Chile time

Took a quick trip to Chile to see the beach and resolve some visa issues. The bus ride was 6-7 hours, (one way) and some of the mountain roads were really nerve-wracking. I honestly didn't like looking out the window. There's no railing, and the drop would be certain death -- or worse. So I didn't look out the window. I watched a bunch of R-rated movies they show on the bus, which struck me as odd. Peru is a Catholic country, and there are kids on the bus and boobs on the screen. Go figure. Getting into Chile is a little bit of a process. The bus arrives in the Peruvian town of Tacna. There, you hire a collectivo, which is an ordinary passenger car. The car takes you to the border. You check out of Peru, then get a visa to enter enter Chile. The driver then takes you to the Chilean town of Arica. The driver kind of handles the whole thing for you. I was a little nervous when he took our passports and went inside some building. But he came back and all was well. Arica is a nice beach town, and Chile certainly has a more American feel than Peru. Cars in Chile stay in lanes. The poverty isn't quite as visible as in Peru. There are still markets and such, but there's clearly a different vibe in Chile. The beach looked pretty nice too, but didn't really spend much time there. The visa was the main mission. You do the same collectivo thing to get back to Tacna/Peru, going through customs and getting that all-important 183-day visa. Watched the Hangover and Unknown (in Spanish) on the way back on the bus. Police came onto the bus twice, taking IDs and checking passports. There also was a 30-minute baggage check by police about an hour into the trip.  Travel is serious and time-consuming stuff in Peru. I was happy to get to Arequipa. It felt like home and I celebrated with a combi ride and anticuchos from a street vendor. Nothing like it.