I have to admit we had been discussing this trip for awhile, because the idea of being in South America without visiting one of the 7 wonders is absurd. I contacted my well traveled friend Evelyn for some advice, which was super helpful, but since we waited until the last minute, we had some wide-awakenings.
For instance, we had originally planned to do the entire trip on buses--- but then we realized that a flight to Arica (the edge of Chile) took 3 hours, while a bus ride took 30, through the desert. We intelligently decided to fly the first and last leg and skipped over the 30 hours of scenery that looked similar to this:
We spent the evening in Arica, a small beach town that used to belong to Peru. It has a certain amount of charm, with houses built into cliffs and beautiful ocean views. We walked down to the fisherman's warf where we saw one sea lion and many pelicans making themselves at home on the rocks. We watched the sunset over the Pacific before heading into the "downtown" area where celebrations for Chile's "Teleton" were in full swing. (Think Jerry Lewis... but Chilean). Every motorcycle gang in Arica (which is apparently more than just 2) was gathered for some kind of ride to raise money. We thought about ducking into the casino to win our bus ticket money for the next day until we saw that everyone entering was dressed to the nines, meaning our jeans and tshirts were NOT up to par. We avoided that embarrassment by eating an empanada in the park before heading back to hang out at our hostel preparing for our border crossing the next morning.
Arica in photos! Next up... Tacna and Arequipa, Peru!
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