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Iquique Chilie. Warm weather cold water big waves
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Our flight to Santiago went very smoothly and only took 2 hours. We also got a great view flying over the Andes. We had decided we would not stay in Santiago and try to get a bus to the north coast of Chile for some waves. With our previous bus rides still fresh in our minds we were not looking forward to another.
Sure enough as luck would have it there was a bus leaving for Iquique that night. We were seated upstairs on another double decker much like the last bus we were on very comfy. After settling in and falling asleep for about 2 hours there was a massive bang and the bus started to fill with cold air. It was like a bad dream I mean it couldnt possibly happen again. We got off the bus to find yet again a busted window on the 2nd floor there was glass everywhere. We again had to wait around in the cold for another bus which was twice as shitty as the first. The rest of the trip was ok but very long 26 hours or so. Hello cabin fever.
The scenery on the ride was just mind blowing it was like nothing I had ever seen before. There was just dirt and sand for miles. No trees bushes or water just desert. We imagined it would be much like that on the moon. As we neared the ocean the view just got better. Huge mountains up to 5000 meters hovered over the water line it was incredible. The mountains had no trees just rocks and sand very cool. Iquique was an awesome little town sitting right below the huge mountains on the oceans edge. We stayed in a great hostel which was just like a large house very comfortable. The owners were also really friendly which made the stay that much better. The weather was perfect nearly everyday although surfing in the ocean was an effort as its freezing. I had some really good surfs and also managed to hit my head on the rock bottom on my first wave and give myself a top egg. We spent about 4 days in Iquique and was sad to leave but the surf was getting small and we needed to move on.
We caught yet another bus (which didnt crash) inland to a small town called San Pedro where we were told we could do a 3 day tour of the salt flats in Uyuni Bolivia. San Pedro was the sort of town I used to picture when I thought of SA. It was tiny with only a few streets all of which were dirt. The placed seemd to solely exist for gringos passing through. Everywhere you turned was a hostel or some special deal for tourists. We decided it was best to get strait into the salt lake tour so booked to leave the next day. Probably not the smartest idea as you are supposed to acclimatize before heading up to 5000 meters. Bah.
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| 9. | Iquique Chilie. Warm weather cold water big waves - Iquique, Chile Apr 05, 2006 (  21 ) |
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