Highs and lows
Ahhh, the best laid plans of mice and men and all that. Things often do not go quite to plan.
We bussed our way to Arequipa only to be struck down with a lovely mixture of altitude sickness and a more traditional stomach complaint (you know what we mean!) What were the chances ... well come to think of it, they were probably quite high, but anyways. Feeling as we were, we had to sit down and make some choices. We hung out in Arequipa (a pretty pretty place to be stuck in we must admit, but more of that in a moment) for a few days before deciding that the best place for us was not the high mountains of Peru and Bolivia, but the sunny coast of Chile.
Arequipa itself is a lovely town. Nestled amongst the volocanos and canyons of the Andes, the town is mostly made from white stone (sillar, a white volcanic rock) which gives the buildings a majestic feel and it contains some incredible colonial places. This includes our favourite, the Convent of Santa Catalina, a beautiful place vividly coloured in reds and blues that covers an entire city block. Don't worry, we have loads of photos :)
So after our stay, which was made even more pleasant by the loveliest hostal so far in South America, we headed south, to the border town of Tacna (which seems only to exist to give home to a million casinos and chemists - what the connection or reason for this is we have no idea) for one night and then onto Iquique, the surf capital of Chile. Crossing the border had a certain charm too, with us being crammed into the fastest shared taxi in Peru with 4 other people, speeding across the deosolate landscape which we have become surprisingly accustomed to, with the speedometer consistently showing zero. Our driver, having overtaken everything he saw, seemed to sneak us past all the queues at the boarder and get us through the formalities in record time. Not that we were complaining. And then onward into Chile with a stop in Arica simply to get a bus down to Iquique.
So here we find ourselves, actually at the end of our stay in Iquique. We found ourselves a lovely little hostal to hang out in, as we have not been inclined to do that much while we have been here. The town has a faded charm, with numerous old buildings with their slowly flaking paint which are quietly falling apart, and long beaches, overlooked by massive massive sand dunes and mountains which remind you that you are at the edge of the Atacama desert. It really is quite a peculiar place. But time waits for no man, so we are off again, towards San Pedro, the desert proper and to the salt lakes of Chile. Should be fun!
We bussed our way to Arequipa only to be struck down with a lovely mixture of altitude sickness and a more traditional stomach complaint (you know what we mean!) What were the chances ... well come to think of it, they were probably quite high, but anyways. Feeling as we were, we had to sit down and make some choices. We hung out in Arequipa (a pretty pretty place to be stuck in we must admit, but more of that in a moment) for a few days before deciding that the best place for us was not the high mountains of Peru and Bolivia, but the sunny coast of Chile.
Arequipa itself is a lovely town. Nestled amongst the volocanos and canyons of the Andes, the town is mostly made from white stone (sillar, a white volcanic rock) which gives the buildings a majestic feel and it contains some incredible colonial places. This includes our favourite, the Convent of Santa Catalina, a beautiful place vividly coloured in reds and blues that covers an entire city block. Don't worry, we have loads of photos :)
So after our stay, which was made even more pleasant by the loveliest hostal so far in South America, we headed south, to the border town of Tacna (which seems only to exist to give home to a million casinos and chemists - what the connection or reason for this is we have no idea) for one night and then onto Iquique, the surf capital of Chile. Crossing the border had a certain charm too, with us being crammed into the fastest shared taxi in Peru with 4 other people, speeding across the deosolate landscape which we have become surprisingly accustomed to, with the speedometer consistently showing zero. Our driver, having overtaken everything he saw, seemed to sneak us past all the queues at the boarder and get us through the formalities in record time. Not that we were complaining. And then onward into Chile with a stop in Arica simply to get a bus down to Iquique.
So here we find ourselves, actually at the end of our stay in Iquique. We found ourselves a lovely little hostal to hang out in, as we have not been inclined to do that much while we have been here. The town has a faded charm, with numerous old buildings with their slowly flaking paint which are quietly falling apart, and long beaches, overlooked by massive massive sand dunes and mountains which remind you that you are at the edge of the Atacama desert. It really is quite a peculiar place. But time waits for no man, so we are off again, towards San Pedro, the desert proper and to the salt lakes of Chile. Should be fun!
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