The northern coast of Chile - somehow not for us.

Finally, we left the desert behind and arrived in the industrial port of Tocopilla in the evening. As the term industrial port suggests, this town was not really beautiful, so we drove on as quickly as possible. We were really looking forward to the sea, and now we were quite frustrated. Dirty beaches and the fog were not exactly helpful in improving our mood. Nevertheless, we found a nice place to sleep. Sea lions were chilling on a rock right next to us, and starfish and crabs frolicked in rock crevices.

Afterwards, we were a bit more positive and wanted to give the Chilean coast another chance. But somehow we didn't warm up to it. In Iquique, we visited "Zofi," a huge duty-free zone with allegedly over 1,000 companies. Well, the offerings only partially appealed to us. Kitchen appliances, alcohol, and car batteries were the bestsellers, as far as we could judge. Then we trundled on to Arica, the northern city of Chile.

Here, we took care of the entry formalities for Peru and then headed to the border. But we weren't alone there. There were swarms of tour buses, collectivos, and Chilean families. Apart from the overzealous Peruvian customs officer who refused to believe that our old Maggi was not listed in her system, the crossing went smoothly. However, it took us a total of 3.5 hours - a new record. This delay threw our schedules a bit off track. Thanks to the helpful tourist police, we still found a place to sleep in the Peruvian border town of Tacna. We were allowed to sleep right in front of their station. Our next big destination is Arequipa, the city of eternal spring 😊. Let's see if we are as excited as our travel guide.