Chile!

Trip Start Feb 10, 2006

Trip End Feb 01, 2007

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Flag of Chile Arica, Chile
Monday, November 6, 2006

One of my favourite bits of travelling (not!) - crossing borders although every crossing on this trip so far has been a doddle. From Tacna in Peru a taxi takes you (and as many others as he can cram into the very, very old Dodge) right through to Arica in Chile with the minimum of fuss. Typical of me, I tried to shoo a dog away from my bags before realising it wasn�t the typical South American dog which wants to cock it�s leg and lay claim to our tent or rucksacks but an immigration sniffer dog - oops. He was very sweet but kept patting my knapsack as in �Check here gov� she�s hiding something�. And so everyone had to wait while my bag was checked for coca leaves (none of them), fruit (ate a ton of it on the bus beforehand), plant matter (not sure if pasta spices count but I said they were for camping and that seemed to mean they passed the test), drugs (inhaler passed this test also) and goodness knows what else. The man was very friendly and polite and waved me through pretty quickly

A) Big old boats

. Passport checked and stamped by another very friendly helpful man and back to the taxi with the very friendly helpful taxi driver - are they trying to lull us into a false sense of security or have immigration officers here been given a bad rap unfairly?

Found a fairly cheap place to stay near the bus station. Prices here are way higher than Bolivia and Peru, will take a bit of getting used to. Spent so long debating what to do about catching a bus down south that all the seats were full for the day by the time we made up our minds - think there�s a lesson there.

Was good to stay in Arica though, the centre is very pretty, lots of brightly coloured buildings and it looks like Eiffel built more than THAT tower! When I can find an internet shop that works I�ll put on the photos of a church and counting house that he designed and had sent out here. Very pretty.

Spent a couple of hours watching the sea crash against the sandy beach before heading off to find some fish for lunch - too late, it had all sold out but I could have a bean stew without meat, apparently. Forgot that chicken isn�t classed as meat in Argentina as I pointed to the bits of dead animal floating on my spoon the lady flapped her arms (a bird impression) and kept saying �Bird, not meat� as if I was daft - which I guess I am, really (veggie in Argentina? - like saying you don�t like snow at the north pole).

Ahh, back on a bus - only 29 hours to Valparaiso - they don�t call Chile The Long Thin Country for nothing...