Tacna

Have to say I like this little town Tacna. And Peru is definitely a bit cheaper than where I´ve been. Got myself a decent hotel room since I arrived at 6 this morning. Figured it´d be worth it with all the time I was-am spending here. Yes, I arrived at the bus station in Chile at 7 and got to my hotel in Peru at 6...two hour time difference exists between the countries right now...first time I´ve ever had jet lag without flying.

Tacna is actually pretty clean. Don´t find much of that down here. When people open a pack of smokes or whatever they simply drop the garbage on the ground...but don´t really see much refuse all over the place here. Another bonus: I can understand the people pretty well again...this wasn´t always the case in BA or Chile, especially Chile, but here the accent is fairly neutral like in Ecuador. Should makes things easier and more enjoyable for me.

Given that Tacna is right on the border you might expect the town denizens to be less patriotic as the proximity of another country with a slightly different culture leads to a meshing of cultures and attitudes. Not so - the people were quite patriotic. Lots of Peruvian flags flying about. And there was a large flag removal ceremony in the town center at sunset. Thinking about it though, not a surprise, as Tacna was actually taken from Peru by Chile (along with another 100 miles or so of coastline to the south) after a war over minerals at the end of the 19th century. Tacna was returned to Peru by Chile at some point afterwards (obviously).