Welcome to Peru - Tacna

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There was no dramatic change in the scenary when we crossed in to Peru. Still one huge desert devoid of life.

Shortly after crossing the border we arrived in Tacna. Now this is a little more of what I was expecting from travel in South America. We knew going in that Chile and Argentina were much more developed and I thought by the time we made it to Peru I would be ready for the culture shock. Maybe I was more ready, but it sure didn´t feel like it as we exited the bus in Tacna to people yelling everywhere trying to sell you everything, mostly things you don´t want. And I stick out like a sore thumb so I was often the target of sales pitches. It was pure chaos and was a lot to handle.

We arrived in the international bus terminal and, in our typical routine, tried to figure out a bus to our next destination, Puno. The international terminal only had one bus option to Puno and it was expensive so we went across the street to the national bus terminal. There only one bus option was available, but it would get us to Puno at 4am...not something we were excited about. It was really strange how so few of the bus kiosks sold buses to Puno. Finally somebody told us the Puno buses were out of a different terminal. OK. A little exhausted, we grabbed a bite to eat. Finally!!! Inexpensive!!! And wow were the lunches huge. I got the chicken with fries and rice and I think they gave me a whole chicken. Sarah got egg, rice and plantanes. $8 soles for my meal, $5 for hers (about $5 USD total). Woohoo!!! And really we could have just gone with one of the meals since they were so huge. It was the first time we didn´t finish our meals all trip.

With full bellys we decided to try to figure out the bus to Puno tomorrow. We negotiated a cab to the city center and found a recommended hostel nearby, Hostel Inclan. It had the price listed, $42 soles for both of us ($16 USD) and after a meager attempt to negotiate the price down we just took it. Thats ok though, still way cheaper than anywhere else we had stayed to this point.

We set off for the main square, which seemed to be Tacna´s only real attraction. So in about 15 minutes we had seen it all. The Cathedral and Fountain, both designed and I think built by Mr. Eiffel, the same guy as Paris´s Eiffel tower. There was also a miniature version of the St. Louis Arch, although I´m sure it wasn´t designed after the arch in St. Louis.

Upon checking out the cathedral, we learned there were two masses that night. We have been wanting to check out a local mass and the timing seemed right so we planned on going to the 7:00 pm mass. It was only about 4:00 at this point so we set off for the grocery store to get dinner.

The grocery store was gigantic, by far the biggest we have seen, and it contained just about everything. It was like going to a Super Walmart or maybe, dare I say it, Costco (no membership needed). They had tons of brands of foods that we can get in the states. After spending way too much time there (again hitting rush hour at the store) we stood in line for a good 30 minutes with our water, bread, avacado, apples, shampoo/conditioner/soap, mixed nuts and watermelon.

We left the store and it was practically dark, quite a surprise. It was only 6:00 and while we lost an hour when crossing the border it had been staying light until 8ish in Chile. We quickly made our way back to the hostal, ate some food, showered, and went over to the cathedral for mass.

It was my second ever Spanish mass (remember the first Dad, had to get mass in and we were going to miss it Sunday since we were fishing so we went to the late Saturday night Spanish version?) We were expecting a different Catholic mass experience than in the US but it was a little disappointing in that regard. The mass was almost exactly the same as back home except for a little clapping at one point. They threw us one curve ball about the time of communion when we sat instead of kneeled. Other than that, exactly the same. A bit cooler looking church though.

Monday (the 26th) was the morning of taxi chaos. We woke up super early, about 6:30 and made our way to a different, third, bus terminal to hopefully find an 8:00 bus to Puno. Unfortunately there was only one seat on the only bus leaving from that terminal. So we took a taxi back to the first two terminals. The expensive bus kiosk in the international terminal wasn´t open so we went over to the national terminal and asked there. They directed us to a fourth bus terminal which we hurried to as 8:00 was rapidly approaching. After all that scrambling we couldn´t find an early bus and settled for the noon bus. It would get us there after dark, not preferred, but still at the busy dinner time so it was ok. We spent the rest of the morning hanging out at an internet cafe and getting another good, cheap meal.



Post Post Additions

The marketing style of the resturants is so bizarre. In the bus terminal Monday morning there were three restaurants: Restaurant 1, Restaurant 2, and Restaurant 3 (literally those were the names). They were all within a few feet of eachother and sold almost exactly the same food. Their marketing strategy is to have one of the woman stand in front of the store and mumble through the entire menu. So there are three woman all mumbling over top of one another. And none of them look happy or inviting. Bizarre.

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Photos

Sandy hillside view
From bus terminal - lots of things written and designed in the sandy hillside

Comments

[anonymous]

We remember that fountain!!!