Arica, Chile – Disco, Disco!

10/1/09 – 9:00 am. Tacna, Peru. Border Crossing. The plan is to cross into Chile via bus. The catch is there isn’t a direct bus route. Travelers must get dropped off in Tacna, Peru and then take a taxi through border patrol and on to the border town of Arica, Chile.

Hungry, we contemplate having lunch in Tacna, but take one look at the bus terminal and decide against it. We split a taxi with a British guy and a young American couple from Oregon. I`m no mathematician but 2 guys from Jersey + 1 British guy + 2 lovebirds + 1 disgruntled driver + 5 giant rucksacks = too much for one car.

An eager Peruvian man leads us through the bus terminal, past cautionary signs warning about ¨fake taxis,¨ out to the parking lot and stops at a midsized sedan. Three rucksacks fill the truck to capacity. A few of the drivers yell to each other and eventually they wave us over to a giant, boat of a car – a cream colored Cadillac straight out of the 80s. The mafia mobile easily stores all of the luggage in the trunk and is sufficiently comfortable for the hour ride to Arica. At border patrol Keating passes through customs with cocoa leaves, knives and a machete in his pack. Security doesn´t look twice.

Arica is a small costal, border town centered around one main street, 21 de Mayo, which can be toured in a matter of ten minutes. Arica, home to worldclass waves, is a surfer`s heaven. However, if you don`t surf there isn`t much else to do. You can hike up El Morro de Arica – if you risk passing dodgy dogs and don`t mind walking up a steep, sandy hill you will be rewarded with a beautiful view of the city, a giant Jesus statue and a military museum remembering the battle that took place there in 1880.

Despite the city`s lack of things to do, I still found it refreshing to have some nice weather. Keating and I had joked about how the weather would magically improve upon entering Chile, but, literally, it did.

We chat with the British fellow, Nick, on the taxi ride in and he seems cool enough so we all share a room at a hostel in Arica. The three of us spend the next few days exploring the small city, each night returning to the same hole in the wall restaurant. The food certainly wasn’t bringing us back – actually, we ordered the same dish every night but were surprised with a new meal each time. It was the tap beer – the cold, frothy golden goodness kept calling us. In Peru it is difficult to find a cold beverage. There are refrigerators, but they either aren’t running or they are on the warmest setting possible. To finally taste a large frosty mug of Schop was heaven.

I also loved the untouristy nature of Arica. Peru wore on me after a few weeks – nonstop begging annoys me. In a few short hours I was really enjoying Chile – happy people, nice weather, cold beer, drivers weren`t out to kill me.

The best part of Arica is the nightlife. There are two main discos – Drake`s and Soho – two neighboring oceanfront buildings that alternate nights they are open; a strategy that successfully packs everyone in town into one venue. We visited both, but have no idea which was which. We had heard people in South America start partying late, but we still were surprised. Here is a rough agenda of our first night out:

-1am: Arrive at club. The building is huge. Walk in and check out the first and second levels, both blasting reggaeton. A projector plasters giant music videos onto a wall that can be seen from both floors. The dance floor is empty.
-2am: People start arriving. The demographics range from 16 year old girls to 60 year old women and include everything in between. We try and buy drinks and almost fail. We first have to pay for drinks at a cash register, then redeem the coupon at the bar and order the drinks again.
-2:30am: (insert Nick`s legendary story)
-3am: Both levels are packed with people. Everyone is dancing – really well.
-3:15am: The music stops and the DJ clears people off the stage. Three girls enter stage left modeling clothes. They exit. One minute later the same three girls return wearing swimsuits. What the..?! There is a fashion show in the middle of the night, at a disco, with only three girls and six outfits?
-3:25am: The girls get off the stage. Dancing resumes as if nothing happened.
-4:00am: One of the models grabs me and introduces me to her Venezuelan friend who doesn`t speak a word of English. I dance with her. Broken glass and cigarette ash cover the floor.
-5:00am: I go look for Nick and Mike and we head out.
-5:45am: Convince taxi driver to take us on a beer run. He takes us to the ghetto. A man approaches the car with a 6pack.
-7am: Sleep.

From my experiences, the discos in Chile are nothing like the sleazy, meat market clubs in the US. The difference mainly being that fact people in South America love to dance, whereas the US scene relvoves around dugs, binge drinking and trying to pass off grinding as dancing. In Chile, everyone at the disco dances. In the US, there are usually a lot of creeps hovering around the dance floor.

We spend four or five days in Arica. A few sights worth noting.

*Keating and I are aimlessly wandering and pass a sign for a ¨Day & Night Club.¨ I can’t imagine who would hang out at place called the Day & Night Club at 2pm on a Tuesday. We excitedly speculate about the possibilities of who/what could be inside. That night we grab Nick and head over to the Day & Night Club. We pass through two doors and curtin before reaching the inside. The room is dark and narrow and lights flicker across the walls. Lonely men line one wall, slowly sipping their beers, gazing across at a stage with one of the largest women I have ever seen. Her outfit is a mix of lace, fishnet and neon green glitter. She isn`t even dancing. With a blank experssion, she shifts back and worth, sort of two stepping, sort of waddling. We can`t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. Nick asks if they have cold schop at the bar. They don`t and there is our excuse to leave.

*We also pass two lovestruck dogs ¨stuck¨ in the middle of the street, stopping traffic. Nick took a video, which I will have to get from him.

I recommend strolling down 21 de Mayo and stopping at Schopdogs for a ¨tower¨ of beer and people watching. As a bonus, they actually have healthy meals (avocado & grilled chicken salad) along with the usual fried goodies like empanadas, popcorn chicken and fries.

One of the best parts of travelling is not only meeting locals, but other travelers as well. I learned two great tips from Nick:

How to choose a hostel – it sounds simple, but just go with the lonely planet pick. If you don´t have a lonely planet, go to hostelworld.com and pick the hostel with the best rating. My point being – don`t let price dictate choice. Since it`s a hostel it is going to be cheap, comparative to the location of course. Now that I´ve been travelling for a few months I can say that the amount of fun I`ve had is usually directly tied to the environment of the hostel.

Nowhere is dangerous – this obviously isn`t true, but I appreciate Nick`s insight into travelling. He has been all over the world and currently lives in Dubia. Here is his logic: You arrive at a location, be it a new town, city, country. From there you take transportation to lodging, be it a hostel, hotel, friend`s house. From lodging you can easily find out the dangerous areas and thus neighborhoods to avoid. Also, you can always call a taxi for going to dinner or sight seeing if nearby areas are unsafe. I was skeptical at first, but now I completely agree. We discussed kidnappings and assaults, but he made a good point – There is enough hype and horror stories in the media to make you not want to leave your home, but the odds of being attacked or randomly kidnapped are slim to none.

The Northface gang hanging out at the top of the Morro de Arica.

Photo compliments of Nick. Check us out in the mirror.

Did I mention how safe it is in South America? Every bed comes with a machete!

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