Did the earth move for you too?

I am not about to lower the tone of my blog however much some may desire, but the earth really did move for me on Monday night. To be exact, two earth tremors hit Arica in Chile at just after 5 a.m. I can`t say I was too scared (or excited) at the time. Supposedly dogs are meant to be extra sensitive and pick up the vibrations before us humans feel anything, though the ones in Chile must have been very sound sleepers as the main inconvenience was that every dog in the neighbourhood spent the next, rather than the proceeding, 20 minutes howling.

Crossing the border between Chile and Bolivia

While some may ask what I was doing on holiday in Chile, I had little choice as I have actually been in Bolivia 90 days and with my visa about to expire my choices included paying $500 for a residency permit, marrying a Bolivian or leaving the country for a short period. Option one would be very expensive in the short run, option two in the long term, so I opted for a holiday in Arica and Iquique in Northern Chile.

Cousin Elisa, Marioly & aunt Sylvia - same family, respectively Chilean, Bolivian & Peruvian

In truth, the north unlike the rest of the country is nothing to write home about. I got to meet more of Marioly`s family of course, who put us up in their wonderful house in Arica complete with swimming pool, banana plants, outdoors bar and four dogs. Some of you may be aware that I wanted to be a vet for many years in my childhood and I was in doggy wonderland as the St Bernard, Pyreneen mountain dog, Basset hound and black labrador kept me (or I kept them) amused. There was also wonderful seafood which you cannot get in Bolivia (it is landlocked after losing wars to Chile and Peru), an afternoon on the beach though I dare anyone to swim in the freezing water, interesting wooden structures in Iquique and to Marioly`s particular delight lots of shops. Having spent three months in Bolivia, I was not used to the fact that people wear seat belts, stop at traffic lights, throw rubbish in dustbins and buses actually leave on time. In this way Chile is not a country but a world apart from its Andean neighbours and much more like being in a Southern European country in terms of appearance, customs... and cost.

Entertaining

Last night I had my first dinner party. I even splashed out on Italian pasta (as opposed to the Bolivian or Chilean varieties). My guests included my girlfriend, a tv producer, his Belgium girlfriend who is studying here and Elena from Sheffield, who was nearing the end of her travels when she met a nice local boy and decided with little reason to rush home that Cochabamba is as good as anywhere to hang out. My landlady, who lives in an adjacent building, kept a close eye on proceedings. It seems I am allowed dinner guests, though according to my contract, parties are explicitly ruled out. I love my flat. I am about 20 minutes walk from the centre, within a stone´s throw of the football stadium and have recently hooked up to my downstairs neighbours´ cable tv so I can watch Arsenal from the comfort of my bed. There is also a spare room, so friends and family are most welcome as previously mentioned! My house and my street.

Just like watching Brazil!

In fact I did watch Brazil last sunday in La Paz. But the better team was not made up of Robinho, Adriano and Gilberto (yes, I got to see an Arsenal player!) but Bolivia. It may have been the altitude that helped or hindered, or perhaps that the fixture was meaningless, but the Samba stars were lucky to escape with a 1-1 draw. It was all a bit too little, too late for Bolivia though as they finished bottom of the South American World Cup qualification group. I forgot how much I love La Paz. It is a crazy city with its maze of little streets, steep slopes, ramshackle buildings, modern sky scrapers, picturesque squares, squalor, haute cuisine restaurants and even a disco next door to the infamous San Pedro prison. Cochabamba definitely has the climate going for it, but the capital wins any day for architecture, buzz and variety. I will just have to make do with regular visits (via a seven hour bus ride). Apart from the football, I met more of Marioly´s family (of course), went to a rock concert, walked around a lot and gatecrashed an ex-pat get together in a bar, thanks to my friend Nick, where I got to meet DFID´s Bolivian director. It seems Britain´s development programme in Bolivia is more strategic rather than project orientated, whatever that means!