Relaxing Trip to Chile

People have asked me how I spent my 23rd Birthday. (Btw, thanks to those who sent me Bday emails/cards, they were real nice :)

I spent it walking around the slow-paced town of Arica, at the northern tip of Chile. No excessive drinking (in fact, no drinking at all), no partying, just a relaxing day, so relaxing it was almost boring!

On January 29th, my roomate Fanni and I left for Chile, and Fanni went home on Monday, on Tuesday i met up with my other roomate Sandra (she couldn´t leave with us on Saturday because she had to work on Monday), and Sandra and I were in Chile until Friday morning.

My week in Chile was slow and peaceful, there wasn´t that much to see in Arica nor in Iquique (where I met Sandra), and so most of the time was spent chillaxing, at times at the beach on the Pacific Ocean.

The beaches were real nice, and we stayed at a homey hostel ran by a rather snobby French man and his Chilean "partner". Oh, he´s not gay, I just don´t know how to phrase their relationship because they live together with her children from her first marriage and one of the grandchildren, but they are not married. They seemed to have what to me seemed like a rather complicated set-up, but maybe that is me being closed-minded. Although, i would like to say "well, whatever works for them", but it didn´t really seem like it was working that well.... but whatever.

Chile is a hell of a lot more developed than Bolivia (which is no big surprise i suppose, seeing as how Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in S.America) and its evident in just about everything. Cars, infrastructure (especially roads), markets, way of life, etc etc. Most houses had washing machines, where as in Bolivia, only the incredibly wealthy have them. In Chile there were markets like in Bolivia, but the were incredibly hygenic. There are no taxis driving around with broken windows or with engines that seem to be saying "I think I can, I think I can....". Oh and speaking of CARS, unlike in Bolivia where cars try to run pedestrians over, they actually STOP, and even make that gesture to you saying "please go ahead and cross, pedestrians have right of way, after all =)" (an idea completely foreign to Bolivians)

It was a nice change, and its interesting to see countries who are side by side, and who share language and some aspects of history and culture, but whose economic standards are almost incomparable. Maybe if one were to compare the rural areas of Bolivia and of Chile, there may not be that big of a difference, but in the cities its as clear as it can get.

Unfortunately, I only got to see the very northern tip of Chile, but hopefully one day i will get a chance to travel along their loooong strip of land!