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Published: December 20th 2009
So, same drill now I´m not in Chile, although I only have some odd remarks this time.... In Iquique it was the first time I´ve seen Chinese cars... not many, but there were a few that I looked at thinking "what the heck is that", to find out it was a Great Wall or something similar. I guess they´re there because of the duty free zone, and the fact that there are actually quite a few Chinese making use of it as an import base. Another curious thing I noticed was the little yellow signs by the road, with distances on to the nearest 20 metres every 20 metres; usually handpainted... I think the highest I saw was about 262840: I´d hate to have had the contract to do that job!
The Chileans (how do you pronounce that Steve?!) all seemed very friendly... they´d look at me, I´d smile and then they´d smile back say "buenas dias" or whatever was appropriate, it was nice!
To cross the border I braved the collectivos... I joined the queue at the international terminal, only to work out 10 minutes and 20 metres later that it was the wrong one. Moved across and joined
the next one, only to work out 10 minutes later that I needed a ticket... joined that queue (moved pretty quickly), then back into the second queue (that didn´t). After about an hour or more I finally jumped in a big old yank tank with 4 others, and we headed for the border.... where there was another big queue, and that was just the Chilean side... Is this an everyday thing, or just because I chose to travel on a Saturday?
Once in Tacna I was grateful I had some left over Chilean pesos as I changed these and bought the bus ride to Arequipa. If the sun had been out this would have been a spectacular ride, with pink and grey sands most of the way. As it was, at one point we were in the clouds, and as we approached Arequipa the sun came out for a very pretty sunset. Off the bus it turned out to be quite cold, and after a quick haggle with the taxi driver I went to another new hostel, threw on a long sleeved top and went out looking for some money and some food (hadn´t eaten since breakfast).
Most of the
way through South America I´ve been wondering about how the junctions work - one set of traffic just gives way to another, but I couldn´t work out which ones for which... but here in Peru it doesn´t seem to matter; they just create the gap. The place is awash with tiny little Japanese and Korean cars that tootle at you as they go passed - I think they are the collectivos and my god are they pushy at the junctions. As a pedestrian you just look for a gap and dash across the road, praying.
The Peruvians themselves seem tiny - it´s not often I´m head and shoulders above half the population, and they almost look Asian; definitely different from anywhere else I´ve been in South America, but on the whole quite good looking.
As I arrived last night I could see the volcanoes towering over the town, covered in snow but they cloud has come back again today and there´s not much in the way of scenery to see.
So, I´ve wandered about the town, tried the stuffed pepper, wandered around the market (lots of different fruit and veg, especially the potatoes, the black, white and giant sweet corn,
and then there was the chickens feet...) Will be looking out for alpaca and guinea pig over the next few days.
Trying to plot the rest of my trip 'til Canada now... trying to work out how to get from Cuzco to Lima, if I should come back to Arequipa to see the Colca Canyon, and how to get to Ecuador... fly (expensive) or bus (24hrs). Oh well, I´m sure I´ll come up with something.
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Matt
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I saw Alpaca out on my ride today, probably colder than the ones you'll see! BTW Colca Canyons ok if you combine it with the cruz del condor place, try to stay overnight at the bottom of the canyon though...