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Published: January 12th 2007
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One of Arica´s many beaches
This is the place where I burned my bum. Haha, it´s funny that I remember beaches for what part of my body I forgot to put sunscreen on! So I left you last hanging on the edges of your seats wondering whether or not we´d make it out of Perú alive... well, don´t you worry! Here we are in Chile, and save for the North American-esque prices and the surprisingly modernized EVERYTHING, we are enjoying ourselves immensly!
Our border crossing was surprisingly uneventful, if not incredibly long, and we made it to Arica, Chile on Saturday afternoon. What a pleasant surprise to find a city with miles and miles of beach, wonderful old buildings, fountains and a safe atmosphere that didn´t have us trembling in our little sandles if we had to walk at night. There was even a drive-thru McDonalds 2 blocks from our hotel (that we did NOT go to!!!). It was like pulling up into a small town in the States, except for the abundance of Lomo al Pobre (a hunk of meat served with french fries and an egg!), and Bar-B-Qed Chicken, which seemed to be the only things on some of the menus of the smaller restaurants!
We spent a few days just putzing around the city, frequenting the little fruit and veggie outdoor markets, the looong artesania market and of course, the
Yours Truly with Carmen and Lauren
Outside of their adorable little house. They even have a pool in the back (even if it is a kiddy pool that only comes up to our thighs!) beach! I even tried some of their world renouned icecream (for which I seeeriously paid for later with a massive stomach ache... a small reminder of why I don´t normally eat that stuff!).
We had managed to spend almost 2 weeks in the desert while we were touring around Southern Perú and decided to skip the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. I don´t know if we really missed that much, and we were pretttty tired of seeing dunes, dunes and more dunes. We may have sold the Atacama short, but our sanity was worth it! We by-passed almost all of Northern Chile and took a direct 28-hour bus to Santiago from Arica. What we thought was going to be the most painful experience of our lives was actually almost enjoyable! The bus was not the worst I´ve seen, we had ´ample´ leg room (in comparison to other buses we´ve unfortunately had to ride on) and they even served ´meals´. Haha, which consisted of a pop, a white bread sandwich with a slice of cheese and a slice of ham and 2 candies. Better than nothing, I guess!
We made it to the capital safe and sound and are
Fountains in Arica
A pretty little fountain along the main drag now staying with a family who lives here. A long story short, my aunt and uncle, Dina and Daryl from my dad´s side, traveled in South America 35 years ago, in 1972. They met and stayed with an amazing family here in Santiago. They have been in contact for the last 3 1/2 decades without seeing each other! Dina kindly sent Carmen (the woman who was 16 when they met!) my email address and she immediately sent me an email inviting me to stay in there house as well. We had been in contact for about a month and a half and just a few days ago we finally met. She is one of the most amazing women I have ever met and is incredibly welcoming, kind, friendly and full of love for both Lauren and I as well as for Dina and Daryl. Right away we were informed that we MUST treat their house as our own, her children have offered to show us around the city and her husband is a source of great jokes, laughter and a kind Santa-like face that makes me just want to hug him!!
We have spent a few days exploring the
Lauren and her massive cannon
Getting ready to blow off Vinciente´s head (Carmen´s son) at the ´White House´ of Santiago city... walking to the typical government buildings, the ´White House´, a few museums, a Funicular (train that takes you to the top of a massive hill in the middle of the city) and another Teleférico (NOT as high as the one in Venezuela, but the cars were only for 4 people, so it was pretty neat to squish in there and look out over the city from our little space-buggy)... yesterday we spent the day in the park reading and catching up on our journals and just relaxing. It´s like we´ve stepped out of the typical South America for a few days to regroup and get ready for a few months of hard-core traveling.
Tomorrow Carmen and Sergio are having a big party/Bar-B-Q for us and they´re inviting all their friends to meet their new Canadian nieces. They´ve threatened to steal our passports so we can´t leave on Sunday... but unfortunately we´ve got ganas (urges) to get moving again! So we´re off to Valparaiso on the beach and then we´ll finally cross over into Argentina to get some steak, wine and tango!!!
Thanks for all the Christmas and New Years love that you sent! Good to know I´m
Guard and the Girls
We got chastized for trying to talk to this guard... ahaha, a quick pose and we had to take off for fear of laughing to death! missed, but at the same time that you love to hear about my adventures. I think it almost makes them MORE fun when I get to share them with everyone!
Much love!!
C
ps. we ate llama the other day.
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jugo shavez
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chilito lindo
hi! i've enjoyed browsing through your trip so far. just a couple of things. that statue with the disfigured face in santiago's plaza de armas is supposed to represent the loss of identity of the indigenous people, hence the messed up face. the "don't drink the water" fountain is calle "la fuente alemana" and was a gift from the german community to santiago in the early 1900's. nearby, the plaza italia has a statue from the italian community, also from the early 1900s. if you happen to see a mini arc de triumph in valparaiso, this is a gift from the british community to valparaiso. los of communities, lots of monuments. enjoy the rest of your trip.