2 girls and 4 bags.

Nicole and i embarked on our journey at 5pm on Saturday. We both packed 2 backpacks full of clothes, food (ie peanut butter, fruit etc), and toiletries. Of course we tried to pack light, but we have determined after walking many hours with our bags on, you can never pack light enough!

We caught a 2 hr bus ride to Santiago and sat in the terminal to eat a peanut butter and banana sandwich. Then we slept the entire way on our bus to Copiapo.

When we arrived in Copiapo we lugged our baggage around the city. Every time we arrive in a city, nicole and i must either locate a hostel (if we are staying the night), find a custodia (pay to watch your bags) if you have lay-over time, or find another bus to take us to our next destination. It has been an adventure thus far..not having many things planned in advance. Sometimes it works out miraciously and other times we have to be more patient or lug our baggage around for hours...grudgingly searching.

Copiapo had more difficult times. There were many weddings in town on this monday (because it was a national holiday),so many of the hotels and hostels were completely booked. We walked for about an hour searching for a hostel. We gave up at one point and sat down in a park to eat yet another peanut butter sandwich. After breakfast, we went to a convenient store for coffee. There we met a nice man in the convenient store. We had also spoke with a guy earlier in a hostel. Both men carried words of wisdom about the area. Nicole and i decided to move on to another city, after speaking with a few natives about what there is to do in the area. We have been quite lucky at meeting people.

First we usually ask a question, which leads to a lengthy conversation, but inevitably, we bring up our "story" which works wonders for us: We are volunteer teachers here living in Chile but currently on vacation. Chileans love this and will do anything to help us. We are at a major advantage over other travelers, because we follow advice of the naties instead of the travel books. Also ability to understand spanish has made traveling very easy for us.

With the advice to stay in another city, closer to the beach and cheaper, we chose to stay in Caldera. Although, with making reservations ahead of time, we walked around another hour looking for a place to stay (or most importantly, to keep our things so we could walk around freely). It got pretty exhausting walking around with my two backpacks. I determined that the easiest way to walk was with my larger bag on my back and my smaller on my front. I now know what it feels like to be pregnant! I now have extreme empathy for expecting mothers...

I found us a small residencial. A "residencial" is a home, more or less, with an extra room. Someone rents one room in their house and you are welcome to share their kitchen and bathroom. Of course it was the cheapest way and also, the only option we had. We couldnt walk another step at this point, so we ignored the stank of poodles and smoke in the house and dropped off our things.

Then, we went on to explore the city, and an amazing beach spot: Bahia Inglesia. Bahia Inglesia is probably the most photographed beach in Chile. It has white sand and turquiose waters, if the sun hits the water just right. Nicole and i went on a long, romantic walk around the beach and climbed rocks on the shore. The beach was practically unoccupied. (its dead season) I have never felt so at peace with the world. i am very amazed at how many of the shorelines in Chile, no matter how beautiful, are undeveloped. In the USA, there isnt one plot of land on the beach unclaimed.

After a nice day at the beach, we concluded our evening at a hip, octogon shaped restaurant for cafe con leche. And because there were no more collectivos or taxis coming to the beach at that hour, we had to "hacer dedo" back to our residencial!

I melted into sleep after lugging around the extra weight all day and after many hours on the bus. Apparently Nicole couldnt sleep a wink. She woke me up in the middle of the night screaming in frustration. She couldnt sleep because the house smelt like a huge cigarette, the tv was blaring in another room, and she was freezing. She was surprised i could sleep though all of this! haha. Of course, i wanted to quickly leave in the morning. The hostel ended up being a more comical experience, instead of a pleasant one. The house was too dirty and the water in the shower too cold...

We spent the next day traveling to Chanaral and arrived around 4pm. We wanted to visit this cute park with penguins during the day, but skipped out to save money. (sometimes people wont budge when we attempt to bargain) But our bus didnt leave for Iquique until 10 pm, so we had to find something to do to fill the time and something to do with our bags! Somehow, Nicole and I entertained ourselves for about 6 hrs in this teeny city. When we are bored we either pass time by eating or walking, and chatting. We both love to talk.

We spent another long night on the bus. This bus ride had "unexpected turns". I awoke to a man forcing us out of our seats to another bus. Then, when on the second bus, we had problems with the engine or something and another bus had to swing by and pick us up. We finally made it to Iquique after many hours of traveling and then decided we didnt want to stay. The buses had soured our moods. And the cloudy weather didnt help. We hadnt made plans for the city, thus decided to continue on to Arica, the border town between Peru and Chile.

It was the best decision we made yet. We had a nice bus ride to Arica. The bus played 2 movies and fed us. We were smiling when we hit Arica, especially when we saw the sunny weather.

Good thing i had researched a few hostels before the trip. I found a hostel online in Arica and we set out on another long, pregnant hike to our temporary home. It was worth the walk though. We slept in a warm room, had hot showers, free breakfast, watched tv in bed and met many other travelers, all for only about 10 US$. We were very happy campers this morning.

Nicole is presently on a run. And when she returns, we will be going to Tacna for the day. Tacna is the first major city when you cross into Peru. It is known for cheap shopping, well cheap things in general. I hope to try some peruvian ceviche. Tonight, we will return to our hostel for a bbq and to watch Chile in a futbol match.

We are awating more information about the "forgotten city" or Machu Picchu. There is a possibility that we might not make it there because the bus drivers are on strike in Arequipa, a city we must pass to get to Cuzco. Also, the Inca trail is booked, thus we have to find another way up. We have our fingers crossed. We are so close...what a drag it would be if we couldnt see it!