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Hola from the craziness of South America. We have been here for over a week now and its been quite an experience. We are currently in the northern part of Chile in the city of Iquique. I have nothing to say about this place except its a complete sh1t hole, hence why i am on the internet at this present time. Everywhere else we have been has been brilliant. As always I will start off as i left the last journal, which was in Auckland, New Zealand. We left our hostel in Auckland for the airport on the 27th March, which seems like ages ago. We had an 11 hour flight on LAN airways, leaving at 5.15pm for santiago, Chile. It proved to be one of the most uncomfortable flights so far because the air conditioning didnt seem to be working. We arrived about 12.30pm on the 27th March. Therefore we actually arrived in Santiago before we left. This is because we crossed the date line meaning you go instantaneously back 24 hours. This meant that Tuesday 27th March was essentially the longest day of our lives. It felt extremely weird and confusing when mixed with the jet lag. So, we get off the plane, get our luggage and all that kinda stuff. As we exit the aiport we are greeted with loads of taxi drivers trying to offer us their services. Or rather, force them on you. We decided to go with a couple of cheerful chaps, who could speak a little bit of english. They mainly spoke of Gonzalez, a Chilean footballer playing for Liverpool. After being taken to the ATM machines to get some Chilean money out, we were told the price of 40000 pesos. “very cheap, very cheap”, was what the driver said. His mate was then asking for a tip, so we ended up giving him 5000 pesos, thinking it was 50p or so. On our way to the hostel the worry kicked in when we could see meals in restaurants priced at 1000 to 2000 pesos. It was when we told the hostel owners what we had paid, the look in their eyes told us the mistake we had made. 45000 pesos is rouglly 45 pounds, for a 10 minute taxi ride. An astronomical amount by English standards, let alone in South America. Apparently 8000 was more like the actual price. First lesson learned in South America..... make sure you know the exchange rate. And also, Chile is supposed to be the least corrupt of the South American countries. The hostel named hostel de sammy was a lot more charming and cheap. Only 5 pounds a night, free internet, free pool table, playstation and TV with loads of films. The room was a little musty and the bathrooms need a paint job but overall a very cool place. There were even dogs and cats running around the gaff, which added a bit of character. There wasnt really much to do in the city of Santiago, but it was a weird experience to walk around a South American city. One of the first things you notice is that people here speak very little English. Since being here this has most definatelty been our biggest challenge. Willetts seems to be the best communicator, especially with his phrase book. I just seem to keep blurting out french phrases, which they never understand. Another thing we have noticed is that food here is very cheap, compared to what we are used to. And Chile is supposed to be one of the more expensive countries, yippee. After a few days in Chile, trying to recover from Jet lag, we had our first South American bus journey. Just a little one, only 7 hours. We decided to go for the luxury bus, priced at 9 pounds. These have full reclining seats, which are designed for sleeping. Fantastico. The journey went quite quickly, we were even given a lunch pack, which included a noodle prawn sandwich. Probably a good thing we brought our own lunch then, ey. We arrived in the town of La Serena in the afternoon, this time greeted by hostel people. We chose a friendly faced man who drove us free back to his hostel, 5000 pesos a night. It seemed like we were the only people staying here and most of the time there didnt seem to be any staff present either. The hostel didnt have many facilities but the rooms were spacious and clean and included a TV. We quickly headed out into town, ending up in a fairly small Chilean bar. We staggered out 3 or 4 hours later after the last round of tequillas. The bill including some food came to 7 pounds each, an absolute steal. The rest of the night was spent failing to get in anywhere. This may have been due to the fact that I was bringing along a pack of stray dogs with me, who were extremely friendly (or maybe it was the alcohol, who knows). I was even letting one of them have a friendly chew on my ankle. It was only the next day that i realised that the whole of south america has Rabies. Oh well, thats my second lesson learned. Keep away from the strays. We ended the night meeting some Chileans who we tried to have a converstion with. This mainly consisted of us saying Si and trying to get them to show us to the nearest chippie. Unfortunatley these dont exist here in Chile, but they took us to a hot dog place, which we have since realised is one of their specialalities. However, they are not the hotdogs that we are used to back at home. The sausage is almost non existent and the main feature is the sauce. They pretty much pile on every sauce known to man. Ketchup, mustard, mayonaise, guacamole, cheese, you name it. The next morning we woke up all feeling pretty rough. This was made worse when Leeroy saw that his bed was covered in ants. It was then realised that some kind of food fight had taken place during the night. Weird. Apparently ants love a turkey and Pate sandwiche. After getting ourselves out of bed, we made our way to a restaurant for some cultural Chilean food. We had burger and chips lol, which came with empanadas (Cheese in Pastry). A great hangover cure. We then headed for the bus terminal for our overnight journey. This was a bit of a beast at 17 hours. The next day we would arrive in san pedro, a small town in the middle of the desert. I probably slept for about an hour on the bus. I awoke to an amazing sight of pure desolateness, with a background of mountains and sand dunes. The first time i have ever been to a place like this. Stuck in the middle of nowhere was the town of San Pedro. Once again we were greeted by hostel owners on arrival. We chose one and walked the short distance to our hostel. A pretty young lady greeted us on reception and we realised that we had made a good choice. The hostel itself was very charismatic. In the backyard was a sheep and a Lama. There was also an old guy who walked around who was always muttering to us in spanish, despite the fact we couldnt understand a single word he was saying. The town of San Pedro is brilliant. Full of little cheap restaurants and weird looking places. Its surrounded by mountains, desert and 5 or 6 volcanoes. The place is also full of stray dogs. There is loads of stuff to do here. During our stay we had a some really nice meals. We also did losts of cool stuff. The first morning we hired mountain bikes and sandboards and set off on the road to the sand dunes, with a girl we had met from our hostel, named Laura. I also forgot to mention that we were at high altitude here, so we were absolutely nakerd we we got there. However, this was nothing compared to the effort of climbing sand dunes in midday heat. We only managed to get up them 5 or 6 times but it was worth it for the ride down, despite the fact that we were all completely useless at it. It was a brilliant start to the day though, the views from the sand dunes were also amazing. The second half of the day we had a private tour to the salt lakes for a swim. This was a great experience as the high concentration of salt means you are postively buoyant in the water. You can just lie around in the water and float without moving a muscle. Even when standing vertically , your shoulders are still out of the water. The only problem is when you get out and dry off, your covered from head to toe in salt. Luckily the driver has a pressurized shower spray on board. However, due to the fact we had all spent half the day in the dry desert and the other half in the salt lakes, we all ended up with extremely dry, sore lips for the next 2 or 3 days. It was definately worth the discomfort though. The second day we spent the afternoon on a tour to death valley, some caves and watched the sunset in moon valley. I cant even think how to describe some of these places though because they were just absolutely stunning. I find it weird how something so baron and inhospitable can look so beautiful. The red tint of the sand combined with the sunset gave us the feeling that we could have been on the planet Mars. We finished the day with a meal and a few drinks. On arrival back to the hostel I kinda felt sorry for the sheep who was on a lease that was only a metre or two long. I decided to release him. The next day we left promptly. There was no sign of the sheep. So, another 7 hour journey to Iquique, the town where i am writing from. We are staying at hostal cathedral. We have bright purple beds and the majority of inhabitants are couples over the age of 40. Thats all I have to say about that. I hate this place. Tommorow we leave for Arica, which borders Peru. We have to get a bus here just so we can get a train across the border. A right pain the arse if you ask me. Then we head to Cuzco, which is where we leave for the 4 day Inca Trail, one of the highlights of our trip. A twenty hour bus journey lies ahead. Should be an experience See ya soon
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