First rest period after Portugal (AP), all life switching issues solved, time to explore Chile again. This time I went North, even upper North than before. Destination: Iquique and Arica, two coastal towns, 6 and 10 hours from Antofagasta, respectively, known by their beaches, good weather, surfing and paragliding. Just like the other northern coastal cities, most houses are made of wood, colonial style. This area was not always chilean territory, it was split between Peru and Bolivia, until the Pacific war, where Chile conquered the area to both countries. Therefore, some architecture here differs from other regions of Chile.
I started with Iquique. The weather was warm, though a bit cloudy. Seafood and fish are excellent and in general it is cheap to eat here. I had an amazing 3-course lunch menu for less than 2 Euros. Unfortunately, it is low season and I met very few people. I shared a 6-bed dorm with myself for three days. This was also a problem to find tours. I wanted to visit a volcano national park near the
cordillera but there was not enough people to do it. Instead, I visited old abandoned mining towns, the village of Pica, where they grow the limes used to do the famous
pisco sour, and La Tirana, a small village where everyone goes to in July for religious festivities. Photo album at the end of the post, this time with captions!!
I then moved to Arica, the so called "eternal spring city", really close to the peruvian border. The landscapes from Iquique to Arica are remarkable. The road is pure desert, but crosses many mountains, gorges, canyons and fertile valleys. The city itself has a different atmosphere, slightly more bohemian than the rest of Chile. There's people on the streets until later, more leisure places and street animation. The weather here was really good, I went to the beach on one day and, though it wasn't crowded, there were quite some people sunbathing.
On my last day, I decided to cross the border into Peru, to Tacna, the closest city to the border. There is a train service, with only one wagon, that goes across the desert, bouncing all the way and with a diesel smell coming through the windows. My first train experience in Chile and it was fun! Tacna itself is not impressive, not much to see, but it is an incredibly active business town and inexpensive as well. I bought two books for less than 2 euros each. The food is also excellent, as expected. I went back the same day to Arica, with a few more stamps in my passport, and in the very same night I took a night bus to Antofagasta. I didn't meet many people this time, but I got back with the idea that one can fairly easily avoid winter in Chile!
Seven months have passed and I realized I hadn't presented you all where I live, the house I share in Santiago, "La Casa", my new home. It is located near the center, close to everything! We have supermarket, metro, restaurants and bars, everything at walking distance. However, it somehow remains a quiet area, both during the day and night. The house itself is dated from the 1930's, old and cold, but we like it nevertheless. It has two floors, six rooms and a small garden, which is excellent in summer for the parties!
I share this house with six more people right now, but there is a lot of rotation around here. They are mostly students working at ESO, but some come for a few months only, others for a couple of years. Right now we have Pedro, portuguese astronomer from Porto; his wife Bene, italian; Benoit, french astronomer leaving next week; Michel, a swiss engineer working at La Silla; Svante, finnish photographer; and Johannes, german engineer who will stay for a few months. We also had here Francesca, for three months, with whom I shared a trip to San Pedro de Atacama. Multicultural environment, all twenty-ish, student atmosphere, a family.
The spirit is something unique around here. We always help each other, we cook together, we go out and we invite people to the house. The house itself boosts the social life a lot, since we have a lot of space, inside and outside, it is fairly easy to give a party or bring some friends to dinner. Violeta, Thomas and Olivia are the closest. And we are crazy, we are all crazy, sometimes I wonder how the house is still standing...
From left to right, top to bottom: Me, Francesca, Benoit, Pedro, Violeta, Bene.
