Iquique (Chile)

Z Arequipy nejsou zadne prime busy do Chile. Takze jedeme nejdrive do Tacna a pak do Arica. Na hranicich jsou tentokrat prisnejsi a prochazeji kompletne vse. 90% autobusu veze desitky roli toaletniho papiru. Asi je v Peru o dost levnejsi nez v Chile. Ani v Arice se nezdrzujeme a jedeme rovnou do Iquique. A uz pri koupi listku vime, ze tu trochu budeme mit problemy s penezi. Stejne jako v Italii nebo Polsku jeste pred par lety vse stoji desetitisice. Nejvetsi mince je 500pesos a kurz 710pesos za euro prepocitavani neulehcuje. Vlastne uz od Arequipy jedeme cely den pousti a Chiskou cast jeste doplnuje velika propast po leve strane. Na prvni pohled je videt, ze je Chile oproti vetsine ostatnich zemi JA bohate. Supermarkety, nova auta, smlouvani se neujalo ani na trhu. Na prechodu auta stavi a nechavaji nas prejit, to v takovem Peru a Bolivii se na cervenou ani tak moc nehraje a vlezt do cesty rozjetemu autu je sebevrazda.
Mesto krome centra a hlavni tridy nestoji za moc, ale plaze a promenada ano. Pacifik neni nijak extra teply, ale ty vlny od rana do vecera! Nekdy az 4m. Hned po praci a skole ze vsech bytovek kolem pobrezi vybehnou mistni a nesou surf prkno nebo bodyboard (kratsi verze na ktere se lezi). A je na co koukat, vypada to tak jednoduse, chytit vlnu, projet se tunelem a pak dat treba salto zpatky pres vlnu. Budeme tu par dni a tak zvazuju, ze bych sel do kursu surfovani. V Irsku jsem to planoval dlouho a nedostal se k tomu. Prvni den pujcuji jen bodyboard abych se trochu vyradil. A hodne rychle zjistuji, ze to opravdu neni tak lehke jak to vypada ze brehu. Parkrat se mi podari se pekne projet a je to slusna jizda, ale vetsinu casu se citim jak ve velke pracce kde se zasekl program machani, netusim kde je nahore a kde dole (to poznam jen kdyz me to splachne moc blizko brehu a popotahne po dne). Neuspech dne zakoncim tim, ze me jedna vlna doslova narve na prkno a zebra silne protestuji. Zlepsi se to asi za dva dny a rozhodnu se to vyzkouset znovu, vlny jsou jeste vetsi nez pri mem prvnim pokusu a ve vode vydrzim jen pul hodky, vlna si poda moje zebra o dost drive a o dost silneji nez poprve (ted je tyden pozdeji a jeste porad nemuzu lezet na leve strane). Tim tak nejak skoncili me pateticke pokusy naucit se na bodyboardu (k surfu jsem se vubec nedostal), dalsi sance bude na Zelandu, ale do vody tam uz bez instruktora nevlezu.
Snazime se sehnat tour do Atacamy, nejnehostinejsi pouste sveta ktera se tahne stovky kilometru do vsech stran, ale je uz po sezone a nikdo nedokaze naplnit jeep. Tak alespon zajdeme k Cerro Dragon, nejvetsi mestske dune, aby jsme okusili neco malo z nejsussiho mista planety. Vecer prijizdi Keiran po svem okruhu Argentinou a Chile a tam muzeme oslavit sv. Patrika s Irem.
Pak uz nas ceka jen let do Santiaga. Letime docela nizko a tak muzeme seshora dohnat to co jsme nestihli po zemi. Atacama je krasna a zrovna tak Aconcagua, tyci se vysoko nad vse ostatni nedaleko letiste v Santiagu.
Fotky na kterych se Jance povedlo me vyfotit hned po mem neuspechu jsou nize (mame i video, ale je moc velke pro upload). A jak si nelze nevsimnout, jsem historicky na nejnizsi vaze, ani nechci vedet kolik (muze za to Cusco). Takze pokud nekdo zvazuje nejakou drahou dietu doporucujeme jako alternativu cestu nekam do chudsi exotiky :)

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From Arequipa there are no direct buses to Chile. So we head to Tacna first and then to Arica. The border crossing is more strict this time and customs officers check everything including content of our bags. 90% of the passengers bring just bags full of toilet paper. It must be much cheaper in Peru than Chile. In Arica we stay just for lunch and go straight to Iquique. And when buying ticket we know straight away we´ll have a bit of problems with the Chilean pesos. Similar to Italy or Poland couple years ago everything cost thousands. Largest coin is of 500pesos value and rate exchange 710 to a euro does not make counting easier.
The whole journey from Arequipa to Iquique goes through desert, add a big gorge on the left in Chile. On the first glance we can see that Chile is on a higher level than most of SA countries. Supermarkets, new cars, no haggling even at markets. When crossing road cars stop, in Peru and Bolivia is red light most of the time just a decoration and entering road with cars in motion a suicide.
Besides the main square and street there is not much to the town. But the beaches are definitely worth mentioning. Pacific ocean is not too warm, but the waves and all the day! Sometimes up to 4m. After work and school is finished locals from all the houses at the beaches go surfing or bodyboarding. And it´s a great show to watch. It looks so easy, catch a wave, have a ride through tunnel of water and then do a flip on the top to catch next wave. We´ll be here couple days so I consider taking a surf class. Something I wanted to do in Ireland but never got to it.
I go for a bodyboard the first day just to get a taste. And I realize very quickly that it´s not as easy as it looks from the shore. I manage to have a few good rides, but most of the time I feel like inside of a huge wash machine where rinse program gets jammed. I haven´t got a clue where up and down is (only if I get dragged to close to the shore and my head rubs off the bottom). The success of the day reaches the finish when one big wave smashes me on the board hard and my ribs raise a protest. It gets better in two days so it´s a time for a second round. The waves are even bigger than first time and I last only half an hour. Wave shatters me much sooner and stronger than 2 days ago (now it´s week later and I still cannot lay on the left side). That is how I finished my pathetic conquer of Iquque waves on the bodyboard. Next chance will be on New Zealand, this time I think I wont try without taking a course first...
We are trying to find a tour to Atacama completely surrounding the town. It´s the most dry desert in the world. But the season is finished and no tour operator is able to fill the car. At least we walk to the Cerro Dragon, biggest city dune.
Keiran arrives in the evening from his circuit over Argentina and Chile. So we can celebrate St. Patrick with an Irishman.
After that we fly to Santiago. The flight goes quite low so we can catch up on few things we missed while going overland. Atacama is beautiful and so is Aconcagua, towering above everything very close to Santiago airport.
Pictures are below. Jana managed to take few after my big success in the water (we have a video as well but it´s too big to upload). And as you can notice, I reached probably my historical bottom weight, don´t even want to know how much (blame Cusco). So if anybody considers an expensive diet I´d recommend a trip to Peru as an alternative :)

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