Collectivos and Sun burns

Claudia (my very blonde German current travel buddy) and I have been enjoying the beach town of Arica, Chile for the last two days. There is a clear difference between Chile and Peru, even though we are only about 45 minutes from the border between the two countries. Chile is one of the richest countries in South America and that is very obvious when you walk around the center esplanade in Arica. There are more supermarkets, more nice cafes and restaurants that are aimed not so much towards tourists (which there are less of than in Arequipa) as towards locals with some money in their pocket. There are more big boxesque, Western style stores and fewer (though they are still around) hole in the wall markets. And people look different, a little more "European." I am interested to see how things change as I head south.

I am staying with a couch surfer again, a 36 year old policeman who LOVES couchsurfing. He pretty much has a couchsurfer staying with him almost every day of the week. For the last week and a half he has also had a Chilean from Santiago staying with him who is HILARIOUS! Our first night he gave us a history lesson on the War of the Pacific between Peru-Bolivia and Chile. He doesn´t speak any English and Chilean spanish is much faster and more slurred than Peruvian spanish so he kept having to slow down and repeat things really clearly and then I would have to translate to Claudia. Both Claudia and I were exhausted and by the end of it I was throwing in Italian words and when someone said something in English I translated it, unnecessarily, into Spanish for Claudia. Before the War of the Pacific Bolivia had coastline and Chile was like 2/3rds the size it is now. After the war Bolivia got screwed out of access to the ocean and Chile somehow ended up with the mineral rich area that is now Northern Chile. Oh, and Peru and Chile still fight over where their maritime borders are. Its interesting to see on the one hand how things change when you cross a border and on the other hand how man-made and false borders are. The Peruvian town closest to Chile is called Tacna. After the War of the Pacific Tacna was part of Chile but in 1929 Tacna voted to become part of Peru again and Chile peacefully handed it over. Poof. Borders change, just like that.

A year or so ago I read this article about an iphone app in New York where people in similar parts of the cities looking to take taxis to the same general area could find each other and share the cab. The article was pointing out on the one hand the level of trust of getting in a cab with a stranger (lets talk about couch surfing...) and on the other using technology as a tool in our lives. Well iphone using-taxi taking New Yorkers I hate to break it to you but Chile figured out this taxi issue without using any fancy smart phone apps. There are collectivos all over the place. A collectivo is essentially a communal taxi, really half taxi half bus. They are cars that drive the same route over and over again and you can flag them down on any part of the route and you pay about $1 to go where it is that you are going. Half way along your route someone else will flag them down and hop in. It is faster than a bus because the routes are shorter and a collectivo comes by every minute or less. Pretty fabulous.

A few final notes:
1. The sun in Northern Chile is very strong and if there is any part of your body that you don´t put sunscreen on it will turn red in a very short amount of time.
2. I am not yet sure if this is a coastal thing or a Chilean versus Peruvian thing, but Claudia (my blonde German travel buddy) and I have been cat-called more in the last two days than I was in my entire week and a half in Peru.
3. Its a small small world. While hiking in Colca Canyon I ran into my first group of Americans, four girls who study at the University of Washington. Last night they showed up at the house where I´m couchsurfing.
4. I am NOT yet on Latin American time, where pre-gaming before you go out starts at 11:30 or midnight and you GET to the club at 3am.
5. Skipping dinner because you had cake and coffee at 6pm is never a good idea.