A coastal ride down the Regions ...

Day 91 - Friday 11 April 2008

A smouldering, steaming volcano having just arrived in Chile ...











The Chilean flag in Arica welcomes me to my 4th country of the trip ...














Urban beach life ...











This girl watched me line up this photograph and blatantly walked straight into the shot so I thought it was fair enough to post ...











If you hear a rumble then it's pretty clear you need to head left ...











How many days? My clothes are picking up stains they wouldn't normally own and the South American washing detergent just won't shift that slightly weird smell - I haven't jumped into looking like a Bolivian-based traveller but I'm definitely on the road ...

And quite literally because the last week's been a start/stop adventure out of Bolivia and down the weirdly set up numbered Regions of Chile (yes - you read it right - numbered - I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in that high powered Government meeting - 'so Presidente, what shall we call these Regions we've just cleverly split the country into?', 'you know what, the surf's up, just number 'em, adios'!)

From north to south the Regions are numbered 1 to 12 with the strange exception of the Region including Santiago that gets off the hook and a title of Region Metropolitana - maybe that vanilla/chocolate/strawberry ice cream originated there ...

But, as always, I've jumped ahead!

I left La Paz in Bolivia very early on Monday morning and was striking out across South America on my own - I felt a little cautious when the bus driver seemed to stop way too frequently for the first hour - I still don't know quite was he was up to - but he looked like he was helping mates shift large quantities of bog roll across Bolivia ... I guess there was a Boliviano or two to be made somewhere down the line

Nothing to worry about in the end and my second overland border crossing was nailed having traversed what was a bit like a de-militarised zone between Bolivia and Chile - strangely - it seemed that any Bolivian who even had a twinkle in their eye hopped off the bus and didn't head into Chile - and it had to be one of the most stunning de-militarised zones in the world - there was a volcano I think and I'm hoping it was team emanating from it's top - not smoke!

Mind you once you hit Chile and start descending from the Andes how things change - we were striking straight west by this point and for the northern Chilean coastal town of Arica - desert, cacti, more desert, rocks, more desert - you get the picture ...

Now people had told me that Chile was awesome (Claire Willerton's voice telling me how much she loved it is stuck in my mind) and I know what they mean! I'd say that compared to Peru and Bolivia it's like a sanitised version of South America - everything bar the dangerous edge! And if you're travelling in South America head north to south the same way as me and Chile will feel like a breath of fresh air

I say that with some caution 'cos I don't want to label what I've experienced in Peru and Bolivia as worse than here - somewhere being edgy and lacking the economy of somewhere else doesn't make it worse than somewhere more familiar - but that's just what it is - Chile is recognisable (and consequently less shocking) to a European

The brand names we know are back, the supermarkets are here and you're not haggling on street corners for bottles of water (that was fun I might add and I think in general I didn't get ripped for 'gringo' prices!)

Arica was cool for one night and had a great rock overlooking the town that proudly flew the Chilean flag reminding me where I now was!

But it was just a stop over and the next day I switched bus companies to the incredible (and I mean waaaay better than Greyhound in the USA and National Express in England) Tur Bus

Tur Bus rip up and down the Pan American highway (the road I'm attached to by an umbilical cord right now) almost hourly regardless of how near or far you're heading - I did their standard service from Arica to Iquique and then upgraded to first class for the all nighter to here in La Serena - a bed, a bed I tell you! - 7 hours kip and I'm tapping happily away here instead of in my hostal (the standard word for hotel in South America) feeling like crap!

Iquique actually retained a bit of the South American edge and my favourite things were the Georgian buildings and the presence of tsunami signs (basically, run away from the sea as fast as you can!) - in fact I woke up to a rumble one night thinking just that - only to come round and realise it was the builders renovating some of the rooms in the hostal to start the day - I left!

Although I have to mention the surf - bizarrely I think this was the first time I'd been anywhere where the surf was pretty serious - I don't think Cornwall counts when I could tackle it at 11 on a polystyrene board - I mean this stuff rumbled and you could read the Pacific Ocean coming at you from a way off shore - incredible! - oh - and have I mentioned the out of season climate that, for a week, has involved zero clouds and 25 degree temperatures - northern Chile is California for the braver traveller!

And now I'm checking out another seaside town 7 hours north west of Santiago called La Serena - this is where the Santiagoans come to play and you can tell - because it's seriously monied - today I've been in a mall that wouldn't be out of place removing a piece of stunning Kent countryside - and La Serena's also peaceful, orderly, quiet, and a very, very easy lifestyle - strangely I'm fighting the urge to dash for Santiago and a city again - the top of the Andes seem so far away already!

But I'll have at least tomorrow here as well - I spent this afternoon hanging out and reading in La Serena's Plaza de Armas - the most stunning and nicest yet in all my South American journey - but maybe that's the familiarity talking 'cos I really could be in Spain ...

Which reminds me - a word to anyone thinking of heading here (and it's certainly worth it) - learn Spanish! - I'm now really in the heart of Chile and I see no other travellers - consequently, I see no one else who speaks English - and that's great, why I'm here and my language skills are taking leaps and bounds forwards (I no longer use 'habla Ingles por favor') - but, actually, all through South America I've been really impressed by how many people (travellers not the locals!) speak great, really great, fluent Spanish - lucky buggers!

And that's enough for another day - night's closing in and I want to get something to eat in the Plaza - I've booked a potentially superb trip tomorrow night to the world class Mamalluca observatory where I plan to don a monocle, talk too quickly and join the astronomy club ... and if you didn't get that reference ... Moore (not Roger - the other one!)

A weird photographic problem involving Firefox (nah - has to be Tossnet Explorer) - I'll put them up in the future! - picture blue sky!