viva la chile !!

---

---

So we made it to chile.....
we took the bus from arequipa to tacna, peru about a 4 hour ride. Once in tacna, we then hired a taxi, if you wanna call it that, to frive us across the border into chile, and to arica. total distance is about 55km. it cost us about u.s. 5 dollars each for the ride. the driver also helped us with our forms, and the border crossing, which was actually pretty easy.
the bus ride wasnt bad, some windy roads, but not as bad as the last one. plus due to the much more leniant peru pharmacy system, i obtained some, lets call them, bus ride helper pills. i now have something to take the edge off those long, white knuckle bus rides we still have to come. So after 4 hours we got to tacna, a small border town in southern peru. we got off the bus, and then were swarmed by the taxi guys trying to take us into chile, and on to arica. we chose the nifty oldsmobile, cause thats how we roll..... wow what a piece of junk that car was, ha-ha. plus he also had 3 other backpackers in it with us, so 6 of us total, rode for an hour in this barely running junker, going pedal to the metal every chance he had. luckily that meant we were only going about 60mph in that car. we get to the border, get out, get stamped, get back in, drive 100feet to chiles border, get out, get stamped, drive to arica, another 20mins. done.
So now in arica, chile. now this is a place i could move to, carol to. she loves it here, its all desert, tropical climate, really hot, humidity to boot. NOT, ha-ha its just another hole in the wall town.....well maybe not quite that bad, but not much to write home about. typical mid size city, poor end, richer end, so-so beach in between. we picked a hostel near the bus station, cause we planned on leaving with in a day. but ughh, we are in the crappy end of town, and the hostel wasnt soo nice, dink room, super hot, (was 84 degrees in the room all night) and idiots downstairs hooting and holering all night, must have been drinking to forget where they were.haha. so needless to say, we didnt sleep well, and we are not a fan of much here right now. we are still happy to be in chile, and love it all, its just we made an uninformed wrong decision on our hostel. the owners of the hostel also did not help matters, its like their private house that they also rent rooms in. and theres a 3 or 4 year old kid running around screaming all night like a monkey, and they dont say a word. i wanted to kick the little sucker right off the balcony. so now on to bigger and better things. we leave for calama tonight at 10pm, another 10hr bus ride, overnight. Calama, another desert, in the foothills of the andes. haha. We plan on going to the copper mines there, thats where carols grandma worked and met her grandfather, so it should be kinda cool seeing that place. after that, we are still up in the air where we go next, over to argentina, or stay in chile and head to santiago.... lots of choices, but i will say i think most all of northern chile will be like this, a desert, and typical beach towns....
-R-

---

Photos

the desert of southern peru an northern chile
taken while on the bus from arequipa to tacna, peru

leaving peru
the border of chie and peru

viva la chile
entering chile

holy crap santiago is a long way away
the first road sign i saw in chile, and now realize the huge distances we will have to travel

the beach in arica, chile
the beach here in arica, not the nicest, but it will do.

our taxi from tacna to arica chile
traveling in style, the oldsmobile way.....

some of the andes foothills we drove through
on the way down from arequipa, we did have to go through some little mountains

Comments

[leo]

if you want to spend time in a beach town go to iquique its much nicer than arica