Bienvenido
After Heather departed, I was left to my own devices once again. Against the wind, the train pulling outta the station, no turning back. I stayed in Santiago for 4 more nights, hitting the museums and sites hard. I also spent lots of time researching next jumps, stays, and things to do. Chile is looooong, and Santiago is towards the center-ish. My goal was to get to Bolivia fast, so I could start my slow roll. My best option was to catch a flight to Arica on Friday night. My simple jump stop in Northern Chile on the ocean.
The Great SIM Card Ordeal
I finally had to find a local SIM card now that Heather left. What a phucking ordeal! Getting there, no Spanish, jumping to different places that pointed to other places that suggested other places... and walking in the heat the whole time, finally, I found a place.
The scene: 5 employees sitting behind a big desk facing the front door (sounds like the beginning of a joke-- well, it kinda is). 2 were dealing with a customer. No one else in the store. I stood there as the other 3 blind mice went about discussing life-affecting scenarios...
The Carry-On Hack
I'm not sure if I am late to this game, but on my flight to Arica, I tested a theory. This was a bare-bones, bring your own seatbelts and tray table, everything costs more kinda flight ticket. That's how I do. Note: I have a small 'personal item' backpack, but my main backpack would surely be classified as 'carry-on' sized, not 'under the seat in front of you' sized.
Since I already had my online boarding pass, methinks 'hmmm, no one to call me out on if I did or didn't pay for my carry-on since I'll have no human contact'. So I took the naughty school girl route, skipped the payment, figuring I could pay for meals/Ubering instead... theory worked! No one questioned me, I beat the "MAN", and live to pass on this wonderful hack. I do the dirty work so you won't have to.
January 17: Arica Adventures
I had a long walk today in Arica (and eventually back, which seemed even further), found a locals' hangout for fresh ceviche (fishing boats across the way), and on the spot made empanadas. Yummyness. I gotta say, the surroundings ain't my jam. The city is shaped in a large crescent on the Pacific, flanked by small mountains/large hills of sand, barren, and desolate. I feel like I'm in the Middle East and was expecting to hitch an UberCamel.
All day today, I didn't notice any white folk- makes a guy feel kinda special, as the song from Sesame Street buzzed around my pea-brain "One of these things is not like the other...". Early tomorrow, I'll walk around the corner to the bus station and strap in for a 9-hour ride to La Paz, Bolivia.
January 18: The Road to La Paz
Woke early, bused all day. I was glad to leave Arica and was looking forward to La Paz. Leaving was gross, laden with litter, combined with the ugliness of the sand mountains, and more of the above desolation. Once we got about half an hour out, in some way, it really started to tickle my 'hey, what's this all about' button, and began to grow on me.
More mountains, taller, but maybe just more on their own terms: Unapologetic barrenness, and simplicity, with the addition of fertile valleys, and snow-capped mountains in the distance. I just sat in my seat, enamored by the unfolding of the natural beauty before me.
By the time we finally got to the border crossing at nearly 5000 meters high, I had full-on motion sickness, AND altitude sickness. I felt like a slow death. This combo really kicked my ass, and no better place to do it; Entering a new country with a building full of armed customs agents. Nothing like being nauseous when a customs agent is asking serious questions in Spanish.
Tech & Travel: An Uncomfortable Treatise
Tech and I have formed an uncomfortable treatise. We tolerate each other. Yet, traveling like this, the need for tech is a necessary evil in threading the needle. If there's no phone, then there's no idea where your hotel is, or how you'll get there or back, it's your ability to communicate, it's your tour/restaurant guide, and it's how to get from point A to B... It's all the things and third in line of importance behind money and a passport.
Frankly, traveling like this is very stressful and laden with anxiety at nearly every turn.
The Electric Future
While in Santiago, we'd been using the public transit, it is widely used, has an uncountable supply of buses, and a great subway system; all clean, cheap, and relatively easy to use. I've noticed many of their buses are electric. NOTE: this is in an Emerging Nation ("3rd-World Country")!
The EV market here is dominated by China: Dealerships and cars I've never even heard of. That said, I'm beyond confounded why the vast majority of countries are adopting and moving forward toward clean alternatives, while our current policy is chasing, warring, incentivizing, and investing in the dirty fossil fuels of yesteryear.
Stay Tuned For...
- If the world were truly flat, then why haven't cats pushed everything off the sides yet?
- Eating soup off a vendor literally on the curb of the road may not be a good thing.
- That'd probably look much nicer with a coat of paint.
- The world's highest navigable lake- that sounds damn cold!
