IQUIQUE 19.01.2023

Today is our daughter's birthday. It's her 43rd birthday and our entire Chile trip planning has revolved around this date. Our initial plan was to visit Franziska over Christmas and celebrate the New Year somewhere on the coast with her. But since Christmas doesn't hold the same significance in Chile as it does in Germany and only provides one day off work, we agreed during the summer to make a birthday visit. So this morning, there is a candle, a birthday savings zebra with contents, a four-leaf clover, a Baltic Sea rock, and a plate of Chilean pastries on her birthday table. Karin set it up last night and we brought the gifts from Berlin. When Franzi returned from her run, we sang "Happy Birthday" live in Iquique!

After breakfast, with eggs, because it's her birthday, we started planning for the next few days. There was a lot to book, confirm, and explain. After all, soon we will be without her and we will have to fend for ourselves. Just the constant use of a mobile phone, as is completely normal in Chile for everyone, is daunting for us. For a young woman who does it every day and also speaks the language perfectly, it's no problem. But for us, a bit older, it will be a completely different challenge that we cannot escape. So we booked 4 different tours at a tourism office in San Pedro. But we need to be able to stay in touch with the office at any time, and the office needs to stay in touch with us. Only then will we find out when exactly we will be picked up, when and where we have to be, etc. And most likely, we will be the oldest participants.

We settled the bill and surfed the internet, and then we went to the largest mall (Zofir) in Iquique. I'm sure I've already mentioned that the city is the center of a free trade zone established in 1975. And here, over 400 stores offer their services. Fran's phone kept cutting out during our meeting, which is not surprising after falling off the table and having a shattered display. So a free trade zone with electronic bargains, a birthday, and the desire for a new phone led us to the consumer temple. As we were going down in the elevator, the birthday girl, who got to decide everything today, already selected the number for Uber and ordered a car. She could track it on her phone and see exactly when it was approaching our house. The payment was automatically deducted from her account. Done! Then we wandered around and quickly found a few stores with the right offers. There was still some room for bargaining, and a salesman lowered the price by almost 100 €. I was also about to buy a new tablet, but considering the warranty period and the potential limitations of using it back in Germany, I decided to think differently. In our opinion, the other items (perfumes, clothes, shoes) were not cheaper. Maybe I should have bought us a large smart TV at a real bargain, but Karin's backpack is already full!

So we went out again and then took a taxi to have some fish. The landlady had given Franziska a tip right at the beginning, and now we wanted to follow up on it. At "Neptuns," we found everything we were looking for: a beautiful old large restaurant (with two floors and everything made of wood) with an atrium where we could sit outside and a very friendly waiter. This time, we skipped the appetizer and got absolutely fresh fish dishes that tasted really good. And as we started chatting over Pisco Sour (using some hand gestures ourselves), and the birthday was mentioned, our Marco disappeared downstairs. It didn't take long and he returned with a big slice of chocolate cake, on which he had placed a small candle next to the decorative cherry. On the plate, written with chocolate sauce, it said "Happy Birthday." He also brought three small cake plates with forks. Now we enjoyed the cake and simply savored this friendly and totally relaxed atmosphere. So wonderful! And now comes the extra tip, which the reader can surely understand.

It was only 600 meters on foot to get home, and there we sat on the balcony for the last time and let ourselves be inspired. Definitely a successful birthday for Franziska!