Following my departure from Peru into Chile, I went through border control without any real issues. They X-rayed my backpack, asked me some standard questions, and then I was through. On the other side of the Chilean border control, I stuck out my thumb again.

After only a few minutes, a car full of guys picked me up and brought me to Arica, the next town of decent size. I didn’t spend much time there, as I was on a mission to get to Santiago de Chile as soon as possible.

While in Arica, I walked around a bit and took in some sights while I gained my bearings as to which direction I should go.

I eventually found the main street that would lead me out of the city toward Santiago. While walking down the street, I actually asked a couple guys in a car if I was going in the right direction while they were waiting at a red light. They told me to hop in and they would take me to the edge of the city.

I obliged and got in the back of their car and managed to get a lift the rest of the way. After walking a way outside of Arica, I again continued hitchhiking and was eventually picked up by a trucker. He was nice and I recall that we had to stop every now and then. Apparently, his truck was monitored via GPS, and if he covered too much ground too fast, then he would get in trouble. I am not sure if the issue lay in that he was driving too quickly or that there were simply some odd rules. In any case, I was with him the whole day as he was driving all the way from Arica to the next big city, Iquique.

 

We arrived in the city late at night, and I was wondering where I would sleep for the night. He said that he would take me to the southern edge of the city, where it would be easier to continue hitchhiking in the morning, so I agreed. First, though, he had to drop off the semi-truck he was driving and swap it out for his personal car. We went to the trucking center where he needed to drop off his truck, and I recall it being in a very sketchy looking area of town. There were no problems, though, and after a while, we loaded up in his car, and true to his word, he drove me to the southern edge of the city.

Neither had I attempted to contact any Couchsurfer nor did I know of any hostel. We were pondering what exactly to do, and I figured I would just hike out of the city in the cover of night and find some hidden spot to pitch my tent.

However, at the edge of the city, there was a police outpost that was manned 24/7. The guy who was driving me around went up to them and asked if it would be ok if I pitched my tent in front of their building, which was pretty isolated. He and the police agreed that it would be safer for me to camp in front of the police. I walked across the road and set up my tent in the sand. Sand…

While I was backpacking in South America, I did not have a free-standing tent, and that meant that it was necessary to have the stakes firmly placed in the ground for the tent to have enough tension to properly stand up. As it was, the sand was not firm and when a gentle breeze came from the ocean in the early morning hours, the stakes gave way, allowing the entire tent to collapse on me. I was woken up by the disturbance, and I reached my hand out of the fly in order to place the ones at one end of the tent in the sand again, but the slightest breeze pulled them right back out. I was forced to wake up and get out of my tent much earlier than I had originally wished.

I assembled my stuff and then continued to hitchhike. I didn’t have as much luck on that day, and I ended up waiting for several hours.

Eventually someone stopped and picked me up. They initially drove by me, but since I was walking along the ride (since sitting around had gotten boring), they had decided to wait around the bend for me where I spotted them and they let me hop in.

The Chilean accent is a bit quicker than the Peruvian one, I found, but I didn’t quite experience that until these 2 guys. They talked so rapidly, and since it was in Spanish, I really struggled to understand them.

We chatted while driving, and they wanted to stop in some small town for a break. I got some food and water and saw some festival taking place.

The other 2 and I met up again, and we loaded up in their car and continued driving to Antofagasta.

We arrived there later in the evening, and like I had already done a few times, I went to the other edge of the city and tried hitchhiking even though it was dark. This time it didn’t work, and after a while of trying, I gave up and set up my tent behind some containers at the truck stop I had found myself at.

I woke up the next morning and started walking along the road while holding my thumb out to my side.

A guy picked me up, but he wasn’t able to take me all the way to the next big city since he worked in the copper mines in the mountains. My thought process is that it’s best to go as far as possible while hitchhiking because, like him, some other people would only go X distance, and you kind of weed them out by already going to that place. On the other hand, maybe other people will get on the highway at a later point in the road than where you’re currently at. You would never be seen by them and therefore would never get a ride. So I agreed to a partial ride from him, thinking that any distance gained is better than no distance gained.

We got to the point where he needed to leave the highway, he dropped me off on the side of the road, and then departed up a dirt road toward his work. I then waited in the middle of the Atacama Desert.

It was beautiful there. I was the only thing in the valley other than sand and the road. There were no animals, no insects, no people, no vegetation, no wind—absolutely nothing else. While sitting there, I could stop and just listen to a completely oppressive silence.

There were very few cars that came by that stretch of road, and I ended up sitting and walking quite a bit. At one point, I stumbled upon the contents of a backpacker’s backpack strewn all over the side of the road. Clothes, a ripped-up tent, etc. were all over. I considered how isolated I was, and a shiver ran up my spine. I then made sure that my knife was still in my pocket.

Luckily, nothing bad happened, and eventually someone picked me up. He also wasn’t going far, but he at least took me to the next town. I hitchhiked a couple more times that day, and by the evening, I found myself in Copiapó.

The sun was already setting, but I felt like continuing, so I walked out of the city and kept attempting to hitchhike.

Since it was twilight, I was thinking of setting up my tent somewhere tucked away from the side of the highway, but I kept hearing dogs barking all over, and that put me a little on edge. I kept walking, trying to make my thumb visible in the headlights of any passing car, and after a few cars had already driven by, a semi-truck that had a flatbed with another semi-truck on it pulled over a way in front of me. I didn’t think that he pulled over for me because he got out and started hitting his tires with some tool to see how full of air they were. I walked up on him and inquired if he was going in the direction of Santiago. He told me he was. I asked if I could go along with him. He said I could. After he finished checking his tires, he got in the cab, and I got in on the other side. I asked him how far he was going, and he said all the way to Santiago. I asked if I could go all the way to Santiago with him. He laughed and said I could.

I was so relieved to have finally gotten my big break. It had taken me several days to get to where I was since I had left Peru, and I was barely halfway to Santiago. At that rate, it would have taken me about a week or more to get to my destination. But now I was going to get there in a timely manner.

The driver told me that he wouldn’t be going all the way there tonight since he had to stop in Coquimbo and sleep, as he had already been driving a bit that day. That was fine, and I told him that I would just set up my tent in the vicinity if that was okay with him.

We got to a spot where he could park his rig, and then he mentioned that he was going to visit a friend and go drinking in a bar if I wanted to join. I ensured that my knife was still present in my pocket, and I agreed to go with him.

We met up with his friend and then the three of us went into a bar together.

We drank a lot—too many beers to count. There was another table near us that had ordered a large portion of fries, but barely any of the fries were eaten. As soon as the other table of people left, I grabbed their plate and started eating the leftovers. The 2 guys I were with told me not to do that (even though I still did), and they bought me another order of fries. I remember eating a mountain of fries that night.

The driver’s friend left and then the 2 of us stumbled back to his truck. He gave me the keys to the semi on the flatbed that he was hauling. He slept in his cab that he had been driving, and I got to sleep in the other semi.

I woke up the next morning as we were flying down the highway. I just chilled up there minding my own business since I had no way of contacting the guy while he was driving. After an hour or so, he pulled over and fetched me out of the cab. I think it was (sensibly) illegal for me to be up there. So we went into his cab and continued driving. After a while, we picked up a hitchhiking family, and it got awfully crowded in the cab, but whatever.

A short while later, we were driving down the streets in Santiago. I wasn’t really sure where to get out, so we just waited till we had to stop for a red light and I just hopped out of his cab. I thanked him for helping me so much, closed the door, and looked around me to get my bearings. His truck just started to drive off when I realized that I still had the keys to the semi I had slept in in my pocket!

I helplessly tried running after the truck for a bit, but it was pointless. He drove off, and I never managed to give him back his key. I always felt terrible about that, but I did genuinely try to locate him; I just didn’t know how. I think I tried posting on craigslist and maybe some other site I found, but I never managed to find him. To this day, I still have the keys.

I then walked through the city a bit until I met up with my Couchsurfing host later in the evening.

Later in the evening, I caught up with my Couchsurfing host and he let me drop off my stuff at his place. He was at work during the day, so we didn’t do too much together until the evenings. I therefore spent a lot of time walking around by myself.

 

 

I then came upon a cool outdoor sculpture park.

The San Cristobal Hill towers over the city, and I hike up that which afforded a nice view.

I also went inside the General Cemetery, which was huge! I spent an entire evening walking around there, observing the flowers, gravestones, and mausoleums.

I was originally only supposed to stay at my Couchsurfing host’s house for a few nights, but the second place that I was supposed to go to didn’t quite work out. The guy who I was going to go to kept insisting that I sleep in his bed with him, and when I kept saying that I would just sleep on the floor with my pad, he said I couldn’t come over anymore. Luckily, my host was fine with me staying for a few more days. He and his roommates were also gay, but they were not rude and pushy like the other place I was originally going to go to, so they happily let me stay longer. I spent more than a week in Santiago at their house, but that was partially due to the fact that so much hiking and walking had caused my ankles to get a bit inflamed, likely due to mild tendonitis. As such, I actually spent a couple days just lazing around at their house, which they were luckily okay with.

During one of the evenings I was with them, they brought out some stuff and we smoked a bit. They had a water bong, and that was the first time I had ever done that, and it was way too strong. We ended up going to a photo exhibit together, but the exhibit was showcasing some really intense photos. They had a picture of Bibi Aisha (The Afghan girl who had her nose cut off), pictures of mass graves, dead soldiers, and all other sorts of tragedies and horrors. I think even if I were clear-minded, it would have been a bit much. As it was, I actually had to sit down on a bench and stare at the floor because I was so overwhelmed. We later went home and I slept it off.

Another day, I went to the Precolonial American Art Museum.

More walking around the city.

And then I stumbled upon a train park.

 

On my last day there, my host and a couple of his friends got in a car, and we went up to a ski resort in the mountains where we just hung out for a while and played in the snow.

After spending 8 or 9 days in Santiago, my ankles were feeling better and I decided that it was time to continue my journey. I took a tram to the edge of the city and then I started hitchhiking to the border of Argentina. There, I ended up getting stuck in the border control for about a week, but that’s a story for next week!