To Iquique

There was a ripper of a party across the street last night.  Woke up at about one a.m. to the sound of 'Stay' by Lisa Loeb at full blast.  Avril Lavigne was also featured.  I think the party ended around 5:00.  Still slept pretty well.  Another travel day.  It's off to Iquique. 

View from Pedro's

Hell, an eight hour bus ride is a short hopper.  Barely got the iPod turned on and I was there!  Iquique is a small city about twice the size of Kelowna (and about twice as nice) located on the Pacific coast about three hundred kms south of the Peruvian border.  I had planned to hit either it or Arica as a jumping off point to Peru.  I chose Iquique because my friend Vanessa has a friend, Pedro, also from Chile but now residing in Calgary and working for an energy company that has some operations in this area and she put us in touch.  He was kind enough to offer me a room in his apartment on the 27th floor of Edificio Agua Marina, overlooking the beach.  In addition to being a gracious host, he has real coffee!  Organic Salt Spring Island dark roast.  It has been over two weeks! 

Plaza Prat at lunch hour.

Time to do some laundry, catch up on emails and this blog entry, photo uploads, etc. and get ready for Peru, where the traveling is sure to be a bit more challenging.  Turns out there's quite a bit to see and do around here.  It's a beautiful city.  Big surf and big port.  The beach out front of Pedro's has some smashing breakers and it's seldom the red flags come down. 

Plaza Prat at lunch hour