4 days of travelling

This all started out on Tuesday when Jason went back to NC. We went back to el Terminal Terrestre (Ground Terminal) to catch a bus to Tacna, Perú. There were no buses there because of a huge farmers´ strike that began on Sunday, but we found a bus to Arequipa that took a different route and supposedly avoided the strike. A few hours into the trip we realized that the farmers had mobilized to our route as well. We were about 4 hours into the trip, which was only supposed to be 12 hours, when we ran into the farmers. They threw a few rocks at the windows, but all we had to do was turn around. We had to drive all the way back to about an hour outside of Cuzco and take a rickety bridge. We then drove through the desert on some paved and some not paved roads, so the trip took about 16 hours instead of 12. We were in Arequipa for only 45 minutes, so we didn´t have time to stop and see our friends nor eat our beloved Mixtos!

Next was Tacna, about 7 hours away from Arequipa, which was a nice ride through the southern desert of Perú. Not very many people were on the bus so we got two whole seats to ourselves. We watched the whole Beverly Hills Cop series in Spanish, and it was still awful!!! We finally got to Tacna, and stayed for no more than 20 minutes because we took a colectivo to Arica. A colectivo is basically a cab, but it holds five people. The whole journey from Tacna to Arica took about an hour, and the taxista (cabbie) told us that he made about three trips a night. The trip only cost 10 soles or 2000 chilean pesos or $3.30, so we got a really good deal. We went through customs and could barely understand the chilenos. They speak so fast and do not even attempt to speak slower to us when we ask questions or are confused ... so frustrating. That has been our general impression of Chile ... a bit like Americans who don´t like foreigners.

From Arica to Santiago, took about 32 hours including the stops. We met to colombianas (Colombian girls) who were really nice and translated from Chilean Spanish to normal paced Spanish for us. Their Spanish was so clear and easy to understand. I think it´s a general rule that the closer you are to Colombia, the clearer the Spanish is. They have been travelling like us for four days and they are going to Buenos Aires, so we may meet up with them there. The attendant on the bus was a jerk! I can speak good enough Spanish to know that I can understand if someone is speaking clearly. So that was a bust trying to get any help from him.

So we arrived this morning into a huge terminal that was also connected to a mall and a metro station. So we took the metro and missed our stop to the next bus station that was connected to a mall and also a hotel. It is crazy hear because the people look so white and European. Not white like in the States but white like from Spain and Italy.

Now, we´re off to Mendoza, Argentina to meet up with our amiga Sarita Wilkins!!! We´ll be there in about 7 hours, so we´ll be finally staying somewhere for about a week! We´re going out tonight finally!!!!

chau chau