WEDNESDAY JULY 10, 2013
We got to Arica at 6am, grabbed a taxi for 10 luca to the airport (fyi, there aren't any taximetros, or meters, to let you know how much it costs. None in Arica or Iquique). Then we sat at the airport and waited for Sky people, or really anyone, to show up so we could get our tickets! The flight was at 12pm; they opened their desk at 11am (and just so you know, we arrived at 645am). I got a lot of reading done though. They made us check our carryons (thankfully it didn't cost extra; it was just annoying) and then we waited again until 1150am when the security gates finally opened! Luck was on our side because we had no problems with the Chilean stamps or missing Bolivian one. The flight was late, a real shocker I know haha; it left at nearly 1pm. When we got here to Bolivia, we filled out a form in the airport, paid the full $135 again and got our Bolivian visa no problem. We took a taxi to the hostel for 60 bob (bolivianos, Bolivian currency). We raced to the computers to let our families know we were ok and for me to contact a friend at the SPA hostel to get my iPod for me :)
Next, Jess and I got lunch in the hostel for 45 bob each, and met up with Amy!!! She showed us around the city a bit, to the Plaza Central and Plaza Murillo. We went back to the hostel for drinks and had a rather unfortunate, unpleasant experience. There was a creepy old man drinking by himself who came near my table when Jess and Amy were in the bathroom, so I ignored him on my phone until he left the table and walked away. Then Jess came back, but Amy went for food and the guy took Amy's place at our table. We both ignored him, but he tried to talk to Jess and she answered him with brief, 1 word sentences. He was very nasty and got angry when she stopped answering him. He started cursing at her and I told him to leave her alone, that we didn't want to talk to him. He responded by slamming his beer bottle down on the table right in front of Jess's face and mere inches from her hand. He cursed at her, saying, "F***ing talk to me!" We all jumped! Jess tried to get a manager or anyone to help us and get him away from us, but the 1st guy sent her to the manager and all he said was, "Did you ask him to leave? Try talking about girly things to make him go away." She was like, Um you're not going to do anything?? So the guy sighed and said I'll talk to him. Then he came over to the man and I heard the conversation: he told the old man that we wanted to talk amongst ourselves and not with him. Oh by the way, while Jess talked to the manager, the old man told me to shut my f***ing mouth because I looked like a f***ing cow. Nice guy right? Who wouldn't want to talk to him all evening? That was the extent of the manager's and the hostel's help. No kicking him out, removing him from the bar or even our table, nothing. We were scared and the creep wouldn't leave us alone. Finally, we had to move because he kept muttering curses under his breath at us. The second we left our table, he got up and left too! What an asshole! We went back to our table, but I went to complain at the front desk, once again with zero results. We told them he knew our room numbers and Jess's name and that he was harassing us, but the idiot at the desk just said, "No pasa nada" and if it happened again, then he'd tell his manager. Ridiculous. The guy kept coming in and out of the dining/bar area and every time, we'd have to look over our shoulders to see if he was coming back to bother us. We tried to relax and play cards, but it was too much. We talked a bit and finally just went to bed, except oh wait, people were in our assigned beds. The witch at the front desk came up, turned on the lights and told us to take the 2 free beds and left again. Sorry to whoever's beds we took; they were good, we slept well, and we're going to wake up at 745am for a day tour to nearby Tiwanaku.
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