Crossing the border collectivo style

You might be wondering why on earth we've decided to take so many buses for so many hours across this region. 1 we're avoiding reciprocity fees at the airport and 2 we've had the opportunity to see much more countryside and, I believe, cross the border in almost every legal form of transportation except by boat. Next stop, Chile.

We got up early once again in Arequipa to continue the journey. Our route was to take a bus from Arequipa to a border town in Peru called Arica. From there at the bus station we would catch a Collectivo Taxi (joint car to cross the border) into Arica, the border town on the other side in Chile. Sounds complicated, but it really wasn't all that bad.

When we arrived in Tacna we were welcomed by a frantic set of currency traders, local travelers, collectivo drivers, and confused tourists like ourselves. We couldn't find the silly taxi line for the life of us. We must have walked all around that entire bus terminal before finding this rather small opening in the back that lead to a huge group of drivers auctioning off their car. Mind you, all the cars were pretty much the same and all the drivers were saying practically the same thing. So, how did we choose? Exactly like you probably think we did. We picked the first one we saw! Would they get us to Chile? Most likely. Was it the best choice? That we'll never know.

Once all said and done as we got out of the car in Arica, Chile we decided that was just about the sketchiest AND easiest border crossing we've encountered thus far. Picture this: a car full of 3 gringos, two Chileans, and a Peruvian collectivo taxi driver all packed into a "Buick-ish" type car rolling across the border from Peru to Chile. I guess we looked decent enough, because we made it across just fine! A lot of prayer went into that process and the Lord definitely came through for us because we had NO idea what we were doing or what to expect.

As soon as we arrived we walked to our hostel. Now, this place was a little different than most student oriented places we've been staying at. I'm pretty sure this is the hot spot for European old people. Take note of the decorations behind Sara and Michael in this picture.

It was quite an interesting little place, but the owner was very helpful and friendly and we were very appreciative! He suggested a few places for dinner and we found ourselves at a local sandwich shop. Not just any old sandwiches, GIGANTIC sandwiches! All of our "burgers" came out looking like this and we didn't even know how to begin eating them. It was a ridiculous amount of food, but certainly did the trick for our hunger. Way to go Roly's Sanwich Shop!

That night I went to bed feeling very blessed for a VERY full stomach and a safe border crossing. The next day would be another one day city exploration before moving on!