Arica, Chile

Upon finishing our tour of the Salar, it was time to leave Bolivia for a bit and cross the border into Chile. The crossing was desolate, and only notable for the way the dirt road magically became paved on the much wealthier Chilean side. We spent the day in the bizarre, touristy, oasis city of San Pedro, waiting for a bus that would take us to the beachy, touristy, coastal city of Arica in northern Chile.

Arica now means four things for us: Carnaval, which we stumbled upon by accident; soft sand; big, delicious nectarines; and sandwiches - especially the completo variety, which means overflowing tomatoes, mayonaise and mashed avocado with whatever else you've ordered. We also got to spend more time with John from Ireland, a real prince of a man (note cowboy looking guy above).

About the Carnaval pics below: compared to Carnaval in Oruro and Cochabamba (in Bolivia) which took place two and three weeks later, Arica's Carnaval was rather staid. In other words, it wasn't a foam and water-balloon filled drink-a-thon, with 9 year old boys selling cans of beer wherever you went. That said, we only have pictures from Arica because the amount of water (and pickpockets) at Bolivian Carnaval forced us to leave our cameras at home. The costumes and dances were similar, however.

Checking out the coast south of Arica.

Getting ready for the parade.