Blogs from Arica, Arica & Parinacota, Chile, South America - page 8

Hola a todos! A quick message just to let you all know that I arrived safely after 26 hours of traveling/layovers. I am EXHAUSTED, physically and emotionally to be back in Chile. We've already had our share of fun adventures crossing the border and running through airports with our luggage/tracking down lost bags/shrink wrapping exploded suitcases. I think this group is going to keep me pretty busy after all :) Now we are all in our homes, resting, unpacking... I'm off to my siesta, but it looks to be a fun few days of watching la cueca (national dance), spending time with tons of Bolivian students visiting Arica this week, watching the world finals of the surf competition here, celebrating the 7th of June with fireworks this weekend, and of course, catching up with my friends ... read more

Howayas, Hope all is well. Great to talk to those we spoke to on Marks Birthday. It was great seeing you all too. For those we didn´t get to talk to we will try to call you soon. Anywhoo, since we have been talking we have left the lovely Iquique after a lot of chillaxing and doing pretty much nothing for two weeks. It was hard to go. We met some really great people there and had a good laugh. Cheers for all the Birthday wishes too. I had a great one altogether. Col cooked me a lovely breakfast that morning, home made hash browns and all! And just as I swallowed the last tasty bite and was contemplating a little snooze in the sun, he breaks the news about my Birthday present. Paragliding! Oh and ... read more

Sur les notes familières et réconfortantes de notre I-Pod, nous franchissons une dernière fois l'altiplano péruvien. Aujourd'hui, nous achevons notre découverte de la Bolivie. On tente de tout capturer et d'imprimer dans notre mémoire: cabanes rustiques de terre, chiens errants qui montent la garde en bordure de route, pics enneigés, canyons gigantesques, garde-fous tordus, croix significatives de pertes de vies, vicunas* adorables et bien-sûr les lamas. Même si leur chair est delicieuse apprêtée, par exemple, avec une sauce au poivre crémeuse, nous préférons de loin les voir libres dans la nature qu'en filet dans notre assiette. Nous fillons à toute allure sur la route sinueuse et panaromique qui nous conduira jusqu'à la plage d'Arica au Chilie. C'est le moment de faire le point sur notre parcours en Bolivie: très satisfaisant quoique que quelques jours de plus ... read more

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 ... read more

3rd January, Arequipa y Arica We had to be at the bus station at 7am in the morning. We got a 7hour bus to Arica, Chile where we had planned to stay for 2-3 days. The bus journey was really pleasant for a change... ´Cruz del Sol´provided us with food, drinks, entertainment (in the form of bingo!) and some music. At the bus station in Tacna (buses to Arica from Arequipa go via here) we met another couple from Bristol. We were all approached by hoards of taxi companies trying to get us to go with them over the border to Chile. We split a taxi with the other couple, then it was an hour over the border. It was really funny when we got to the border, instead of your usual searches for guns and ... read more