Arica

Fanny wasn't staying in Arica for the night but wanted to catch another bus to go further to Calama. As her bus wasn't leaving till 10pm at night and it was only 6pm I asked her to just come with me to the hostel. Probably they wouldn't mind her hanging out there for a while and we could go to dinner together to kill her time.
Booking a hostel in Chile had been kind of shocking. Prices easily doubled compared to Peru and othe countries. So when I booked my hostel in Arica I had really read the recommendations to make sure I don't pay so much for a bad place. The "Sunny Days Hostel" had pretty good reviews but when we entered the hostel I couldn't believe that no one had mentioned it was like staying with someone's grandparents!
The owner was unbelievable nice and had no problem with Fanny hanging out till her bus left. He led us into the "reception" which was inside his living room that was plastered with souvenirs from visiting travelers and lots of other stuff. For my taste the room was definitely to crowded and messy but it still gave it a really personal touch. While I was filling out the check in paper he put a plate with cookies and two glasses of juice for us on the table. Supersweet welcome.
I had a quick shower while Fanny was charging her phone and using the WIFI (she had already been on busses since 24hours all the way from Lima). Afterwards we headed over to the market for dinner (recommendation from grandpa) and were surprised to find a french place with sweet and hearty Crepes in there. Fanny talked a bit with the owner and she told her they had the shop for about a year now and it was running quite well. It's pretty unusual to find a foreign restaurant inside a local market. Especially in a town this little touristy as Arica. The crepes were delicious!
We headed back to the hostel afterwards and talked till Fanny had to leave to catch her bus.
In my room I met Dominik. A german guy who had been in Arica and the hostel for a while and almost felt like a local as most people only stay for a night on there journey between Peru and Chile.
The next morning we had breakfast in the livingroom of our temporary grandparents. The table was set nicely for everybody and the breakfast was quite good with cheese and different kinds of cereal (whoop, not just bread with jam!).
After breakfast I went with Dominik to the beach as he wanted to check out the waves. As there weren't any we decided to go to a big local market instead. We walked around between the many stands. Even though I've been to so many markets by now it's still fascinating. There were also a lot of little restaurants at the market where we decided to get lunch. Originally Dominik wanted to try Alpaca but we ended up eating at the place with the most customers which served this nice lentil stew.
We caught a bus back to the center of town from where I walked up to Morro de Arica from where you had a nice view over the town and the ocean.
On my way back to the hostel I took a wrong street and ended up walking along a big road. There were lots of construction sites for huge residential buildings. At one I even got handed a brochure by the security guard watching the gate. Arica was a pretty dry and boring place. Even though it was at the beach it didn't really have a flair. I don't know who would choose to live here. But it does have a big harbor so maybe there is work and money here.
After dinner at the hostel with Dominik I headed back to the bus terminal to catch my nightbus to San Pedro de Atacama.Read more