Is It Chile In Here?

I´m back. Sorry for the blackout there. I haven´t been anywhere with a fast enough connection to upload video to my blog.

Pictured above is a photo of me with some new friends I made along the way. This is us at lunch in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Immediately to my right in this photo (camera left) is Armelle, an acquisitions lawyer from Paris. Armelle is a year or two younger than me and this is also her first time backpacking solo.

I was seated next to Armelle on the bus after I left Arequipa, Peru and heading to San Pedro. My original plan was to stop in Tacna, Peru, a border town, and staying the night, as the bus trip from the border to San Pedro was a very long 13 hrs, and I didn´t think I wanted to do the whole trip in one day as it would have been a total of about 20 hours of riding the bus. In Arequipa, I both purchased my bus ticket to Tacna and secured a hostel. Armelle was asleep for most of that first trip; my only contact with her was prodding her lightly when they brought our snack around. She did not awake until much later when we were all forced exit the bus to have our fruit inspected. My bananas were spared.

For the rest of the trip, we chatted it up talking backpacking, our home cities and politics mainly. Armelle is a wonderfully open person who does not seem to observe any barriers between herself an others; exactly opposite from me and I appreciated it very much. She reminded me a lot of my dear friend, Christine Lugo, in that way. Armelle´s openness drew me in and before I knew it, my plans had changed; I would now be securing a colectivo (a car for 5 people) with her and a French couple she had met on the bus and we would be crossing the border together into Arica, Chile, where we would stay for the night before heading to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Arica, she told me, promised to be a more comfortable and entertaining city where we could see sights and relax on beaches.

Crossing the border was quite an experience; quick but nerve wracking. When we arrived in Arica, we followed the French couple to a hotel that they were booked at in hopes we would be able to secure a pair of rooms for ourselves. Alas, they were all booked, but the owner of the hostel was kind enough to walk us to another hostel where we were each able to secure private rooms with a shared bathroom. Perfecto.

We were not able to secure a bus until the next night at 10:00 PM, so that gave us a full day to enjoy Arica. It was July 20th.

Arica didn´t quite live up to Armelle´s expectations. Like Albert, she seems to always have an agenda of sites to see on a given day. I joined her for one: a church built by noneother than Gustave Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame (and the Statue of Liberty).

As you can see, it isn´t anything to write home about (which is ironic since I am in a way, writing home about it).

I think at some point during our bus conversation, I expressed my utter disdain for hiking, because she assumed I would not want to join her for a hike, so we made arrangements to meet up for dinner before heading off to the bus station to catch our San Pedro bus.

Unbeknownst to her, she joined me for my birthday dinner that night. We had a pair of "un Completos;" formally recommended by The Lonely Planet.

Aside from a scare involving losing my immigration paper (whew! found it!), the 13 hr bus trip was a piece of cake since it was overnight and I slept through it for the most part.

This is where we met up with the others in the photo. Furthest to the right (camera left) is another girl from France. I forget her name! But she was very interesting. I don´t think I can name a continent that she had not visited except Antarctica. Between her and Armelle is Beth. She is a med school student in Philly. We had a heart to heart about Philly Cheesesteaks. The two blonde girls on the right are, get this.... from Seattle! Audrey, second from the left (camera right) is actually a recent UW graduate and lives about 10 blocks from me in the U-District. I thought I recognized her and she thought she recognized me. It was all very odd... fly thousands of miles South and I meet someone who is basically my neighbor. I´m sure I will see her around town at some point and we will have a laugh.

San Pedro is a town that is at the center of several wonderful sites that include geysers and salt flats, but unfortunately, my time here was limited as I need to get to Buenos Aires. I know that I have a couple more weeks here, but let me tell you, transportation is so unreliable here in S. America that I cannot risk missing my plane by staying too long in one spot.

It is sort of like a resort town in that it is built for turistas. The ¨locals" travel in from outlying areas mainly for business. Still, the town is very cute: a dusty little town of restaurants, purveyors of tours, and hostels that are more like summer camp cabins. There were roads that lead to the surrounding sites; some near, some far. There were tour agencies that offered jeep trips to the sites, walking tours, bike tours and even horseback tours.

We tried to book tours for that day to see some sites, but unfortunately, there was a freak windstorm and all activities were cancelled for that day. We had lunch in the afternoon where I took the above photo and I did explore the town in the afternoon despite the windstorm. We all met up again that night for dinner at a great little restaurant.

Dinner with the girls was a blast! We chatted, ate, watched the fire all to a soundtrack of late 90´s hip hop and pop music. I had mentioned to Beth that I intend to learn the tango in Argentina. She, having lived in Argentina for a few months at one point in her life took it upon herself to give me an introductory lesson on the tango with her fingers. I taught the Seattle girls how to conjugate Obama´s name: "Yo Obama... Tu Obamas... Nosotros Obamanos..." All in all, a very fun evening with some very fun girls.

I didn´t end up booking a tour while in San Pedro, but I did walk out the next day to an amazing archaeological site called Pukara de Quitor, a fort built in the 12th Century.

I hiked up to the top of the fort and really let it sink in. I am fascinated by old things and this really fit the bill. I walked in and out of the rooms and imagined them occupied and in use in the 12th century. From the top, I surveyed the land around me. Since it wasn´t a famous site like Machu Picchu, I was one of very few visitors and it was nice.

As I made my way back to San Pedro from the site, a nice man stopped his Jeep and offered me a ride back to town. In the back were his two adorable sons. The man´s name was Alexis and he is a Chilean businessman who was himself a visitor to San Pedro.

He was happy to hear that I was from Seattle as his wife, Catalina, had recently returned from a business trip to Seattle and he was sure she would love to meet me. He invited me to join his family for lunch and I was honored and happy to accept.

We discussed our careers, world politics, my travels, crazy Seattlites... Lunch was very nice. I learned that they are from Santiago where I was at the time headed next (I am there now). They gave me their phone number and offered to meet me while I was in Santiago on Sunday. I am really looking forward to that! They are such a beautiful family and it is my great fortune that they have offered to show me Santiago. I´m sure it will be an experience to remember.

I arrived in Santiago earlier today. The bus ride was 24 hours but it was a piece of cake. The buses are so comfortable. Thank you everyone for continuing to follow my blog. It is almost like I have all of you with me and it is really great. And don´t leave the blog without first leaving a comment!

Love, Don