studio MAHA: road trip up the coast of Chile

It has been a while since I wrote on this Blog. A lot has happened since then. I do want to keep the South America trip events in a chronological order. Although we have been back home in the States for about 3 months, I want to update you where I last left off.

From Valparaíso, Chile, we went to Viña del Mar, rented a car, And went on a 4 day journey up the coast of Chile. We took the panamerican highway though the beach towns of Horcon and Concon. Also through the Atacama desert and the towns of La Serena, Vallenar, Copiapo, Chañaral, Antofagasta, Huasco, and finally ending our car ride in Iquique. Living on road side snack foods and small deserted restaurants, what we survived on was cheese, bread, and tortilla chips prepared together in a form of a sandwich. The scenery was amazing, going throughout beaches hugged by the mountainous Andes range. Matthew wanted to stop at each beach opportunity we could get to by car. They were beautiful and serene but I'm sad to say some of them reeked of sulfur and their waters had yellow green foam, a result of all the mining operations in that region.

We arrived into Iquique where we stayed in the backpacker's Hostel. We spent 3 days relaxing and enjoying being out of a car, one a block from the beach. Wonderful, beautiful beach city with a great Hostel experience. Sleeping to the sound of waves, walking along the beach with street vendors selling freshly made churros. YUMMM

After getting into Iquique, we took a bus ride to the boarder city of Arica where we found a colectivo (a shared Taxi) to take us across the chile boarder to Tacna, Peru. It was a random person with his family car, holding a sign that said Tacna, He takes your passports and runs into customs, gets them stamped and transports you across the boarder. We were 6 people crammed into a little sedan. At first I thought it was a bit scary to pile into a random car and give my passport to a complete stranger, but hey, Lonely Planet said to do so, hehe

Ultimately it was the easiest boarder crossing that we had throughout the whole trip. Arriving into Tacna, you immediately notice the difference in people and culture. the food is spicier and similar to what I have known of Latin food being from California.

Arriving into Tacna, We found our selves an affordable hotel (WITH RUNNING WATER) and we were very exciting to be in peru to explore their rich culture, flavorful foods, and experience their beautiful heaven like landscapes.

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