Chilin in Chile

Getting to Iquique was a bit more complicated than I had hoped. I had to take a bus from San Pedro to Calama then wait for about 5 hours in Calama to catch another 7 hour bus to the coastal town of Iquique. The bus station in Calama is quite far from the center of the city and only having 5 hours I didnt really think it would be worth the hassle to get a taxi into town. So I sat and waited.

After about an hour into my wait I went to write in my journal and realized it was missing. I had left it on the bus from San Pedro and that bus was long gone. After a few tears and trying to explain my problem to the Tur Bus drivers I gave up and accepted the fact that I would never see my journal or the 10 postcards that I had written again. I kept reminding myself that it could have been a LOT worse, there are many other much more important things I could have lost. While waiting I met a boy from Paris that made my tears over my journal seem very trivial. This Parisian was here because 3 days ago he sat in this same bus station and had his bag stolen, practically off of his lap. It had everything in it....passport, camera, laptop, cash. So needless to say I felt like I had nothing to complain about!

What makes me sad is that I always wrote about the people I met in my journal. Like the Irish girl who worked in Ocean City, Maryland for 3 summers, or the Austrian guy who quit his finance job to drive from London to Singapor then shipped his car to Argentina and was now driving to Alaska. I have met so many amazing people on this trip and am sad that I no longer have those meetings in writing, but at least I still have the memories!

I arrived in Iquique at 11pm and enjoyed a fabulous day on the beach yesterday. Although I am a bit sunburned I am headed out to the beach again now.
Chow!