Arequipa,
Peru
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Yesterday was a hard day, travelling from Santiago to Arequipa, Peru. I had a 6:20 flight from Santiago to Arica in Northern Chile. I didnt get any sleep before hand because of a few other travellers having a good old conversation at the hostel I stayed at. I had a taxi booked at 4am shared with an Norwiegen girl travelling to Lima. From Arica I shared a taxi with another 3 people to cross the border and reach Tacna. The temperature was hot, well above 30 degrees. I had to wait an hour at the bus station for an hour before the bus was sheduled to leave. It finally left 30 minutes late, very uasual for Peru and a reminder again to what I should expect in Peru. The bus didnt have any airconditioning and was packed full. The ride was torture we stoped every hour for around 20 minutes?? sometimes to pick up people other times to be inspected by different authorites, it seems every providence we passed through has its own set of Police who want to show their authority. I did manage to get some sleep during the sweaty trip and I was happy and relieved to get off the bus 6 hours after leaving Tacna. The landscape we passed through was stunning with open and desert like planes which the Northern area of Chile and parts of Bolivia and Peru are famous for.
Im happy to be back in Peru, its much cheaper than Chile and Argentina.
