I love vacations! It has been several years since I was last in Chilé and I’m glad I had the opportunity to go back. A few of the teachers and I decided to take advantage of the holiday weekend and book an early and cheap domestic flight on LAN to the small town of Tacna, Perú. From there we took a colectivo, which is a taxi that can hold five people and luggage, to the Peruvian border. Once at the border, we leave the country, but technically have to drive another half mile before the Chilean border begging the question of where would we be if something happened because in theory we’re literally in the middle of nowhere.

Chilé was wonderful. Lots of sun and miles of beach with tons of sand. We stayed at the hostel that I’ve stayed at times before, End of the Trail hostel owned by Frank Eott. Frank is a 65+ year old former Californian who moved to Chilé over five years ago to retire. The hostel costs 9,000 Chileno Pesos per person per night which was about $34.

We threw a lot of frisbee, volleyball, and spent a lot of time in the sun. McFlurries from McDonalds are always a nice treat on vacations as was the case this time also.

Returning from Chilé, we reversed the process and and returned to Perú three days later. We arrived safely, albeit a little reader and certainly more rested.