Adios Chile - Hola Peru!

Thursday 10th May, 5pm - Just got back from my walk in the sunshine down to the beach where a few recreational fishermen are standing on the rocks casting their lines into the sea hoping for a strike – cool breeze blowing. The cleaner is in the house mopping the tiled floors having already cleaned the rest of the house while I was away. My guess is that we’ll catch a bus into the central city this evening and then Uber to the coach terminal. I’ve been thinking about my plans for Peru and would like to spend more than just a few days at a coastal town doing some swimming and diving before visiting Machu Pichu, which from all accounts is worth a visit. I feel as though I’m ahead of my planned schedule but if Peru is cheaper than Chile (and I expect it will be) then I’ll spend more  time there and probably fly directly back to Santiago from the capital, Lima, (USD80.00) on one of the budget airlines.

8pm – Just arrived at the coach terminal in a colectivo after a 30 minute hair-raising trip that bore a striking resemblance to the dodgems we used to drive at the fairgrounds.  The driver was a young heavily tattooed youth who wouldn’t have looked out of place in Cali, Colombia, and who drove like there was no tomorrow. En route, a black car with no lights or muffler that looked like it should be in the crushers yard may have been trying to race us but 3 Carabaneros on powerful looking trail bikes with lights flashing soon had him corralled with one each side and one behind after weaving in and out of the heavy fast-moving lanes of traffic. I’ll bet they just love their job! Edgy stuff! More fun than the 3D VR ride I did yesterday but for only half the price! I can’t believe that hawkers stand in the middle of the road close to light-controlled intersections between the two lanes of speeding traffic waiting for the red light, so they can hawk their snack foods and chocolate bars to the people in the stopped cars – I wonder how many are taken out by the mirrors extending from the sides of vehicles, especially trucks. Later in the evening when the traffic is lighter and traveling even faster large dogs that have spent the day sleeping in the sun come out for their fun – chasing the cars as they speed by, barking loudly and never seeming to get hit by the car following or one coming the other way. Miraculous stuff!

The overnight coach trip wasn’t too bad, thanks to having several favourite albums saved to my phone via Spotify and my noise cancelling headphones. It was long trip, almost as long as the flight over from Australia. The accommodation here is the best so far – nice newish townhouses – and this one has a lovely private back yard and outdoor patio area with tables and chairs to dine at or just sit and chill. Picaflor (Hummingbirds) are common in the garden here where we’re now in the tropics at latitude 18’ South. It’s noticeably warmer and today got quite hot, though I still haven’t had the chance to go for a swim. We did back to back tours today, first to some caves right on the coast South of the city and then to a wetland area which is a bird sanctuary to the North of the city (same tour guide). At 4,000 pesos per person per tour it was quite good value, I thought. Following that we tried to book the train from here to Tacna in Peru for Saturday morning but found it was fully booked, so will just take a bus instead. I thought the train trip would make an interesting change from buses so I’ll try to do it on the way back to here if I come back this way.  After lunch I visited the site of the Chinchoro mummies which were discovered during the excavations for a new building in the city and have now had a museum built around the discovery in order to preserve it (rather than removing the mummies to a museum at great risk of damage to them). They lie exactly as they were found and an audio tour in English goes into great detail about the history of the discovery and the preservation process as well as the history of the Chinchoro people who lived in this area for around about the past 5,000 years. The excavation is enclosed in heavy glass so you can walk over it as you take the tour and look through to the mummified bodies. Well worth a visit (2,000 pesos entry fee).

Tomorrow I’ll start a new blog, Elveysperuvianadventure, in order to separate the two countries. Adios Chile! Hola Peru!