A little trip away

We had our first little trip away last weekend (it was a long weekend in Chile). So we chose to head off to Iquique. It is 4 hours from here driving so not too bad. That morning before leaving we had an Interview to see if Alyssa would be accepted into the international school here for next year. She is in.

So we headed off- the drive was not too bad and the scenary was pretty good, the contrast of being in the desert by the ocean is truly remarkable and strange at the same time.

All was going well until we had to stop to go into a different region (they have regions like we have states in Aus)- you have to stop to get the papers on your car checked to ensure you are not stealing the car across the border. You always must have the car documents in your car in Chile- because the police will ask for them if you are pulled over. So anyway we look in the glovebox where the papers are always kept- no papers. Rang the car dealership- they have them, took them out when they were putting the reversing sensors in the car and never put them back oh and this was a week down the track with no phone call either!!!!!
So we got talk to the police- really nice one too and he looked up on the computer to see the car was under my name (using my RUT- see a good thing to have a national ID number). So he prints off a piece of paper and goes with Sebastian to talk to the border people and we are allowed through- this is after a very very long wait where I was getting totally frustrated- if this police did not care we would have had to turn around and head back. We still should not have been driving the car. But we went on to Iquique. (the papers were to be sent to Iquique for us to get- then told they wern't then told they were on Monday where we were already back in Antofagasta- yeah Chile).

It is very nice in Iquique much cleaner then in Antofagasta. Alyssa loved the playground and the Radisson was nice to stay at. Most people head to Iquique as it is a tax free zone and there is even a shopping centre for all imported goods (was really not that great). But yes some things are cheaper there and you can have up to $1200 US per person (this gets checked at the border control people on the way out).

So here are some piccies from our very eventful trip