37 hours

After Island hopping, I had a nice dinner in a nuevo Andean restaurant to celebrate my departure with Cat, JB, and Matthieu, my friends I had been travelling with. While sad to leave them, I needed to head south to Chile as I have to retunr to BA in less then three weeks for my flight home. So very full after some delicious lamb and quinoa, I litterally ran to the bus station to catch the first leg of what would be a 37 hour journey.

My first bus, for which i had to pee badly for the duration, was a 10 hour ride from Puno to Tacna, on the Chilean border. It was amazing to fall asleep in the Andes mountains and wake up in the bleak desert, with my ears popping from the drop of altitude. Finally being able to take a full breath was also and added bonus.

Anyways i stayed in Tacna just long enough to get a taxi to cross the border. Having thought I had bought a bus ticket, I was pretty suspicious when the driver took me to his car. But, after ebing joined by a few others, I realized this was normal and he was not giong to take me to the middle of the desert to rob me. Anyways after standing in a huge line where I was the only white person, I got checked crossing the border cause i was bringing in fruits and veggies in the form of Clif Bars (thanks again Jack and Jenee). But the guard eventually decided they were ok and not a threat to chilean agriculture.

Once across the border, I hopped on another bus for a 23 hour ride to La Serena. Thankfully the bus in Chile are better then Bolivia or Peru. The seats were comfy, I could move my legs, there was a bathroom, TV, food service, and even a legitmate stop. I immediately decided I like Chile.

Thus after a 37 hour journey from the Andes, through the Atacama desert, and to the Pacific, I am now in La Serena, a lovely beach town. I treated myself to an amazing hostel with lots of outdoor sitting space and have also enjoyed the beach. I have no idea what to eat here as all the food is called by names i do not know. But there seems to be lots of advocado, thus I am happy.