Más al norte

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Well, we arrived this morning in Tacna, Peru's most southern city. It's only about 40 miles from Arica but you have to pass through customs to get here. It was my first time going through customs on land (not including Canada when I was a kid and passports weren't required--does that make me sound old or what?!). I'm quickly falling in love with Peru. It has a very distinct feeling from Chile and even the people have a different look about them. I still feel comfortable though.

We arrived at the bus station in Tacna after the driver of our colectivo, or taxi/bus, almost drove off the road about 20 times, hit a woman (well, more like nudged), and almost ran over a school bus full of kids--Peru started off stressful. But we got off the bus, exchanged some chilean pesos for peruvian soles, and bought our tickets to Nazca, our next stop. The bus doesn't leave until 7:30 so we have a day to kill here in Tacna.

Tacna is a busy little town with some beautiful architecture and great parks but not much else. We still have 7 hours to pass and I'm not really sure what we're going to do. The nice part about travelling in pairs is that you can nap in the park for a few minutes in turns.

Well, thanks for all the happy thoughts from everyone. I miss everyone and truly wish that I could share some of these experiences more closely with all of you. See you all soon!

Zach

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