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Ok, so we’re back in Bolivia. We’re in Uyuni this time, which has pizza, pool tables, but NOT atms. Here’s how we got here..

Cliched Sunsets and Psychadelic Landscapes

GringoAndGringa
2006-02-18 14:52:28

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Ok, so we’re back in Bolivia. We’re in Uyuni this time, which has pizza, pool tables, but NOT atms. Here’s how we got here:

We left La Paz for Iquique, but didn’t get such a good deal on the bus trip. Also it turned out that the bus wasn’t going to Iquique, but to Arica. We were fairly surprised by this when we got to Arica and were told to wait and hour and get on a different bus. So we waited and no bus came. Turns out the bus we had tickets for had flat tires or something and we were all transferred to another company. So, despite setting out at 6am, we didn’t get to Iquique until about 10pm.

It was too dark to look for a hostel, but luckily we had made friends with an Aussi surfer who had a brochure for a hostel that would pick you up from the bus station. Turned out to be the nicest place we’ve stayed since leaving Canada, and not that much more expensive then the cheap-o places. So picture this: hostel with a kitchen so new that is has a microwave, free internet, large tv with cable, cool art on the walls,

This was our bus from La Paz to Iquique. clean bathrooms, and it´s across the street from a California-style beach. Needless to say, we found it hard to leave, or do anything more interesting than sit on the beach. Unfortunately I’ve forgotten the name of the place (Iquique Backpacker’s Hostel or something like that), but it’s easy to find if you walk along Arturo Prat Road which goes along the beach, until you get to Amunategul road and look for the large Hostelling International mural, visible from Arturo Prat.

One day we rented bikes and went into downtown Iquique, which was exciting. They seem to have a thing for one-way streets. Iquique has lots of neat old buildings (Georgian) and antiques for sale on the street. There were also lots of neat little stores full of clothing (Chile considers itself part of Europe, so lots of scarves) and shoes. The best place we found was a store specialising ...