Going South

After we left Arequipa, all the path until Santiago felt like a blur.

It was fast. It was a bit stressful. It was filled with bus stations, desert roads, bland food and small bus seats.

On a bus

The road out of Arequipa.

Ridiculous phone company is allowed to advertise on the side of a mountain.

We went through Tacna, then Iquique, then La Serena in three days, spending one night at each place.

Being a bit broke already, it didn't feel right to stay for longer (also, we didn't fall in love with any of the places where we stopped, so it wouldn't have been justified to stay).
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First we got to Tacna. It seems like a place for business people to go from Perú to Chile and vice-versa. There was an IPerú info point (which we visited in our desperate search for breakfast places), and even they didn't have much information on what to do in Tacna... possibly because there isn't much?

The main square in Tacna.

We love taking photos like tourists in not-touristy places.

Out of Tacna, nice sunset in the desert.

Iquique, on the other hand, was a treat for the senses... in a special way.

We arrived at night and the first thing we saw from he bus window was a man pushing an empty stroller and dressed with beach shorts and a long brown jacket. I jokingly said "Either the weather here is really moody, or that guy is crazy".

As we were getting off the bus an old lady across the road walked around yelling at herself.

While walking around the strangely eerie streets of the city centre, many people around looked and acted definitely crazy (the way they dressed, moved, talked and sang to themselves).

It seems like there's an open-door mental institution close to town; so there.

We found a cheap-ish room in a strange hotel (once again that "Hotel California feeling"), that was huge, noisy and horribly lit. We were on the 5th floor. I felt I was inside a Charles Bukowski story.

It was really late but we needed to get something to eat, so after dropping our bags we enjoyed some more crazy random night walkers around the touristy pedestrian street (sorry, no pictures).

The morning after we repacked and went for breakfast. Gone were the days  of being indignant about the low coffee quality in Chile, but this was a bit too much:

That's right: an empty cup with an INSTANT coffee
sachet, and hot water/milk on the side.

It was mild, it was tasteless, it reminded us of the reasons why we got grumpy in Chile. Do you want the cherry on top? The mugs say ESPRESSO and have a little coffee beans pattern.

Me, obliviously waiting for my café con leche.

We killed some time walking around...

Iquique touristy centre.

Chey looks at some real estate.

"A good coffee... enjoy it here!" wtf Chile.

Pretty tram is now decoration.

Cat chilling under the tram car. Cats make everyhing 200% better.

My vehicle of choice.

Afterwards, we spent a few hours sitting in a nicer café we found close to the bus terminal, ready to leave for La Serena on the first bus available.

That smile says: yay! Wifi and not-instant coffee!

La Serena was probably the nicest bit between Arequipa and Santiago, though faithful to our Chile experience thus far, it was extremely difficult to find good budget accomodation.

Every place we saw seemed to be run by a grumpy old lady smelling of moth balls and stew, and none of them seemed to like us wanting to see the rooms (probably because they were mostly dark, humid caves).

The mandatory touristy photo.

Finally we found a sort-of OK place (of course run by an old lady, but this one was sleepy rather than grumpy) and were able to charge our electronics, wash some clothes, rest and go out to see the sights.

We had a lovely stroll by the beach, where we tried to find beer (which somehow was extremely difficult).

La Serena sea side.

Lighthouse.

Strolling down the beach.

Sunset swings.

Sunset lighthouse,

About La Serena I also have to say: they have a place with great coffee (in Chile!!!!) and we found AMAZING veggie sushi for dinner, right next to our "hospedaje".

We only had Santiago left, or so we thought, before getting back to the Argentinian side and some rest from all the moving around. The adventure felt almost over.