The hotel we stayed at in Iquique (Barros Arana) was excellent, we had a very large room, with the best shower so far (the pressure was great). The room only cost $34000 due to there being no tax (foreigners don't pay tax). After a good breakfast (included in the price) we went for a walk down to the beach. Boogie boarders were having a great time with a series of reef breaks (Hamish would love it). Further around was a a very sandy beach with a good beach break as well. As we were flying to Santiago in the early afternoon we had to leave for the airport at 11am. The ride (all 40Kms) was nothing but desert on one side and Pacific ocean on the other- building boom was obvious, with lots of high rise apartments being constructed. This place is a summer retreat for both Chileans and Bolivians, after all it was part of Bolivia until they lost it to the Chileans during the 1834 Pacific war.
The flight done to Santiago went well, that was after the young boy was removed from our seats. He refused to move for his parents so a air hostess had to be involved. He ran riot the whole 2 hours to Santiago (never seen such a spoilt child).
We had a few problems checking in at Iquique as our booking number had been changed. Once that was overcome it was plain sailing through to BA.
I missed a dunking doughnuts outlet at the Santiago airport (bugger!!!).
The flight to BA took 2 hours, it went very well. The documentation for Argentina was enormous, we had to fill in a health questionnaire over H1N1 as well as the usual tourist visa and customs documents (we had to declare the cell phone right down to make and serial number).
After all filing all the documents in, they didn't bother to collect some, customs guys just sat there and waved everybody through.
Maggie (an English woman who runs a B&B here in BA) had arranged for a driver to pick us up which was great. The trip in to the airport took around an hour. We finally arrived at Maggie's B&B around 12.30 am. Didn't get to bed until 2 am. In our drive in all the cafes etc were doing a great trade as people don't eat until around 10-11 pm.
So tomorrow we will begin exploring BA.
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