Peru Trip 2015 | Arica, Chile

This is the third post in my Peru series, you can read the first two parts here:

Tacna: Part One 
Tacna: Part Two 

Y'all this was my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean! One of the days we were in Tacna we drove over the border to Chile.  When I say drove I mean my whole family, all of Emily's roommates, and one of her roommates whole family piled into 3 cars we hired for the day.  We headed the 30 miles south to Chile having to stop halfway at the border, get out of the car - go through customs, which reminds me of airport security, get our passports stamped, then hop back in the car on the other side of this random building in the middle of no where that is set up like your typical rest stop and toll booth that are littered all over the north eastern states back in the US.

This day was so fun, well because beach day in December, I never get the chance to do that.  The water was freezing but I had to stick my toes in, it was the pacific ocean after all.

We walked along the beach for a little while stretching our legs before getting back in the car and driving up to the top of a cliff that over looked the city.  Up here there was a war memorial dedicated to the land that is now Chile.  Apparently Peru and Chile have fought back and forth over the land that is between Tacna and Arica before calling truce and settling on the current borders declaring such with memorials in both cities tall and proud.

We stopped at this fun beachside restaurant for lunch and ice cream before heading back to Peru and another fun customs adventure.  Funny story; apparently Chile is more expensive than Peru so people hop the border all the time but it ends up looking like everyone went on a crazy huge costco trip at border patrol.  You have to declare everything you buy and send it through a conveyer belt.  These customs workers must love staring at gigantic rolls of toilet paper all day long on their screens, ha! Imagine going on a shopping trip - loading your car - having to fully unload halfway - load back up - then unpack at home. Whew, that's dedication to a sale!

It was such a fun adventure, especially being able to get more stamps on my passport!

Up next in the series, trying Peruvian cuisine & Christmas celebrations!