Crossing into Chile

Why is it that the travelling is sometimes more interesting than arriving? Not that this journey was particularly interesting, but I´m going to write about it anyway. It started off amusingly, with me quite grumpy (it was 7am and I had yet to have a cup of coffee). I had a big argument (me in English, the guy in Spanish) about taxis. It turned out I had misunderstood for the umpteemth time, I had to pay departure tax, not for a taxi. I do like arguing in different languages though.

The bus journey strengthed my theory that Peru is just desert and nothing else, although I did see some condors along the way. I practiced my Spanish by having a conversation with someone who spoke as much English as I do Spanish, and also I got some much needed practice of Spanish numbers when the whole bus played "Bingo!". Although I am going to have to keep trying, as I can currently only count up to 49 and the currency in Chile is measured in thousands.

I got off the bus in the southernmost town in Peru, and immediately got asked if I wanted to get a 'taxi' to Arica in Chile. I agreed as it was cheap, but the taxi turned out to be a private car that would have never passed its MOT in the UK. It had a massive crack right across the windscreen, no seatbelts, and the door felt like it would fling open at any time. 6 of us squeezed into the car, and made it across the various borders. My bags and I got inspected 4 times that day, surely it would be more efficient to have one check point? And what happens if you leave one country, but cannot enter the other? Are you stuck in a kind of no-mans land? Luckily that didn´t happen to me, and I entered Chile eventually.

Arica was pretty boring, good for me as it had a much needed McDonalds & loads of nice pizza restaurants. It did have a nice hill to climb, where I sat on the top & watched loads of condor-like birds circling below. I didn´t stay in Arica long, I got another bus to Iquique.

Iquique was another uninteresting town, except for the central market which had loads of little cafes which was great for people watching, and restaurants which served 3 course meals for 1 pound 50p. This was good as Chile is proving to be a pretty expensive country.