Arica

Gary writes this one:

Arica is a very beautiful small port city in northern Chile. The weather was perfect. It was sunny every day and about 85 degrees. The breeze every afternoon at about 4 o´clock helped cool the city and beaches. Arica has many beaches near town. We stayed in a hostel about 3 minutes from the beach. The local people clean and groom the beach every morning.

Kimi and I were very tired from traveling and spent the first few days in Arica reading and relaxing. We meet many backpackers while eating breakfast and dinner together. We meet former Taoseño Franklin Bright one evening and went to the beach to enjoy the ocean and some of Chile´s famous ice cream. It was nice walking the beach together and watching the sunset from the roof top of our hostal.

We had a German Christmas with new friends from the hostel, celebrating and opening presents Christmas Eve. We spent Christmas day on the beach, swimming in the ocean and enjoying the sun. From Arica we traveled by bus to La Paz, Bolivia. The old bus took us east, up out of Arica. The weather was sunny and cool in the desert. Our bus broke down while driving through Lauca National Park. We were able to spend some time enjoying the snow covered volcanos and watching the vicuñas graze below in the valley. We switched buses and continued to Bolivia. Some cliffs and red rock outcroppings reminded me of places in Utah. We arrived two hours late after boarding another bus in Alto, just above the city of La Paz. We were very glad to see our friends Bertha and Harold at last.

Kimi writes:

We really enjoyed the several months we spent in Chile, and now I have a real appreciation for how long and diverse this country is, and how nice the people are! My new favorite word in Spanish is cabalgata. It has nothing to do with female cats, but is actually a horseback trail ride. Another Chilean word is bacán, which means cool. Kids use this word a lot. I also learned (with a tip from my aunt Irene which kept me from making a big mistake) that dishes in Chile are lozas, not trastes as in Mexico. Don't offer to wash anyone's trastes in Chile, as it means butts!

At the hostel in Arica, we spent Christmas Eve with several German travelers. Carola and Christian are traveling with their 10-month old son, Leonard. In Germany, both parents get a year of paid parenting leave, and they decided to spend six months of it traveling in South America with Leonard!

On Christmas day, Gary and I invited five new friends from the hostel to dinner, and Gary made shark steaks! It was fun to spend the holiday at the hostel with other travelers, and we made new friends from Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, New Zealand and Brazil.

Now, we are in La Paz Bolivia with friends Bertha and Harald from the United World College. We are having such a wonderful time, and it's so great to spend time with Bertha and Harald! We will spend New Years at Island of the Sun, on Lake Titicaca.