Sketchy taxis, angry Peruvians, mild sickness, and movie channels!

Greetings everyone! Adam here. Two nights ago we arrived by bus to San Pedro de Atacama, a small town in Chile about 2 hours southeast of Calama. Before coming here, we spent a few days in Iquique, a much larger town about 6 hours north. Iquique was nice, aside from the mild sickness Jessie and I experienced. We couldn`t have been sick in a better place, though. Everything in Chile is *very* expensive, so the hotel we ended up staying in cost us about $78 US dollars! Very different from, spending $10 or less in Bolivia. It was great because we had a few movie channels, a private bathroom, and a comfy bed... great time to have a stomach bug. We just locked ourselves up in the room and watched movies until we recovered. I had been having funky stomach cramps all day and Jessie took great care of me when I was hit by what felt like a sudden fever that left me bedridden for a few hours. She got me some soup and sprite from a nearby restaurant (which ultimately made me purge my sickness and resulted in me feeling 10000% better). Presently we are both feeling much better and are prepared to continue our exploring!

On another note, our journey into Chile was quite exciting. The plan was to take a bus from Arequipa, Peru to Tacna, Peru, where we would take another bus or taxi across the border to Arica, Chile. When we arrived in Tacna, however, our bus pulled over to the side of the road behind a number of other buses and trucks on the highway and we were told to get off and get our bags. We were then told we had to walk 5k to the bus terminal because protesters had blocked the street and weren`t allowing vehicles to pass into the city. With excitement and a little bit of anxiety, Jessie and I grabbed our bags and began walking. Up ahead we could hear peole yelling into megaphones and the spontaneous cheering of a gathered crowd. As we approached we saw large rocks that had been moved into the street to prevent traffic. Banners with various slogans written on them, most advocating teachers´ labor rights, were sprawled on the cement with large groups, mainly women and their daughters, crowded next to them. I was anxious to find out what was happening so when a group of older ladies started shouting "gringos! gringos!" in friendly voices, I approached them and asked what was occuring. They told me that their government was treating teachers unfairly, and that it was becoming difficult to find jobs. They also said the price of bread had sky rocketed. When I asked why, they complained of trade relations between the US and Peru. They asked where I was from and when I told them, some of them lost interest while others became more interested... they wanted to know why the US govt was doing what they were doing. I had no immediate answer for them. I didn´t know what was going on, aside from being aware of the disappointing consequences of NAFTA on indigenous Mexican farmers. I had no idea what was occuring in Peru, but I speculated it was something similar. I wished them luck with their fight for their rights and continued on. Jessie and I spoke to a few more people down the road, just to get the story straight, and they said more or less the same thing. The people were very nice and welcomed us to take pictures of them. Once I arrived somewhere with internet access I discovered my speculation was correct... the US and Peru signed a free trade agreement in April 2006 that threatened to disrupt the livelihoods of small farmers and others who find themselves on the "other side" of the wealth divide. Others argue that the agreement will do the opposite... obviously the people themselves don´t feel this way. I haven´t been able to find anything substantial in the news about it yet, but we heard once we arrived in Chile that bus routes had been canceled from Cuzco to the border because of similar protests... we either got out just in time, or too early. It would have been very interesting to see.

Anywho, we took a *very* sketchy taxi from Tacna to Arica, Chile. It had no outward legitimate taxi sign and we were crammed in with 3 other people. Now, the ride itself wasnt that uncomfortable, but we have read enough stories about kidnappings resulting from situations similar to the one we were in to make us considerably nervous. Nevertheless, everything turned out fine, obviously... and the driver was very good at rushing us through border formalities and getting us into Chile very quickly. Afterwards, Jessie and I had a laugh about how during the ride, both of us were busy remembering bits and pieces about the car and the people riding in it, just in case we needed to recall it later... Jessie even took pictures of the car with her camera!

So we arrived in Arica, enjoyed the coast for a few days, met up with Thijs and Eric, and watched Fantastic 4 dubbed in Spanish. We ate great seafood and stayed and at an awesome backpackers hostal called Sunny Days (recommended). We went to the fishermans wharf and saw sea lions and a number of ocean birds. On the final night we had drinks and played one last game of gin before saying our final goodbyes to the Dutch fellas... they were headed across Bolivia to Cochabamba and their bus left at 1am. We feel blessed to have met such great people on our trip and we wish them the best with the rest of their trip.

After Arica we took a bus to Iquique, where we both felt a bit under the weather... we didnt do much there aside from walk around and try to get over our sick bellies. From there we took a bus to Calama, then to San Pedro, totaling 8 hours. San Pedro is awesome. Its a small town that serves as a hub for many of the awesome sights nearby. Yesterday we rented mountain bikes and sand boards and went sandboarding! It was so much fun! Exhausting because you had to climb the sand dune after every ride, but well worth it. I imagine it would be like skiing without the ski lift. We got sand EVERYWHERE (even in places we didnt know we had!). In a couple hours we are heading to Valle de la Luna (moon valley) and a few other sites. I think tomorrow we may leave San Pedro and head for Salar de Uyuni (the *FREEZING* salt beds) in Bolivia.

Sorry for all the typos... sticky keyboards and a week of stuff is hard to quickly cram into a post! We send our love to everyone back home... thanks for the comments on the posts and the e-mails etc. We will post again soon!