5:45am – The bus pulls into the Iquique terminal. I’m still on Bolivia time. So it’s a quarter to five on my clock. The bus is nice enough to just dock there with the lights out and let us sleep until sunrise.
Merciful GOD… George decides he’s had enough and gets up and LEAVES. I can now, at last, stretch my legs. I return to Within Temptation and proceed to nap for a bit.
7:45am – The sun is out. (Jesus!) So, I step off the bus and out to the terminal parking lot area. It’s magnificently shitty. Especially when compared with the Eurotrash bus terminal in La Paz. As you can plainly see…
Also… it reeks vaguely of urine. Is that the ocean breeze, blowing in from the lovely coasts of Iquique?
Nah…
I’m banking on plain old ordinary piss, thank you very much. What a lovely way to start the day.
8:30am – After freshening up (No shower in the terminal bathroom but I managed) and changing to my necessary Watchmen attire, I walk out and eventually find a bus that will take me to the mall.
On the way there, I get a chance to do some “sightseeing” through my bus window. And I can safely say, without risk of exaggeration, that Iquique is a perfectly hideous fucking place. It reminds me of Jersey… No. Worse… Hicksville – Long Island, let’s say. Just one horrendous street after another on a bus that is playing 2Pac (featuring Dr. Dre) performing their 90s standard California Love at 8:30 in the fucking morning.