then sat in the nice park with odd looking old trees, a young woman approached me , wearing a school uniform, maybe a high school student asking for some coins I said no, as others in the park did, these girls are perhaps trying
to get some money from passers by to buy cigarettes as i have seen a number smoking as they stroll around town. Walked around the town and found a veggie market near the river and I found some fruits and empanadas so i bought some for lunch and sat in the park near the iglesia San Francisco, on my way back i found a vendor selling ceviche in a cup so i bought one and it was very fresh and delicious. Also visited the Museo regional which was quite boring good thing it was just a $1 to enter. Before you know it it was 5pm and the bus came and off we went to Santiago.
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