Hostal Kolping Arica

... two different parks, and of course hunting down some amazing ice cream. <br><br>Once in Arica we were directed to the city center to start our hunt for a place to sleep. It was immediately apparent that this is the most economically stable and affluent country we have been to yet. People are dressed very nicely, there is a Santa Monica 3rd street promenade-esq shopping walkway, and overall there is just a different feel. <br><br>It ...

From Arequipa, I caught the bus to Tacna and then a colectivo over the border into Chile - another old Chevy from the 1950s with a collection of random Peruvian fellow passangers!<br><br>Drove to Arica, a small surfy beach town not far from the border. Here I spent the last week doing eff all except sit on the beach topping up my tan - after weeks of trekking down the west side of this continent and walking crazy routes of the Incas, this was bliss! At one point I also ...

... it was nice they had one room available for that night, so we checked in and went out to get some food.<br>Hmmm&#8230; what can I say we weren&#8217;t all that impressed with Arica, it was different to what we were used to in Peru, we could sense that from just being there, u could see the difference in peoples faces alone, there was a lot more white faces, not so much Inka.<br><br>We got some food and wandered back to the hostel and ...

... almost all of which have small monuments on them. The monuments may be a little tiled house, a roof, a cross. Some have tiny pavillions around them, complete with windchimes, flags, and benches for the family to sit on when visiting the grave. It´s actually a kind of cheerful place and it seems like these graves are visited much more often than those in the US.<br><br>Back in Arica, I climbed to the top of El Morro, a big ...

... close to Peru where we started a 3 day tour into the Lauca National Park. Our guide for the trip was called Manuel, and for all you Fawlty Towers fans out there, he pretty much was Manuel minus the tash. A great sport but he persisted in speaking Spanish even though he knew none of us could speak Spanish and he could speak English. Still, it was good practice! The tour itself was great, yet more unbelievable wow moments including a smoking volcano and the ...

... be. EOTT isn't as big as Sunny Day's and certainly not as well known, so things seemed to be a but quieter while maintaining the family atmosphere and laid-back beach feel we were looking for. <br><br>With the room situation on lock, we went into town looking for grub. One of the first things we noticed about Chile was the drastic improvement in food quality from touristy Peru. We've been operating on the rule "only eat where the locals eat". Easier in Ecuador, it was ...

... landscapes and cultures all the way from Rio de Janeiro to Arica via Patagonia. When I get back to Europe, I´ll post the best of my pictures on Picasaweb, the link will be posted here on this last entry when available. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I enjoyed travelling through these great countries. After this you may want to experience the same, so feel free to contact me for any information you may want on Argentina and Chile.

... the streets raving about politics over loudspeakers....Finally get a bus at midday... then its a 9 hour journey to civilisation... Arica in Chile. We google the nicest hotel ... &euro;45 euro a night.... but boy was it worth it... marble floors.. a bath with hot water.... widescreen TV... a pool.... luxury... Not the most scenic place in Chile but all we managed to do was sleep, eat, sleep, eat, watch movies, sleep oh and eat some more... Being ...

So we had decided to pay a bit of extra money to get the good section of the bus, with less people. But when we arrived they told us that it was a different bus and we would be seated up stairs in the busier section. We had to argue with them to get a refund on the extra money we paid to be upgraded. They finally agreed to return us the money. So we were meant to get the bus to Tacna and then the bus company had apparently arranged for a taxi to ...

... to Lima, however it was only when I got close to Arica that I realised how far away Lima is - 22 hours on a bus through the desert. However I had made my promises and I did want to return back to The City of Kings, I did want to see the best friends I had made on this trip one time before I left this side of the continent for good. So instead of hanging out with Betsebe a few more days I left her a note informing that I had to rush to Peru to go hunt for monkeys - I knew she ...