Peru bound!

Attempting to leave Chile to head across the border to Peru was a somewhat confusing experience. Although Audie and I are both conversationally fluent in Spanish, the situation in the taxi/bus terminal in Arica was the kind of hubbub and disorder that confounds language skills. It is possible to either take a bus, which is incredibly slow, or a faster taxi. We wanted to get to Arequipa that night instead of staying in the border town of Tacna, so our option was to hire a taxi. But it's impossible to hire your own private taxi to cross the border, as the taxi drivers prefer to cram as many people as they can into their rickety cars. When we finally realized the situation and managed to find a driver for the price we preferred, I was a little uncertain if this was a legitimate business or a robbery ruse. Getting in the back of a taxicab anywhere in South America is always a bit of a risk, and this taxi already had 3 young men shoved in the backseat, and Audie and I were to squeeze next to the driver in the front. In a situation like this, I always trust my gut and whisper a "C'est la vie" to the world. I haven't had any trouble yet. The six of us had a jolly hour-or-so ride to the border in the driver's dilapidated sedan. He took us through customs and obviously he had a special permit to drive another few miles to the bus station, where he deposited us. 

We immediately knew we were in a new country. It was.....louder....here in Peru. Already there just seemed to be more people, more chaos, and more hustlers. We had no clue how to get to Arequipa, about a 7-hour bus ride away. Luckily it was still early in the morning so we had plenty of time to figure it out. Wandering into the Tacna bus station, one is immediately assaulted by the representatives of the different bus lines and tour agencies. I always ignore the hustlers and search out the quiet person sitting behind a desk. Plus, traveling in Peru one must be aware which is the safe busline to ride for the route you'll be traveling.  Certain bus lines are more prone to robberies and assaults. While I'd done my research on this before our trip, I wasn't sure which buses were available from Tacna. Walking into the din of the bus terminal, I immediately gravitated to a little lady sitting behind a glass window at a travel agency, looking bored. I told her what we wanted, and she ushered us into her quiet office, where we were immediately set at ease by her wonderful Peruvian hospitality and friendly conversation. We bought our bus tickets through her, and as we had a couple of hours to spare before the bus left, she offered us the back room of her office to relax in. When she found out it was my birthday that day, she even gave me a small present. Relaxing in her back room, we got to thinking a few days in advance, about getting from Arequipa to Cusco. I knew I wanted to fly this route, so I asked our little lady to help us out with that too. We bought these tickets from her, but she told us that one of us had to go with her to the LAN office in downtown Tacna to pick up the tickets. Audie volunteered to go, and she asked me to take care of her office while they were gone! She sat me down at her computer by her bank-teller style window, and when they left to find a taxi, I settled in for a good half-hour of free internet and emailing....except, I kept getting interrupted. Passengers were constantly talking to me through the window, asking me about prices and tours and bus tickets, assuming it was my travel agency! There were quite a few shocked faces to hear gringa-accented Spanish telling them I didn't work here, and to come back later! But what a fun situation to be in, on my birthday, my first morning in Peru. 

About ten minutes after they left, I got an email from Audie! It said simply: "Answer the phone!" A couple minutes later, the phone rang and I answered it: "Buenos dias" and Audie was on the line. He knew I'd be on my email, so he emailed me from the LAN office. He was frantic, claiming he had lost his passport, which was needed to pick up the airplane tickets. Did he leave it in the office, perhaps? I checked the back room and his bags quickly, and it wasn't there. When I returned to the phone, I knocked some papers off the señora's desk, and there was his passport! She had needed it to reserve our tickets, and had forgotten it there. I was able to read the passport numbers to Audie on the phone, and they let him have the tickets. And I told him to hurry back, as we only had 20 minutes before our bus left!

The bus ride to Arequipa was fairly uneventful, except for the other tourists we sat next to on the bus who happened to be from, of all places, New Caledonia. We spent a good time swapping traveling tales with them. When we arrived in Arequipa it was pouring rain and dark. We had no hotel reservation, but I knew of a couple of places around the main plaza that I was interested in, so we found a taxi (after much haggling over the price...I knew what a correct price should be after a long "Intro to Peru" visit with my Peruvian friend Jorge in New Jersey before leaving on the trip. Many thanks, Jorge!) and we stayed at the first hotel the taxi driver dropped us at: Casablanca Hostal, right on the main plaza, with the gorgeous sillar (off-white volcanic rock) architecture that Arequipa is famous for.