Hotel Volapuk Express Arica

After 30 days of being on tour we´re on our own and left to sort things out for ourselves...eeek!! Luckily we still have Ali with us who´s been my roomate for the tour but today we part company, and we´ll no longer have our personal spanish speaking guide, :-( <br><br>Arica´s been lovely, nice place to chill out a sealevel and recovery from another bout of sickness....but now feeling 99% the midge bites i got on the inca trail ...

dernier petit dejeuner sur arequipa avec vue sur cette si belle place des armas et je prends mon bus a 8h45 direction tacna (derniere ville avt le chili), jy vais une demi heure avtt comme demande mais en fait c pas la peine le car arrive juste a lheure prevue, dc pas la peine de se presser!!!<br>aussitot ds le bus, aussitot je roupille, le trajet passe relativement vite, on sarrete une seule fois et je ne comprends rien , on dirait une espece de douane mais ce nest ...

... was super cheap or get a collectivo to get us across the border.<br><br>We half heartedly asked about the train and were told to go to the International Terminal to get a collectivo, no scenic train for us. We went outside and there was taxis waiting we in our broken Spanish asked about getting to Arica, the taxi driver pointed across the road in the direction of the terminal, and one taxi driver came over and we thought that he was ...

... of which may have been the endangered Chilean Woodstar. But what really made it worth the hike was the place itself. This garden covers about an acre and is sprinkled with tiny outdoor living rooms, sets of old furniture or patio furniture. There is instrumental music piped through the whole place and a handful of gnomes make their home there. It´s really an odd place but at the same time a very peaceful oasis with plants ...

... for you," one of the Americans told me. The sky got lighter and people started coming out of the cars, one by one. Before long, a truck started playing Peruvian oldies on a station called "La involvidable" and the colectivo drivers congregated around someone´s trunk. The little old rural ladies with braids poppedout of the woodwork, someone started selling food, and you know the party has begun. The drivers moved from one trunk to the next ...

... metal detector that didn't go off despite the pound of coinage I had in my pockets, metal belt, and assorted zippers, keys, and buttons I had on my person. We were getting ready to approach the podium where we would receive our exit stamps when the guard who would have cleared us noticed one of his compadres near the x-ray machine motioning for us. <br><br>I've heard enough travel horror stories to assume that when we entered the search room, there wasn't a good ...

... heights of the park. Km 16325 - Putre (3500m) The road from Arica to Putre is quite interesting as it climbs in just 140km from sea level to 3500m passing through diverse landscapes starting with the coastal desert and ending in the puna in the Putre area. Through the desert lanscape, it was quite nice to see the green valley contrasting with the sandy mountains around. Driving up, the scenary and the colours kept on changing and it was ...

Well we arrived in Arica early in the morning and woke the lady at the hostel we choice who came to the door in her night clothes but showed us a room and soon enough we were snoring. It's always strange when you arrive somewhere so early that you sleep in the bed twice but have actually on been in the city or town for one night, it acuatly gets confusing for the mind. <br><br>We did on spend a day here and to be honest there is not much to do, we had ...

... that the entry stamp (150$) for U.S. people would not be required here (overland) as is required in the Santiago airport, and gratefully, I didn't have to fork over the $ for the entry stamp. The crossing was uneventful, and pleasant as can be; we stamped out, walked a little bit, had our luggage inspected, and stamped in. No problem. We reboarded the taxi, and he took us to the bus ...

... at 8pm Chile time. We were all very hungry and when we saw our first McDonalds of the entire trip, we couldnt refuse. Four big mac meals later and we took a cab to our hostel, called Sunny Days. This was our worst cab ride yet, as our driver didnt know where the hostel was and we couldnt communicate to him. Over 30 minutes later, we finally arrived. We bought some beer at the local store and spent the entire evening sharing stories and places to visit ...