Went to the bus station in Tacna, but had a problem getting a bus. Simply, my passport had not been stamped on entry to Peru and everyone was like, "uh-uh. No." Shit. I thought someone might forget to check, so went around asking. In the end, i ended up in a shared taxi with four others. Next thing i know, we're on the way to Arica in Chile. In the car, the driver gave us a form to fill out for declaration at the border. It was half hour to the border, and we gathered our belongings and headed to the checkpoint.

One checkpoint, two checkpoints, then three checkpoints. Each had their own thing to check. First was my passport and affidavit. Check. So much for my entry stamp. I got an exit stamp and entry to Chile stamp. Next was passport visual (mask down please). Then came my passport and decleration. After that, it was place my bag into the xray machine, then wait outside for the taxi driver to clear and bring the car around.

It took half hour in total. Which made me glad i didn't take the bus with fifty people! We continued and fifteen minutes later we pulled into Arica bus station. I was now firmly in Chile.

Hotel was a ten minute walk from the bus station. And once again the hotel was a bit of a miss, which should make the next place i stay okay! Still, it does have a rooftop terrace for smoking and chilling, and a view of the sea. Which was nice to smell again.

Trust me, it's over there somewhere! Staff are friendly, and although the tv did not have a usb port, the digi box had You Tube, so result there. Shops were five minutes away, with takeaways and things, but right next door to the hotel was a little cafe which opened till late, so food was a go!

Found a bank the next day so took out some Chilean Pesos. Mmm, that's a lot...

But conversion was simple enough. That's a ten pound note I'm holding. I would hate to see their small change though! Cigarettes have been slowly going up in price since i left San Pedro. Now they are £3.50 a pack. Drinks are the same, but food has jumped up to almost UK prices, although this is one of the first ports of call/arrival in Chile, so i expected a price hike. I can imagine Santiago will be even worse.

Which, on that note, i booked the bus ticket for today. Opted for the straight through bus, as opposed to seven changes bus. £45. That's for a 2000 km trip that takes 29 hours! Gives me time to catch up on my reading which i have neglected of late. Hotel booked too. So i will leave this hotel about nine in the morning tomorrow, and arrive in Santiago about four in the afternoon Friday. Three nights in hotel, before i move on. The country changes by the time i get to Santiago: rather than scrubland and desert, it's a greener scrubland, which gets greener the further South i go. And colder.

Puerto Montt is about as far South i can go via roads, before it all ends. After that, to Punto Arenas, it's a bus via Argentina. So i guess after Santiago, it's a slow trip down to Puerto Montt before moving on to Patagonia.