Chile

1 March 2008
Chile/Peru Border Crossing
                The Chilean border crossing was just as impressive as the Peruvian crossing but also included a metal detector and complete vehicle search of every vehicle that passed through.  Thankfully within a few minutes we were back on the road. 
                We arrived in Arica shortly after but unfortunately the bus station was closed (it was just past midnight) so we couldn’t book tickets for the next day yet.  We did find a nice sounding hostel that was nearby in our book though.  While trying to figure out how to get to the hostel a guy came up and asked where we were trying to go.  We told him the Hostels name, The Roca Luna.  He said he knew right where it was at and told us to follow him.  As we followed him Anna was concerned because she smelt alcohol on his breath and we obviously didn’t want to ride with him if he was drunk.  Just as we were about to tell him “thanks, but no thanks” he pointed across the street and there was the hostel.  We thanked him and checked in.

2 March 2008
Arica, Chile
                We forced ourselves up early to try to get as far south as possible.  Unfortunately just about every bus leaving was a night bus so we found an earlier bus for closer town, Iquique, that would get us started. 
                On the bus ride Doug was having Iraq flash backs because of the landscape.  Northern Chile has a lot of flat open desert completely void of any vegetation.  Thankfully as we went south we worked our way into some terrain and we were soon going through small mountains and by deep gorges.
                In Iquique we found a bus that was leaving in 3 hours for La Serena but it was a couple more dollars than our book said it should be.  We decided to try the 4 or 5 other bus companies on the same street to see if we could find a better deal.  Every one of them didn’t have any seats available for today and were all the same price or more.  We went back to the first place only to discover that they had sold the last two seats and the next available bus wasn’t until 9 pm (6 hours away).  We reluctantly booked it.
                On the way to the bus station we got our first real taste of a Chilean town.  Iquique was much more cosmopolitan than anything we have been around for awhile.  The town looked fairly modern and peoples’ appearance seemed to match it as well.  We stopped at a supermarket and Anna ran into grab some lunch items.  She was thrilled to find an actual deli and even more pleased to find that they had turkey (a tough item to find in Central and South America).  With all the fixings for sandwiches we headed to a park for lunch and then to the bus station to put our bags in an equipment storage.
                Back into town we found an internet joint and then went through some of the local stores before going back to the park only to find they were setting up for a Heavy Metal band to play.  There were loads of young Chileans with Mega Death and other band T-shirts on.  We stayed and watched them set up for a while but left when we realized they weren’t going to be ready any time soon.
                The beach was nearby so we checked it out and then went to the nearby pier.  On the pier we pleasantly surprised to find a whole mess of Sea Lions hanging out.  These guys were sprawled all over and new ones would swim up and join them every so often.
                Back at the bus station we ran into some guys that were on a bus with us in Peru.  Unfortunately their English is a little worse than our Spanish so we stuck to greetings and some small talk.  While waiting we heard a commotion inside the terminal.  It sounded like a dog was in a fight.  A minute later a guy came running out holding his arm.  Doug got a quick look while he was going by and saw bite marks across the guys forearm.  The guy went running off down the street and that was the last we heard of saw of him.
                The bus arrived a bit late but shortly after we were on our way.

3 March 2008
La Serena, Chile
                20 Hours later we arrived in La Serena.  It was about 5:00 in the afternoon, on a Sunday.  The hostel we decided to stay at was about 10 blocks away.  With the bags on our backs we walked.
                Because it was a Sunday the city was pretty quiet.   Not many businesses are open due to the weekly holiday.  The hostel was just past the main part of the city.  We checked into the hostel, and took our much needed showers. 
                Since it was Sunday we wanted to do the weekly phone calls to our families.  The quiet streets made the phone calls very easy.  Also since the hostel had a kitchen we wanted to do a bit of grocery shopping for the next couple of meals.  Not many of the places we stayed at had kitchens; this was something to take advantage of. 
                The grocery store had everything one could think of from back home.  There was a deli, a meat station, and all of the other different things you could think of.  We got some pasta, sauce, wine, water, and a few other things to snack on.  Anna was very excited to be buying microwave popcorn.  It has been difficult to locate microwaves as we have been going south.
                Back at the hostel while making dinner there were a couple of Australian guys making dinner as well.  There dinner consisted of noodle soup, very similar to raman, and bad nachos.  During dinner the four of us chatted about different traveling stories and the different people we’ve met.  They were very nice and quite funny.  We must have talked to them for about 5 hours until they mentioned they wanted to go out.  They had a couple of other friends with them, but they were occupied in their room with girls. 
                We looked at each other (Doug and Anna), it was after midnight why not go out.  The four of us changed our clothes, and walked down the street to catch a taxi.  The taxi driver then drove us to a nearby town where all the discotechs (night clubs) were located.  Driving up to the different club locations, the streets were bare.  According to the guys, this was not normal.  The past few nights they had gone out the streets and clubs were packed with people.  But alas this was a Sunday night.  After driving around for about an hour we asked the driver to take us back to the hostel.  By now it must have been almost 2 in the morning.  The guys wanted to continue partying and we didn’t mind.  We decided to go down to a local bar and try to buy a bottle of rum off of the bartender. 
                After asking the bartender our request, he immediately turned up the music in the very small bar.  He then said $40 (American) for a bottle of rum, we declined.  Bargaining for a minute, we gave the guy $30 for the bottle and 3 small bottles of pepsi.  We then walked back to the hostel, made ourselves drinks, and brought out the cards.  The four of us played cards until about 4:30 in the morning.   This was the latest we had stayed up at night not only on our trip, but in months.

4 March 2008
La Serena, Chile
                The morning began late.  We were still getting used to the Chilean time zone, 2 hours off of Peru.  The night before took a toll on us.  Doug was officially hung over. 
                Finally around 11:00 we got up, dressed, and out of the room.  The Australian guys and their friends were out.  Doug began chatted with one of the guys from New Zealand.  Anna being a bit bored decided to do the errands on her own.
                The first stop was to get the bus tickets for the next evening for Mendoza, Argentina.  There was supposed to be a bus company about two blocks away from the hostel.  Walking along the bus company was close to where it should have been.  The tickets ended up being more expensive than normal, but this was also going across the border.  The next stop was the post office.  There were some things purchased in Cuzco, Peru Anna had been hauling around.  It turns out the Peruvian post is not very efficient with their mail and it is outrageously expensive (especially for international packages).
                Arriving at the post office, it felt very official.  This post office was similar to the ones in the US, but without all the frills.  They had small boxes for sale and they used machine made stamps.  The three small packages ended up costing a total of $18US.  In Peru the first and heaviest of the three packages was quoted $20, and the second was quoted $10.  Hauling the packages into the next country was defiantly worth the weight.  After doing the chores, Anna headed back to get Doug.           
                Doug was just hanging out in the room surfing the internet.  One other cool thing about this hostel was the wireless internet.  It was now around 3:00 in the afternoon, and time to go see the city.  Doug was still recovering, but it was time to eat. 
                We walked outside to the nice breezy Monday.  The city was busy with people doing their daily duties.   We settled on a little café for lunch, sharing a Caesar salad, and small pizza.  Our bellies feeling content we wandered around some more, then walked back to the hostel.  After a few more minutes we were off to check out the not so nearby beach.
                The beach was about a mile and a half away.  The sun was almost down, and the wind was blowing.  The waves at this beach were very high and cold.  The book we have said to not swim here due to the really high waves and to beware of undertow.  From watching the waves, we understood why there was a warning. 
                After walking back to the hostel, we were both tired, and didn’t feel like doing much of anything else.  We fiddled with the internet, and read before going to sleep. 

5 March 2008
La Serena, Chile
                After waking up we decided to take advantage of the kitchen for one last meal.  We packed up and then Anna went to work on a pasta alfredo with peppers, onions and garlic.  Thankfully the people running the hostel had agreed to watch our bags while we burned time until our bus ride (11:00pm), so we did the dishes and headed out.
                First stop was a Japanese Garden.  The grounds were close to an acre in size and had some small water falls to a larger pond.  There were geese, ducks and a few fish.  It was a nice peaceful place to spend some time.
                Next was the exact opposite of the garden…the local mall.  This was a medium sized mall, but the big attraction for us was the movie theater.  Having seen most of the city over the last two days, plus Anna’s stomach was a little under the weather, having a seat for a couple hours seemed like a good plan.  American Gangster was on and before we knew it three hours had passed.
                Back in town we went to the park, had some ice cream and did some people watching before going back to the hostel for our bags.
                Our last stop was bus station for our ride to Mendoza, Argentina.
                The bus brought us the border in the morning.  The border formalities were pretty straight forward with the exception of having to open up our checked baggage for inspection.  Nobody seemed to care about our carry-on bag.  Then it was back on the bus and into Argentina.

Argentina Journal

Chile Part II

8 March 2008
Santiago, Chile
                The bus arrived in Santiago on time; it was now 7:30.  There was a taxi driver waiting for us as we got off the bus.  This is a very frequent occurrence.  The four of us hopped into the taxi, and we gave him the name of the hostel. 
                On the way to the hostel he tried to convenience us our choice was no good, dirty, and not a good option.  (A lot of taxi drivers get a commission if they bring business to hostels/hotels.)  The hostel we wanted to stay at turned out to be full.  The Canadian guys decided to walk around, and find one close by.  We decided to take our chances with the place the taxi driver was pushing.  The taxi driver said the place would only be $10,000 pesos ($20US) total.  Arriving at the hostel, the price turned out to be $10,000 pesos per person, this is without a private bathroom, and the only room left.  Anna being irritated, we decided to go with this place.  It was now after 9:00pm, and we were both tired.  While Doug was checking out the room, Anna got irritated at the taxi driver, telling him he needed to be more honest with this wording.  He tried to talk further, and she kept cutting him off.  After this conversation, he said there was no need for us to pay him for the extra drive. 
                We got settled into our room, and headed for the grocery store.  The day had been long, and we hadn’t had a chance to get a meal, only snacking throughout the day.  The store was only 2 blocks away.  Browsing through the grocery store we decided on some cheetos, a liter of beer, orange juice, granola bars, and a deli pizza.  Arriving back at the hostel, we checked out the kitchen (something we should have done before going to the grocery store).   There was no oven.  All the other hostels with kitchens had an oven, this one didn’t.  Well Anna opened the cheetos, they were not good.  We weren’t sure what kind of cheetos these were, but the texture and flavor was horrible.  Anna had an idea to try to cook the pizza in a skillet, putting a lid on the top, sort of a make shift oven.  The stove being gas, it was hard to gage the temperature.  The pizza ended up cooking underneath, and burning slightly in the middle.  Anna then scrapped the pizza out of the skillet, and Doug began microwaving the pizza to cook the top/middle.  Well this didn’t taste too bad.
                After dinner we decided to try the wireless.  It is always nice to have wireless, especially if the accommodation is a bit expensive.  Well the wireless wasn’t being cooperative with our computer.  The day had not gone well.  We went to bed.

9 March 2008
Santiago, Chile
                The night was short.  Neither of us had slept well, due to our neighbors staying up late before heading out to party.  It was 8:30, and check out was at 12:00.  We decided to go check out the city a bit. 
                Luckily the center of town was a couple blocks away, as was the Plaza de Armas (the main square).  We walked around looking at the architecture, watching the people.  Santiago is a very modern city.  There is a very good bus system, and a subway.  Around 11:00 we headed back to the hostel.
                We checked out of the hostel, and got directions to the Holiday Inn.  Doug’s dad had some points from his Holiday Inn stays and was very kind to donate some of his points to us.  He had booked a room for us for our last two nights in Santiago.  To get to the hotel, we had to take a metro (subway), and then walk about 7 blocks.
                Getting off the metro, we made our way up to the street, and started walking.  Luckily we went the right way, and before we knew it we were also on the right street.  The Holiday Inn turned out to only be a 10 minute walk from the metro. 
                Doug checked us in, and then we saw the room. The room had its own bathroom (with a bath tub and scolding hot water), carpet, towels, lamps, a T.V. with remote, a window, 3 telephones (with one in the bathroom), king size bed (with sheets and blankets) and it was clean.  This was heaven (THANKS DAD!!!).  We decided to rest, and enjoy the room for a bit before going for lunch.
                The hotel is located in the business district, not close to the touristy spots.  This made it a little more difficult to find a place to eat.  We decided to start walking towards what the map said were some good cafes.  After walking about 5 blocks, we found a Ruby Tuesday, and a Starbucks.  This was the first Starbucks we had seen since the beginning of our trip.  It was now Doug’s stomachs turn to act up, and he was interested in comfort food.  We decided to eat at Ruby Tuesday’s.  Doug ordered a BBQ chicken sandwich, and Anna ordered an Avocado salad. 
                Lunch was good.  We decided to go explore a bit more while Doug’s stomach wasn’t acting up.  Walking about another 20 minutes it was time to go back, and relax.  We have been traveling for about 2 ½ months, and this is the first our stomachs were acting up.  We decided to stay in, and enjoy our luxurious room for the evening.  
            
10 March 2008
Santiago, Chile
                After enjoying hot showers, we got cleaned up and headed off for a local vineyard.  Our book said to take a certain bus to the vineyard.  The lady at the front desk recommended taking the metro.  We decided to take the metro. 
                After getting off at the proper station we started trying to figure out where we needed to go.  A couple backpackers stopped and offered help.  The girl was down visiting family and knew the area decently but more importantly she spoke fluent Spanish.  She began talking with the metro workers.  They said that we should go to the next stop and that they would let us on for free.  Great, thanks!!
                Back on the subway we jumped off at the next stop and after getting through the exit we saw a map.  After a quick examination we saw that we really needed to get off one more additional stop down.  This time we had to pony up the cash.
                Off at the next station we found the right road with a little help and began walking.  At this point we were racing the clock to catch the tour time.  Our book said the place was open on Monday (today) and did a tour at 11am every day.  We had about 20 minutes to get to the vineyard.  The first address we saw was around 5400 and we had to get to 7100, the equivalent of 17 blocks.  As the addresses got closer and closer the clock got closer and closer to 11am.  Finally we walked up to the entrance with 4 minutes to spare.  The guard came out and politely told us that the vineyard was closed.  We came this whole way for nothing.  He did mention that there was another vineyard up the road but after some walking we gave up and headed back.
                Back on the metro we went back to downtown and took in more of the city.  Then it was back towards the hotel.  On the way Anna found a little Chocolateria & café with Wi-Fi.  We grabbed the computer and headed down for a bunch of gourmet chocolate and free internet.
                For dinner we picked one of the three sushi restaurants across the street from our hotel.  The sushi wasn’t too bad.  Then back to the room for website updates before getting our flight the next day.

11 March 2008
Santiago/Buenas Aires Airport, Chile
                The day started off as its usual time, 7:30ish.  We had a few chores to do today, which included doing laundry, and going to the post office.  Anna went for a little run.  After coming back she got the laundry tokens from the front desk for laundry.  After asking the front desk if there were complementary newspapers (to pack the packages in, which there wasn’t), they also told us there was complimentary breakfast included in our room.  If we had only inquired a day earlier, we could have taken full advantage of the free food.
                The laundry has been started, we both took our showers, and now it was time for our free breakfast.  They had everything from yogurt and granola, to croissants sandwiches.  We both filled a couple plates, and took advantage of the juice choices.  It was nice to sit down and enjoy breakfast. 
                After breakfast, Anna ran down to the post office to mail a couple of packages.  It took her over an hour to get extra cash, and wait in the lengthy line.  Meanwhile Doug took care of some website additions, and looked after the laundry.  At about 11:49 everything was packed up and ready to go.  Check out time was supposed to be promptly at 12:00, or there was a charge. 
                We checked out of our luxurious room and headed for the metro.  At the metro we caught a line to take us to the other side of town.  After about 40 minutes on the metro we got off.  We asked around, and found the bus station to take a bus to the airport.  The airport was not close to the city.  Another 30 minutes on the bus and we arrived at the airport.
                  Arriving at the airport 3 hours early, we thought check in would be possible.  There was no one to check us in.  The guy at the desk told us to come back in an hour.  So we went up to the café in the terminal for a small lunch.  We shared a sandwich and Anna had a coffee. 
                Over an hour later we checked in for our flight and got rid of our bags.  Now through customs and next to the gate, we had another hour and a half before our flight was to leave for Buenas Aires.  For some reason we had to fly 2 hours east, then take a 13 hour flight west.  This didn’t make sense, but somehow it was supposed to be a cheaper route. 
                We boarded our flight on time, and arrived in Buenas Aires about 2 hours later around 4:00pm.  Our next flight was to board around 11:00pm, leaving around midnight.  We had a lot of time to kill.  Luckily we found a spot with an electrical outlet and wireless.   At around 10:45 we made our way over to the gate.  The airline started to board a little after 11. 
                Our seats were close to the back of the plane, so we were among the first to be able to board.  As Anna got in line to board along with the other 30 people Doug noticed he didn’t have his fleece.  OH NO!!  We had left the fleece at the spot where we were using internet.  After looking everywhere, asking all the security guards and airline workers.  We were out of luck, the fleece was taken. 
The flight took off as scheduled 12:00am and we were short one fleece.

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