Chile

So, back in Chile, Arica for the third time. For those of you wondering, of course there`s a man involved! He´s the owner of the Hostel International here...it's definitely a party hostel...and, in my defence, all the people at the hostel are on their second visit here..or, in Canadia's case, has stayed at least 3 weeks over the expected time. So there must be something about this place (or maybe its owner)!!

I have to say, though, I was particularly looking forward to Carnaval here, since I knew the party would be huge. So there I am making everyone in La Paz jealous that I will be spending carnaval on the beach, while they're struggling to breathe up in altitude, when I arrive in Arica only to be informed that Arica, for reasons known only to itself, celebrates carnaval a week earlier than the rest of South America! Indeed Roberto did email and tell me to get there 'this Friday', but I simply assumed he'd got the date wrong, or meant to say 'next Friday' (whilst smugly thinking EVERYONE knew carnaval was Feb 16th), so I ignored him! And now I'm the only person in this continent to have missed the bloody thing!

Anyway, I´ve met some great people here..other than Roberto, there is Becky and Chloe forn Guernsey, Kevin (aka Canadia), Olivier (France) and Esther (Suiza). AS usual, we're spending our days lazing on Cinchorro or Laucho beach, sleeping, eating great bbqs or seafood at Ciglo. Hoowever, we are making efforts to be active..last week mysel, Chloe and Suiza hired bikes and rode the 10km round trip to see the caves just outside town! It was good fun, except that the bikes were so rickety we all had sore bums the day after! And not only that we walked a good way through the caves (which gave fantastic views o Arica's coastline, but it was soo windy!) and then went for a long swim on the way home. But the exercise gave us a definite excuse to believe we fully deserved the 10 or so beers we consumed that night! Sadly our intention to bike again have not yet materialised, but there's always tomorrow...

Last week we also saw some sea lions, who hang out at the harbour (only just now have I made it to see them). God, do they smell! It's as if they seriously need a bath..which is clearly odd, since they live in a huge one! But they are amazing..huge, and they just sit, eyes tight shut and nosed pointed in the air. But if you go too close (about 5 meters is their limit) they emit this huge snarl in your direction (without seeming to bother opening their eyes).

Other than that, life is pretty chilled and beach-like. So I decided I should visit something and set out to convince Roberto to leave the hostel in the capable hands of Esther for the weekend and take me to Iquique. It took some doing, but finally bus booked and we're on our way.

Iquique (Sat 24th - Mon 26th Feb)

Iquique is located 5 hours south of Arica..and it's a drive through pure desert. Your first glimpse of the town is from the cliff top and you can see it's more glitzy than it's neighbour. Roberto likens it to Acapulco; one showy strip of coastline with a huge pink casino, big promenade, lots of sky scrapers housing posh hotels. It's pretty though, with a massive open beach, lots of water sports and bars lining the front. And it's extremely hot, less windy than Arica since it's in a dip. And you notice the incredible amount of 4x4s; apparently there's a free trade agreement with this area and lots of goods and shoping are tax free (happy with that, I purchased some Hugo Boss perfume).

The HI hostel was fully booked (it's very stylish and on beach front) so we stayed down the road in Sunfish, a nice 4 star hotel complete with mini bar and rooftop swimming pool. Much the better choice, I feel.

We arrived around 2pm and headed straight to the beach bar for a pisco sour to celebrate our mini holiday. Naturally tis turned into a couple, then a bottle of wine to wash down the excellent seafood in a nearby restaurant. Obviously a siesta was then required, before we headed tothe HI hostel to head out with the owners, Roberto's friends. It was a really good night; I got to speak Spanish (doesn`t happen to often here amongst the grinos), drinks were free, and we got to dance in a huge cheesy bar, before getting a hot dog (Roberto ate mine) and heading home in the small hours!

Naturally we paid for that in the morning..but we struggled to the pool (so hard) and then over the road to eat. In the evening we went to Zofra`s for tax free shopipng. Almost bought a huge trampoline for the hostel, until we realised the logistics of getting it home! Then we went for a lovely meal in the bar area, and a good bottle of wine. Oh, and there was a little carnval going on..really quite pathetic by South American standards, but hey, beggars can't be choosers!

On out last day we mooched around town and ate a delicious hawian style pineapple filled with home-made ice-cream. Then it was back on the bus, order a chinese and home to check the hostel was still standing. Since it was Canadia's last night we still made the (big) effort to go out..but he never turned up because the was mwining and dining his lady! Bloody cheek but quite funny. All in all a good weekend break away.