Que Significa "Paro"?

A "paro" is a stoppage of some type usually referring to a stoppage of work or as English speakers might know it, a strike. Who cares right? I do, because when I tried to get back into Chile today, this is exactly what I found. The Chilean border patrol was on strike because of some questions with salary and its way of getting to the throat of the Chilean government was by letting three people across the border EVERY HALF hour. So much for National solidarity after this whole miner nonsense.

Anyway, I was #72 in line. I'm no Math teacher but 3 every half hour, is 6 an hour which means I spent 12 hours in line. Excruciating, and probably the first real South American experience I've had. At one point, people stormed over the border into Chile when no was looking....and they were promptly returned to the Chilean border and tortured Pinochet style. Alright, that last part was completely made up but I can only guess this is what happened based on what I've heard about the Carabineros. After getting into Arica, Chile and almost being robbed by two flaite kids and eating a disgusting Churrasco (ah, Chilean food, why did we ever leave eachother?), I got on a 24 hour bus to JuJuy Argentina. Met some nice Israelis from Tel Aviv and a big creepy Peruvian named Enrique. Enrique really wanted to know alot about me because he kept tapping me on the shoulder to ask what my tattoos meant while I was listening to music. I mean I'm not knocking Peruvian hospitality but after he asked me for my email and phone number after knowing eachother for 20 minutes, I'm not entirely sure he doesn't have plans to kill and eat me. Note to self: Do not visit Lima, Peru.

After checking into the hostel in JuJuy, I realized why it had only 4 reviews on hostelworld. The front door had a bullet hole, my room was a basically a large closet with a pile of mattresses and the one shower was right next to the kitchen which is bizarre. I think I saw someone cleaning tomatoes with the runoff from my shower. The night in the hostel was pretty restless. Apart from being bitten by fleas, the huge french guy in my room had night terrors and was screaming in French. It sounds funny....but at the time it was actually terrifying. Tomorrow I go to the farm.