What's been happening. Chile week 12

I went to Arica (which is in northern Chile) this past weekend to visit friends. Chile's 200th anniversary of independence was this past Saturday so a lot was happening. It's like our 4th of July on overdrive for 3 days. I spent some time with friends who live there in the beginning just exploring. I think I definitely like Arica more than Villa Alemana. There is just more to see (the beach is ten minutes away from wherever you are) and since it's in a desert it's got alot more character.

I also went to Peru for the first time which was just peachy. Arica is the northern most city in Chile and right near the border of Peru so I had to check it out. Seriously, if you ever need to buy a freshly slaughtered chicken or a 10 year old girl, go to Peru. It's like the real South American experience. Chile is just very westernized, especially central Chile where I am. You don't have to really stretch that much out here since their standard of living is similar to ours. Peru is what I EXPECTED Chile to be:

-Open air markets
-Small Inca looking people (I saw a Peruvian midget begging for money. Seriously, you haven't seen tiny until you've seen a Peruvian midget. I almost squashed him like a bug..it was terrifying.)
-Ghetto fabulous cars with loud speakers taped/stapled/nailed to the tops blaring music and advertisements
-Not a single working faucet...anywhere.

The rest of my time in Arica, even though it's beautiful and has Sea lions, was not great. Pretty much, I was supposed to stay with Lindsay at her host house. Her mom Veronica said I could stay with Lindsay in her room on a mattress on the floor. Fine. Well I hadn't met the dad, Christian, yet. When I woke up the first morning in Arica, I found Christian and introduced myself. He looked at me, limply shook my hand, grumbled something and walked off. I soon found out that he wanted me to stay in the living room on the mattress. Why? I wasn't sure. I thought, maybe because two unmarried people were staying in a room unchaperoned and the father didn't want his 5 year old son to get the wrong message about morality? Wrong. Veronica and Christian aren't even married. Maybe because he didn't know that I was coming? Maybe but I'm sure Veronica mentioned something to him about it, my trip had been planned for 3 weeks. Either way, I had to find a hostel quick since I wasn't going to stay in the middle of the floor in this tiny apartment. Every hostel was booked except for one tiny place on the outskirts of town. The next two days I had to shuttle back and forth between my hostel and the center of town to eat awkward meals with Lindsay and her family with the Dad staring off into space like I didn't exist and the Mom being incredibly embarrassed that her baby daddy had kicked me out of the house after she had told me I could stay. This, among other issues that were happening during the time, made for an awkward trip.

Luckily I DID dance the Cueca a few times with Mandy in the streets after the bars closed (pictured) and went to some Asados (barbecues) where I met some really nice Chileans who welcomed me into their homes and said I did their country proud by my Cueca.  They seemed serious. Arica is also in a Desert so that's some really interesting landscaping. I returned to Villa Alemana this Tuesday $500 poorer, dejected, dirty and pissed. Thank god it's Friday. I'm going to read a good book to unwind. Just kidding, I'm going to drink.