Arica

Its probably worth pointing out that everything around Caldera and further north is nothing but desert ... literally miles and miles of desert as far as the eye can see. Nobody lives out here. There are smaller towns on the coast but the distance between major towns could be 4-5 hours driving.

I left Caldera on a bus heading north to Arica at 14:30 on Friday 29th January. Arrived in Arica about 08:30 on Saturday 30th. Another long overnight bus journey where I couldnt get a wink of sleep. Arica is the most northern city in Chile (about 1,200km from Caldera). I could have stopped off in 2 other towns on the way up north ... Antofagasta and Iquique, but instead decided to head north to Arica and see Iquique on my way back south to San Pedro de Atacama.

I checked into Jardin del Sol Hostel in Arica (picked this from the Lonely Planet which said it was the best hostel in town). They weren´t wrong .. the place was really nice and the staff couldnt be better. Another hostal with no lockers in the room but this was the only fault I could find with the place.

http://www.hostaljardindelsol.cl/

Had the 4 bed dorm to myself on the first night which was great. As usual I spent the first day walking around and getting to know the city. Arica is a lovely place so I checked myself in for 3 nights but could easily have spent longer. In the afternoon I walked up to Cerro de Morro which has a giant statute of Jesus overlooking the town. The hill has great views over the town and the bay.

Later that evening I took a walk around the town:

... and took a collectivo out to the Archaelogical museum to look at mummies and other interesting artifacts from 7,000 BC to the Inca Empire.

Got back to the hostel this evening and just chilled out. I would have loved to have gone out on the town (as it was Saturday night) but I had booked a tour for tomorrow to go to Lauca National Park. I definitely did not want to be doing this tour with a hangover. The tour departed at 07:30 on Sunday morning and I took a minibus (with mostly Chilean tourists) up to the national park which is located at heights of 4,500m (hence why I didnt want to go out on the town last night). Its advised to acclimatise yourself to altitude by gradually ascending rather than going from sea level to 4,500m and back in one day. Thankfully .. no altitude sickness but I did take some altitude tablets before I left.

A few pictures of the scenery from the trip to Lauca National Park:

I drank some Mate de Coca (hot water and Coca leaves) which apparantly helps with the altitude:

Also got to see some Llamas:

When I got back to the hostel that evening it was after 20:30. I hadnt met anybody in the hostel since I arrived. There seemed to be very few European backpackers staying here but quite a few elderly Chilean couples. Anyway .. 2 American girls (Julie and Jenny) were sharing my dorm tonight so was chatting to them for a while but they were only staying one night on their way to San Pedro de Atacama.

Monday 31st January

Had planned to get up early and head down to the laundrette but I spent the morning hanging around the hostel. Im running out of clean clothes to wear! Eventually went down but they were charging me a fortune so I just decided to leave it .. hoping it would be cheaper in Iquique. Chile is really expensive ... Im going to miss Chile when I leave it as I have been to some great places but I wont miss the prices .. its alot cheaper in Argentina. Everyone I have met tells me I will save alot of money when I head north to Peru and Bolivia.

In the afternoon I decided to head north on the bus to the Peruvian border (Chp1,500 one way). I went with a local bus (bad idea!) .. it took 3 hours from Arica to Tacna in Peru (the most southern city in Peru). I think I was the only tourist on the bus. Met a very nice Chilean couple on the bus though and was chatting to them for a while.

Border crossings are a nightmare when you are travelling on a bus. If you arrive in a taxi or walking it seems to be no problem. Needless to say I took a collectivo back to Arica that evening for Chp3,000 (one hour trip). I got back about 18:30. Glad I went to see Tacna so I can cross it off my list of places to see .. wont be going back anytime soom. Not much to see or do here. I only spent about 2 hours walking around the town and took a few pictures but I was happy leaving and heading back to Arica.

Another relaxing evening back at the hostel. Packed my backpack (full of dirty laundry) for my departure in the morning and spent a few hours online. This hostel has 4 PC´s which is great .. usually a hostel only has 1 PC (2 if you are lucky) and theres usually a queue of people waiting to use them. Will miss Arica when I leave ... I could easily have stayed another night. Had a busy 3 days here and would have liked to have stayed another day to relax in the town and maybe head out, but I had already bought my onward ticket for Iquique. I hear Iquique is a good spot so hope to meet a few backpackers there and have a night out.