Tarija to Peru

(The following comes to you a little late, I have only now reconciled my computer with mobile internet)

Well the last few days have gone by quite quickly,  on Monday I was in Bolivia passed through  Chile and into Peru. Now  as I write this I find myself in Ecuador, four counties within four days. Anyway ………………..

Two  boys control the barrier arm at a check point leaving Tarija.

The bus from Tarija up to La Paz was interesting, mostly gravel roads and some sharp narrow corners, if you happen to be sitting at the front you can see it all, or rather see all that's lacking. In some places the bus has to do a two point turn and as you look out you can see that there really isn't much road.

 

I arrived in La Paz at 7am (after leaving Tarija on sun around 2) I soon  learn there is a bloqueo (Road block from people protesting) around Puno which is past lake Titicaca which is on the boarder of Peru. Thinking of saving pennies I book the next bus for Peru via Chile which was a semi cama leaving at eight. So I was on the road again we arrived at Chile at did the boarder crossing thing around 3ish. (They searched our bags by hand)

How many trucks can you count in this picture? You must learn to be patient as a truck driver.

As you can see it was a very long waiting line at the Bolivian/Chile Border!

We arrived at Arica the northern most city of Chile just before sundown, I could see the waves rolling in and people out surfing, what a tease. This is were we had to change our bus to go into Peru, this is where it got a little interesting…..

They lady insisted on grabbing all the passports of those going on to Peru (Boarder about 30min away) Usually its not a good idea to let your passport out of your sight so you can imagine the apprehension of 18 travellers watching as the lady removes the stack of passports of her desk and puts them into her hand bag! (she wasn't even wearing a uniform) We are instructed to get on a crappy bus and wait. We are on the bus and he starts it up to go and everyone is thinking where are our passports! The lady appears with the stack of passports and  gives them to the man who as we are leaving try's to read out the name of each passport for each person to collect. As he was slurring a little and his pronunciation was less than intelligible it was an amusing process. We were glad to have our passports back. We arrived in to Peru at a buss station in border town called Tacna around about 9pm.

NOTE:Re Bus Stations

There may or may not be a grand central station of sorts. For Example in Tacna We arrived at a building which was what i guess you could call the main terminal with many different booths for the different companies that operate there. However across the road there is another two terminals on for a specific company and the other with many booths as in the case of the first terminal. Another thing you should note is that sometimes even at a terminal for a specific company they may have different buildings and departure points. Just make sure you Identify your bus and its destination and if your not sure it pays to ask.

 

From Tacna we organized a Semi Cama to Arequipa which was leaving in an hour and a half. We pass the night and arrive in Arequipa at  sunrise about 6am. I have breakfast with a fellow kiwi who is in on the way to do the Inca Trail up to Machu Pichu. She is relived she made it to Arequipa and can continue on to Cuzco.( A bloqueo can be an interruption to your travel plans which you may need to allow for from time to time)